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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 397 records · Page 22
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Experimental characterization of a section of a spherically imploding plasma liner formed by merging hypersonic plasma jets

In this work, we report experimental results on merging of hypersonic plasma jets, which is the fundamental building block for forming spherically imploding plasma liners as a potential standoff compression driver for magneto-inertial fusion. Jets are formed and launched by contoured-gap coaxial plasma guns mounted at the six vertices and the center of a hexagon covering approximately one-tenth of the surface area of a 9-ft-diameter spherical chamber. First, from experiments with two and three merging jets of four different species (N, Ar, Kr, and Xe), we show that (1) density spatial non-uniformities can be large (with electron-density jumps ranging from 2.9 for N to 6.6 for Xe) when shocks form upon jet merging, but smaller (density jumps <2) when shocks do not form; (2) jet impurities (20% Ti in these experiments) can increase the level of density spatial non-uniformity by increasing the collisionality of jet merging, leading to shock formation rather than potentially more desirable shockless jet merging; and (3) the liner Mach number can remain high (≳10), as required for plasma liners to be an effective compression driver. Secondly, from experiments with six and seven merging jets using Ar, we present results with improved jet-to-jet mass balance of <2% across jets, including (1) evidence of substantially increased balance in the jet merging and symmetry of the liner structure and (2) potentially favorable changes in the jet-merging morphology with the addition of the seventh jet. Ultimately, for both experiments, we present comparisons between experimental and synthetic data from three-dimensional hydrodynamic codes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1999

Lightning Protection Guidelines for Aerospace Vehicles

This technical memorandum provides lightning protection engineering guidelines and technical procedures used by the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Electromagnetics and Aerospace Environments Branch for aerospace vehicles. The overviews illustrate the technical support available to project managers, chief engineers, and design engineers to ensure that aerospace vehicles managed by MSFC are adequately protected from direct and indirect effects of lightning. Generic descriptions of the lightning environment and vehicle protection technical processes are presented. More specific aerospace vehicle requirements for lightning protection design, performance, and interface characteristics are available upon request to the MSFC Electromagnetics and Aerospace Environments Branch, mail code EL23.

Goodloe, C. C.↗
NASA NTRS2019

InSight's Reconstructed Aerothermal Environments

The InSight spacecraft was proposed to be a build-to-print copy of the Phoenix vehicle due to the knowledge that the lander payload would be similar and the trajectory would be similar. However, the InSight aerothermal analysts, based on tests performed in CO2 during the Mars Science Laboratory mission (MSL) and completion of Russian databases, considered radiative heat flux to the aftbody from the wake for the first time for a US Mars mission. The combined convective and radiative heat flux was used to determine if the as-flown Phoenix thermal protection system (TPS) design would be sufficient for InSight. All analyses showed that the design would be adequate. Once the InSight lander was successfully delivered to Mars on November 26, 2018, work began to reconstruct the atmosphere and trajectory in order to evaluate the aerothermal environments that were actually encountered by the spacecraft and to compare them to the design environments.The best estimated trajectory (BET) reconstructed for the InSight atmospheric entry fell between the two trajectories considered for the design, when looking at the velocity versus altitude values. The maximum heat rate design trajectory (MHR) flew at a higher velocity and the maximum heat load design trajectory (MHL) flew at a lower velocity than the BET. For TPS sizing, the MHL trajectory drove the design. Reconstruction has shown that the BET flew for a shorter time than either of the design environments, hence total heat load on the vehicle should have been less than used in design. Utilizing the BET, both DPLR and LAURA were first run to analyze the convective heating on the vehicle with no angle of attack. Both codes were run with axisymmetric, laminar flow in radiative equilibrium and vibrational non-equilibrium with a surface emissivity of 0.8. Eight species Mitcheltree chemistry was assumed with CO2, CO, N2, O2, NO, C, N, and O. Both codes agreed within 1% on the forebody and had the expected differences on the aftbody. The NEQAIR and HARA codes were used to analyze the radiative heating on the vehicle using full spherical ray-tracing. The codes agreed within 5% on most aftbody points of interest.The LAURA code was then used to evaluate the conditions at angle of attack at the peak heating and peak pressure times. Boundary layer properties were investigated to confirm that the flow over the forebody was laminar for the flight.Comparisons of the aerothermal heating determined for the reconstructed trajectory to the design trajectories showed that the as-flown conditions were less severe than design

