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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 433 records · Page 24
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Fermilab Automation of Coil Winding System

The automated coil winder project creates a repeatable, scalable method for producing superconducting magnet coils with increased accuracy and efficiency. The design uses an ortho cyclic winding method to achieve high fill factors by combining computer numerical control (CNC), microcontroller-based controls, and sophisticated optimization techniques. The method optimizes coil turns, core geometry, and current consumption by utilizing analytical models based on magnetic moment, Ohm’s law, and power constraints. For particle accelerator applications, prototype testing using a 3D-printed coil winder has shown enhanced winding repeatability, thermal management, and manufacturability.

Dzida, Rafal [Northern Illinois U.]↗
DOE OSTI2025

Survey of baffle plate samples, specimen machining, and hydrogen measurements

This report outlines preliminary results on the survey and characterization of irradiated baffle plate, baffle former, and flux thimble tube specimens as part of the ongoing investigation into irradiation-induced embrittlement in austenitic stainless steels at ambient (room temperature) conditions. The specimens originated from commercial pressurized water reactor (PWR) components, covering displacement damage doses ranging from approximately 0.065 to 75 dpa. Initial scanning electron microscopy (SEM) surveys revealed that specimen surfaces exhibited fine machining marks and in-service-formed oxide layers on the side surfaces of the analyzed specimens. The oxide layers revealed specific features resembling localized "pitting-like" corrosion. An additional set of specimens representing in-service oxidation is being preserved for future microstructure analysis work. As believed, this will provide additional insights into long-term material degradation in PRWs. Specimen machining challenges emerged due to a complex failure of the electric discharge machining (EDM) system located in hot area. Despite partial restoration, issues persist with the EDM’s secondary power supply, necessitating the exploration of alternative EDM or computer numerical control (CNC) machining approaches to facilitate tensile specimen preparation. Currently, low speed saw cutting is in progress to prepare specimens for hydrogen measurements and general microstructure analysis. The near-term goals include completing tensile specimen machining for advanced mechanical testing and characterizing fracture mechanisms, and stress-corrosion cracking testing, ultimately aiming to identify and mitigate the ambient-condition intergranular cracking through targeted post-irradiation annealing strategies.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

ATF Cladding Mechanical Properties Report: Capability Demonstration

This report documents mechanical testing capability demonstration activities performed in fiscal year (FY)2025 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory(ORNL)on chromium-coated (Cr-coated) and uncoated advanced zirconium alloy claddings irradiated in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) to approximately 4 displacements per atom (dpa), corresponding to ~13GWd/t burnup. Specimens were prepared in axial tension (ATT) and ring tension (RTT) geometries, and passive silicon carbide(SiC)thermometry (TM) was employed to determine irradiation temperatures, which averaged 38–43 °C below the 330 °C design target. Mechanical testing at ambient temperature demonstrated the expected irradiation-induced hardening, with yield strength(YS)and ultimate tensile strength(UTS)values increasing substantially relative to unirradiated counterparts. However, this strengthening was accompanied by a reduction in ductility, as indicated by lower uniform and total elongations(UE and TE). Both coated and uncoated claddings exhibited similar mechanical response, though Cr-coated specimens showed surface cracking perpendicular to the loading direction, attributable to the hardness mismatch between the coating and substrate. Fracture in all cases remained ductile, and no coating spallation was observed following HFIR irradiation. Complementary efforts were directed toward the fabrication of test specimens from commercially irradiated cladding (rod 47I, ~31.1 GWd/t average burnup). Axial sectioning and computer numerical control(CNC)machining successfully produced ATT geometries suitable for benchmarking against HFIR-irradiated specimens. This capability enables direct comparison of cladding behavior between test reactor and commercial reactor environments, thereby supporting the validation of HFIR as a surrogate irradiation platform for accident tolerant fuel (ATF) development. Once HFIR irradiations are completed in FY26,the relevant comparison tests will be completed. Collectively, the FY 2025 PIE campaign has provided mechanical performance data for irradiated advanced claddings The demonstrated capabilities support the framework for mechanical testing and further evaluations in subsequent years. These efforts will represent an important contribution toward the licensing and deployment of Cr-coated zirconium alloy cladding as a near-term ATF solution.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Nonlinear Anti-(Parity-Time) Symmetric Dimer