radiation↗
NASA NTRS1999

Planetary Nebulae with Supporting IR Data

We present new HST/WFPC2 imagery for the planetary nebula (PN) NGC 6818. Observations were made in line filters F437N, F487N, F502N, and F656N plus continuum filter F547M. The primary goal was to develop a high spatial resolution (approx. 0.1 in.) map of the intrinsic line ratio [O III] 4363/5007 and thereby evaluate the electron temperature (T(sub e)) and the mean-square T(sub e) variation (t(sup 2) across the PN. In this process we developed an extinction map from the F487N (H(beta)) and F656N (H(alpha)) images by comparing the observed line ratios in each pixel to the theoretical ratio and computing a c(H(beta)) map which was used to correct the observed 4363/5007 ratios for reddening. We also adjust for the continuum contribution to the line filter data. We present color-coded pictures of the reddening (c(H(beta))) map, the [O III] T(sub e) map, as well as our determinations of t(sup 2). The T(sub e) map shows a decline from approx. 14000 K in the inner regions to approx. 11000 K at the outer edge. Such a radial T(sub e) gradient is expected for a high-excitation nebula with a prominent He(++) zone such as NGC 6818. A composite of images taken in 3 filters (F656N, red; F487N, blue; and F502N, [O III] 5007, green) shows a roughly spherical outer envelope as well as a brighter vase-shaped interior "bubble". There is a prominent orifice to the North and a smaller one to the South, along the major axis, possibly caused by a blow-out from a fast wind. This nebula has an appearance remarkably similar to that of the PN NGC 3918 previously imaged with HST by H. Bond. We note from the continuum images (F547M) two stars in the nebular field that are fainter than the prominent central star; these are roughly 2-4 sec. N and NE of the central star. Further study is needed to establish whether or not there may be a physical association of either star with the central star.

Harrington, J. Patrick↗
NASA NTRS2020

InSight Aerothermal Environment Assessment

The InSight spacecraft was proposed to be a build-to-print copy of the Phoenix vehicle due to the knowledge that the lander payload would be similar and the trajectory would be similar. However, the InSight aerothermal analysts, based on tests performed in CO2 during the Mars Science Laboratory mission (MSL) and completion of Russian databases, considered radiative heat flux to the aftbody from the wake for the first time for a US Mars mission. The combined convective and radiative heat flux was used to determine if the as-flown Phoenix thermal protection system (TPS) design would be sufficient for InSight. All analyses showed that the design would be adequate. Once the InSight lander was successfully delivered to Mars on November 26, 2018, work began to reconstruct the atmosphere and trajectory in order to evaluate the aerothermal environments that were actually encountered by the spacecraft and to compare them to the design environments.The best estimated trajectory (BET) reconstructed for the InSight atmospheric entry fell between the two trajectories considered for the design, when looking at the velocity versus altitude values. The maximum heat rate design trajectory (MHR) flew at a higher velocity and the maximum heat load design trajectory (MHL) flew at a lower velocity than the BET. For TPS sizing, the MHL trajectory drove the design. Reconstruction has shown that the BET flew for a shorter time than either of the design environments, hence total heat load on the vehicle should have been less than used in design. Utilizing the BET, both DPLR and LAURA were first run to analyze the convective heating on the vehicle with no angle of attack. Both codes were run with axisymmetric, laminar flow in radiative equilibrium and vibrational non-equilibrium with a surface emissivity of 0.8. Eight species Mitcheltree chemistry was assumed with CO2, CO, N2, O2, NO, C, N, and O. Both codes agreed within 1% on the forebody and had the expected differences on the aftbody. The NEQAIR and HARA codes were used to analyze the radiative heating on the vehicle using full spherical ray-tracing. The codes agreed within 5% on most aftbody points of interest.The LAURA code was then used to evaluate the conditions at angle of attack at the peak heating and peak pressure times. Boundary layer properties were investigated to confirm that the flow over the forebody was laminar for the flight.Comparisons of the aerothermal heating determined for the reconstructed trajectory to the design trajectories showed that the as-flown conditions were less severe than design

Beck, Robin↗
DOE OSTI2021

Draft ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Cases and Technical Bases for Use of Alloy 617 for Constructions of Nuclear Component Under Section III, Division 5

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code currently only allows five materials for use in construction of nuclear components for high temperature service. These are: 2.25Cr-1Mo and V-modified 9Cr-1Mo steels, Types 304 and 316 stainless steels and the high nickel Alloy 800H. Since 2005, the US high temperature gas-cooled reactor program has been characterizing elevated temperature mechanical properties of Alloy 617 as the leading candidate construction material for the intermediate heat exchanger. After analysis of these experimental results, along with historical data and additional results available through the Generation IV International Forum, Very High Temperature Reactor, Materials Program Management Board Materials Handbook, a draft ASME Code Case to allow nuclear construction with Alloy 617 for temperatures up to 1750°F (954°C) has been developed. This report contains the Code Case for Low Temperature Service Construction of Section III, Division 5, Subsection HB, Subpart A, Class A and Subsection HC, Subpart A, Class B components, which has been approved in Section II, Materials, and Section III, Rules for Construction of Nuclear Facility Components. Supporting technical justification for the low temperature Code Case is also included. This Code Case allows use of Alloy 617 up to 800°F (425°C). This report also contains an updated draft of a Section III, Division 5, Subsection HB, Subpart B, Class A Code Case for Alloy 617 to qualify it for use in construction of nuclear components up to 1750°F (954°C) for service life up to 100,000 hours. The draft contained in Appendix 4, subject to editorial revision and approval by the ASME Special Task Group on Alloy 617 Code Qualification, will be submitted for approval by letter ballot by the appropriate ASME Committees. The technical justification supporting the Code Case is presented in Appendix 5 of this report. This background document is part of the information package that will be submitted with the Code Case for ballot.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Stellarator optimization for good magnetic surfaces at the same time as quasisymmetry

A method is demonstrated to optimize a stellarator's geometry to eliminate magnetic islands and achieve other desired physics properties at the same time. For many physics quantities that have been used in stellarator optimization, including quasisymmetry, neoclassical transport, and magnetohydrodynamic stability, it is convenient to use a magnetic equilibrium representation that assures the existence of magnetic surfaces. However, this representation hides the possible presence of magnetic islands, which are typically undesirable. To include both surface-based objectives and island widths in a single optimization, two fixed-boundary equilibrium calculations are run at each iteration of the optimization: one that enforces the existence of magnetic surfaces (the Variational Moments Equilibrium Code) [S. P. Hirshman and J. C. Whitson, Phys. Fluids 26, 3553 (1983)] and one that does not (the Stepped Pressure Equilibrium Code) [Hudson et al., Phys. Plasmas 19, 112502 (2012)]. By penalizing the island residues in the objective function, the two magnetic field representations are brought into agreement during the optimization. Here, an example is presented in which, particularly on the surface where quasisymmetry was targeted, quasisymmetry is achieved more accurately than in previously published examples.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1986

Portable EDITOR (PEDITOR): A portable image processing system

The PEDITOR image processing system was created to be readily transferable from one type of computer system to another. While nearly identical in function and operation to its predecessor, EDITOR, PEDITOR employs additional techniques which greatly enhance its portability. These cover system structure and processing. In order to confirm the portability of the software system, two different types of computer systems running greatly differing operating systems were used as target machines. A DEC-20 computer running the TOPS-20 operating system and using a Pascal Compiler was utilized for initial code development. The remaining programmers used a Motorola Corporation 68000-based Forward Technology FT-3000 supermicrocomputer running the UNIX-based XENIX operating system and using the Silicon Valley Software Pascal compiler and the XENIX C compiler for their initial code development.