In the present work we propose a nonlinear anti- P T -symmetric dimer, that at the linear level has been experimentally created in the realm of electric circuit resonators. We find four families of solutions, the so-called upper and lower branches, both in a symmetric and in an asymmetric (symmetry-broken) form. We unveil analytically and confirm numerically the critical thresholds for the existence of such branches and explore the bifurcations (such as saddle-node ones) that delimit their existence, as well as transcritical ones that lead to their potential exchange of stability. We find that out of the four relevant branches, only one, the upper symmetric branch, corresponds to a spectrally and dynamically robust solution. We subsequently leverage detailed direct numerical computations in order to explore the dynamics of the different states, corroborating our spectral analysis results.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1971

The equilibrium and stability of the gaseous component of the galaxy, 2

A time-independent, linear, plane and axially-symmetric stability analysis was performed on a self-gravitating, plane-parallel, isothermal layer of nonmagnetic, nonrotating gas. The gas layer was immersed in a plane-stratified field isothermal layer of stars which supply a self-consistent gravitational field. Only the gaseous component was perturbed. Expressions were derived for the perturbed gas potential and perturbed gas density that satisfied both the Poisson and hydrostatic equilibrium equations. The equation governing the size of the perturbations in the mid-plane was found to be analogous to the one-dimensional time-independent Schrodinger equation for a particle bound by a potential well, and with similar boundary conditions. The radius of the neutral state was computed numerically and compared with the Jeans' and Ledoux radius. The inclusion of a rigid stellar component increased the Ledoux radius, though only slightly. Isodensity contours of the neutrual or marginally unstable state were constructed.

Kellman, S. A.↗
NASA NTRS1971

An on-line system for hand-printed input

The capability of graphic input/output systems is described. Topics considered are a character recognizer and dictionary building program, an initial flow chart element input program, and a system entitled The Assistant Mathematician, which uses ordinary mathematics to specify numeric computation. All three parts are necessary to allow a user to carry on a mathematical dialogue with the computer in the language and notation of his discipline or problem domain.

Williams, T. G.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Theoretical and observational analysis of spacecraft fields

In order to investigate the nondipolar contributions of spacecraft magnetic fields a simple magnetic field model is proposed. This model consists of randomly oriented dipoles in a given volume. Two sets of formulas are presented which give the rms-multipole field components, for isotropic orientations of the dipoles at given positions and for isotropic orientations of the dipoles distributed uniformly throughout a cube or sphere. The statistical results for an 8 cu m cube together with individual examples computed numerically show the following features: Beyond about 2 to 3 m distance from the center of the cube, the field is dominated by an equivalent dipole. The magnitude of the magnetic moment of the dipolar part is approximated by an expression for equal magnetic moments or generally by the Pythagorean sum of the dipole moments. The radial component is generally greater than either of the transverse components for the dipole portion as well as for the nondipolar field contributions.

Neubauer, F. M.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Electron pitch-angle diffusion driven by oblique whistler-mode turbulence.

A general description of cyclotron harmonic resonant pitch-angle scattering is presented. Quasi-linear diffusion coefficients are prescribed in terms of the wave normal distribution of plasma wave energy. Numerical computations are performed for the specific case of relativistic electrons interacting with a band of low frequency whistler-mode turbulence. A parametric treatment of the wave energy distribution permits normalized diffusion coefficients to be presented graphically solely as a function of the electron pitch-angle. The diffusion coefficients generally decrease with increasing cyclotron harmonic number. Higher harmonic diffusion is insignificant at very small electron pitch-angles, but becomes increasingly important as the pitch-angle increases. One thus expected the rate of pitch-angle scattering to decrease with increasing electron energy, since the resonant value of the latter varies proportionately with harmonic number. This indicates that, in mirror-type magnet field geometrics, such as the earth's radiation belts, the diffusion losses of high energy electrons are likely to be appreciably slower than those at low energy.