Angelici, G.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Predicting displacement damage for ion irradiation: Origin of the overestimation of vacancy production in SRIM full-cascade calculations

Ion irradiation and implantation have wide applications that demand accurate determination of displacement damage profile and distribution of implanted ion concentration. The prediction of vacancies is especially important to determine displacements per atom (dpa), the standard parameter of primary radiation damage in materials. However, significant discrepancies exist in estimations of vacancies between full-cascade (F-C) and quick calculation (Q-C) options in the popular computer code SRIM. This study inspected the SRIM code and a relatively new code called Iradina, which uses a similar methodology, to develop an understanding of the origin of vacancy overestimation in the F-C options for SRIM and Iradina. Here, we found that the default values of thresholds (namely final energy in SRIM and replacement energy in Iradina) in displacement production calculations results in excessively large number of calculated vacancies and very few replacements. After conducting multiple calculations using SRIM, Iradina, and MARLOWE (all based on the binary collision approximation), a comparison of the results indicates that there is a shortcoming in the SRIM and Iradina F-C methodology for treating near-threshold collisions. This issue is responsible for the deficiency of replacements and excess of calculated vacancies in the SRIM and Iradina F-C results. Drawing on the principles of collision physics, we propose recommendations for modifying the source codes to address these issues.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

A survey of software implementations used by application codes in the Exascale Computing Project

The US Department of Energy Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration initiated the Exascale Computing Project (ECP) in 2016 to prepare mission-relevant applications and scientific software for the delivery of the exascale computers starting in 2023. The ECP currently supports 24 efforts directed at specific applications and six supporting co-design projects. These 24 application projects contain 62 application codes that are implemented in three high-level languages—C, C++, and Fortran—and use 22 combinations of graphical processing unit programming models. The most common implementation language is C++, which is used in 53 different application codes. The most common programming models across ECP applications are CUDA and Kokkos, which are employed in 15 and 14 applications, respectively. This article provides a survey of the programming languages and models used in the ECP applications codebase that will be used to achieve performance on the future exascale hardware platforms.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Benchmark Testing on the IBM-Q Network

The goal of this project is to evaluate a proposed set of candidate benchmarks being developed by the Standards and Performance Metrics Technical Advisory Group (TAG) of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), of which LANL is a member. The QED-C Standards and Performance Metrics TAG has developed implementations of several benchmark codes with the hope and expectation that these codes will be helpful to QED-C members interested in investigating various quantum computer platforms. The benchmark set will be run on LANL’s access to the IBM-Q system with the intent to evaluate the set for scalability, correct execution, and coverage of the application space. The goal is for the QED-C Standards and Performance Metrics TAC to be able to produce a coherent, consistent, scalable set of benchmarks that will run on multiple quantum computing platforms and will be available to members of QED-C, including LANL.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Fusion Neutron Generator

The proposed code, named FROG (Fusion neutron Generator) is built upon the open-source particle transport Monte Carlo toolkit Geant4. Geant4 provides C++ classes that can be leveraged to build application-specific codes dealing with the transport of particles through matter. Geant4-based codes are applied in high-energy particle physics experiments, medical applications, shielding, and space applications for example. The FROG code allows the user to define the geometry of a neutron converter device shaped as a hollow cylinder, where a neutron breeding material such as lithium deuteride (LiD) is cladded by two concentric cylinders. Such neutron converter is then placed inside a regular nuclear fission reactor, where thermal neutrons will react with the neutron breeder material (typically, Lithium 6), and through a series of reactions, will generate high-energy neutrons – neutrons whose kinetic energy are around 14 MeV. The hollowed central portion can hold a specimen that will be bombarded by high-energy neutrons created inside the neutron breeding material. Figuratively speaking, this type of device transforms neutrons from thermal (~0.625 eV) to fusion (~14 MeV) energies and is sometimes termed “fusion-to-thermal neutron converters” in the literature. The code consists of C++ source file compiled and linked to generate an executable. The user can select the dimensions of the converter (radius, length, and thickness of the breeder material), the breeder material type, the cladding material, and the specimen material that will be activated or irradiated. As input, the neutron flux for a specific location inside a reactor, for instance, positions in ATR, is required. As output, the code predicts the number of high-energy neutrons produced, the total neutron flux and fluence as well as its detailed spectrum. The physics involved in such device is very complex, as it requires modeling neutron transport, light-ion (tritons) transport, as well as fusion reactions. The Geant4 toolkit provides the required physical models.

Martin, NicholasP. [Idaho National Laboratory (INL↗
NASA NTRS1991

Multiprocessing on supercomputers for computational aerodynamics

Little use is made of multiple processors available on current supercomputers (computers with a theoretical peak performance capability equal to 100 MFLOPS or more) to improve turnaround time in computational aerodynamics. The productivity of a computer user is directly related to this turnaround time. In a time-sharing environment, such improvement in this speed is achieved when multiple processors are used efficiently to execute an algorithm. The concept of multiple instructions and multiple data (MIMD) is applied through multitasking via a strategy that requires relatively minor modifications to an existing code for a single processor. This approach maps the available memory to multiple processors, exploiting the C-Fortran-Unix interface. The existing code is mapped without the need for developing a new algorithm. The procedure for building a code utilizing this approach is automated with the Unix stream editor.

Yarrow, Maurice↗
DOE OSTI2021

EMPIRE-PIC: A Performance Portable Unstructured Particle-in-Cell Code

In this study we introduce EMPIRE-PIC, a finite element method particle-in-cell (FEM-PIC) application developed at Sandia National Laboratories. The code has been developed in C++ using the Trilinos library and the Kokkos Performance Portability Framework to enable running on multiple modern compute architectures while only requiring maintenance of a single codebase. EMPIRE-PIC is capable of solving both electrostatic and electromagnetic problems in two- and three-dimensions to second-order accuracy in space and time. In this paper we validate the code against three benchmark problems — a simple electron orbit, an electrostatic Langmuir wave, and a transverse electromagnetic wave propagating through a plasma. We demonstrate the performance of EMPIRE-PIC on four different architectures: Intel Haswell CPUs, Intel's Xeon Phi Knights Landing, ARM Thunder-X2 CPUs, and NVIDIA Tesla V100 GPUs attached to IBM POWER9 processors. This analysis demonstrates scalability of the code up to more than two thousand GPUs, and greater than one hundred thousand CPUs.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Same-sided successive-shock HED instability experiments

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and high-energy density (HED) physics experiments experience complicated forcing for instability growth and mix due to the ubiquitous presence of multiple shocks interacting with perturbations on multiple material interfaces. One common driver of instability growth is successive shocks from the same direction. However, there is a severe lack of analytic work and modeling validation for same-sided successive shocks since they are extremely difficult to achieve with conventional (non-HED) drivers. Successive shocks access a large instability parameter space; idealized fluid theory [K. O. Mikaelian, Phys. Rev. A 31, 410 (1985)] predicts 15 different interface evolution scenarios for a sinusoidal perturbation. Growth becomes more complex for multi-mode, compressible HED systems. The Mshock campaign is the first experiment in any fluid regime to probe a wide portion of successive shock parameter space. This is enabled by our development of a hybrid direct/indirect drive platform capable of creating independently controllable successive shocks on the National Ignition Facility. These experiments have delivered the first data capable of rigorously challenging our models and their ability to accurately capture Richtmyer–Meshkov growth under successive shocks. Single-mode and two-mode experiments have successfully demonstrated the ability to access and control the various growth scenarios of the shocked interface, including re-inversion, freeze out, and continued growth. Simulations and theoretical modeling are shown to accurately capture the experimental observations in the linear growth phase, giving us confidence in our ICF/HED design codes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