Lyons, L. R.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Theoretical analysis of rough-surface shadowing from point-source radiation.

The shadowing function, defined as the probability that a point on a rough surface will be illuminated by radiation from a source at fixed height above the surface, is considered. An exact expression for this probability is derived and evaluated approximately when the surface elevation is a normal random process. The effect of surface correlation is considered and shown to be appreciable. Several numerical computations of the shadowing function are presented.

Hardin, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1972

A method for calculating laminar viscous, compressible flows with small pressure gradients

A method is presented for calculating laminar viscous, compressible flows in which pressure gradients are assumed to be neglibible in energy conservation and in developing property relations, but not in momentum conservation. The equations are developed from Navier-Stokes equations in a noninertial reference frame. The method is an extension of an approximate method developed for calculating combined forced and contained natural convection in a rotating tank. The restriction to small density and temperature variations in the previous method is removed. For illustration, a two-dimensional simulation of the rotating tank problem is formulated, and the numerical computation procedure to be used is indicated.

Martin, E. D.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Measured and calculated mean flow properties of a two-dimensional, hypersonic, turbulent wake

The hypersonic turbulent wake produced by a wedge was studied experimentally and its properties were compared with predictions obtained from a numerical computation procedure. In the computation procedure several models for the eddy viscosity formulation of the turbulent transport were examined. Conventional-defect models and a modified mixing-length model were found to yield good predictions of the experimental data. The classical mixing-length model gave unrealistic results. The experimental data displayed similarity when velocity and temperature defects were scaled by the maximum defects and the transverse coordinate was scaled by the velocity-defect half-width.

Wagner, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Further analytical study of hybrid rocket combustion

Analytical studies of the transient and steady-state combustion processes in a hybrid rocket system are discussed. The particular system chosen consists of a gaseous oxidizer flowing within a tube of solid fuel, resulting in a heterogeneous combustion. Finite rate chemical kinetics with appropriate reaction mechanisms were incorporated in the model. A temperature dependent Arrhenius type fuel surface regression rate equation was chosen for the current study. The governing mathematical equations employed for the reacting gas phase and for the solid phase are the general, two-dimensional, time-dependent conservation equations in a cylindrical coordinate system. Keeping the simplifying assumptions to a minimum, these basic equations were programmed for numerical computation, using two implicit finite-difference schemes, the Lax-Wendroff scheme for the gas phase, and, the Crank-Nicolson scheme for the solid phase.

Hung, W. S. Y.↗
NASA NTRS1973

An algorithm for calculation of the Jordan canonical form of a matrix

Jordan canonical forms are used extensively in the literature on control systems. However, very few methods are available to compute them numerically. Most numerical methods compute a set of basis vectors in terms of which the given matrix is diagonalized when such a change of basis is possible. Here, a simple and efficient method is suggested for computing the Jordan canonical form and the corresponding transformation matrix. The method is based on the definition of a generalized eigenvector, and a natural extension of Gauss elimination techniques.

Sridhar, B.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Theoretical analysis of rotating two phase detonation in a rocket motor

Tangential mode, non-linear wave motion in a liquid propellant rocket engine is studied, using a two phase detonation wave as the reaction model. Because the detonation wave is followed immediately by expansion waves, due to the side relief in the axial direction, it is a Chapman-Jouguet wave. The strength of this wave, which may be characterized by the pressure ratio across the wave, as well as the wave speed and the local wave Mach number, are related to design parameters such as the contraction ratio, chamber speed of sound, chamber diameter, propellant injection density and velocity, and the specific heat ratio of the burned gases. In addition, the distribution of flow properties along the injector face can be computed. Numerical calculations show favorable comparison with experimental findings. Finally, the effects of drop size are discussed and a simple criterion is found to set the lower limit of validity of this strong wave analysis.

Shen, I.↗