An Initial Microstructurally Informed Model of High Burnup Structure Formation in UO 2 Fuel

The microstructure of a UO 2 fuel pellet changes as burnup increases, impacting fuel performance. Predicting and characterizing high burnup structure (HBS) and dark zone formation is a key part of supporting burnup limit extensions for light water reactors. This paper describes a model developed through fitting radially resolved pellet data obtained from recently published microstructural characterization data. The model predicts grain size and grain character, in addition to pore density and size, with fitting dependencies on power history variables. Separately fitting power history variables to microstructural parameters allows for insight into the underlying physical phenomena for future model development. Additionally, experimental data have been correlated to an HBS fraction to facilitate the development of a model capable of predicting a total fuel restructured fraction at the engineering scale. In conclusion, this two-step approach provides a coupling from reactor power history to microstructural data to fractional HBS and creates a basis to model HBS-dependent parameters in a fuel performance code.

High burnup structure↗
DOE OSTI2026

Radiative strength functions from the energy-localized Brink-Axel hypothesis

Radiative strength functions (RSFs) model the bulk electromagnetic response of highly excited nuclei and are critical inputs for statistical reaction codes. In this paper, we present a definition of the RSF that is consistent with Hauser-Feshbach reaction codes and that can be efficiently computed with the shell model using the Lanczos strength-function (LSF) method. Here, we introduce a variant of the shell-model LSF method that exploits the energy-localized Brink-Axel hypothesis, which makes it possible to compute both electric and magnetic RSFs across all energies relevant to capture reactions. We verify agreement with the conventional definition of RSFs with benchmark calculations of 24 Mg and then present novel results for 56 Fe. For 56 Fe we find that (i) the 𝑀⁢1 RSF shape evolves smoothly with excitation energy, consistent with the energy-localized Brink-Axel hypothesis; (ii) both 𝑀⁢1 and 𝐸⁢1 transitions contribute significantly to the radiative strength below the photoabsorption threshold; and (iii) within the sdpf model space, the strength below 3 MeV observed in Oslo-type experiments cannot be fully reproduced. These results pave the way for a coherent microscopic description of RSFs and further motivate the use of energy-dependent RSFs in modern reaction codes.

Physics - Nuclear physics and radiation physics↗
DOE OSTI2023

ITS Version 6.7: The Integrated TIGER Series of Coupled Electron/Photon Monte Carlo Transport Codes User's Manual

ITS is a powerful software package permitting state-of-the-art Monte Carlo solution of linear time-independent coupled electron/photon radiation transport problems, with or without the presence of macroscopic electric and magnetic fields of arbitrary spatial dependence. Our goal has been to simultaneously maximize operational simplicity and physical accuracy. Through a set of preprocessor directives, the user selects one of the many ITS codes. The ease with which the make system is applied combines with an input scheme based on order-independent descriptive keywords that makes maximum use of defaults and internal error checking to provide experimentalists and theorists alike with a method for the routine but rigorous solution of sophisticated radiation transport problems. Physical rigor is provided by employing accurate cross sections, sampling distributions, and physical models for describing the production and transport of the electron/photon cascade from 1.0 GeV down to 1.0 keV. The availability of source code permits the more sophisticated user to tailor the codes to specific applications and to extend the capabilities of the codes to more complex applications. Version 6, the latest version of ITS, contains (1) improvements to the ITS 5.0 codes, and (2) conversion to Fortran 95. The general user friendliness of the software has been enhanced through memory allocation to reduce the need for users to modify and recompile the code.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