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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 451 records · Page 25

The Dynamics of Ions on Phased Radio-frequency Carpets in High Pressure Gases and Application for Barium Tagging in Xenon Gas Time Projection Chambers

Radio-frequency (RF) carpets with ultra-fine pitches are examined for ion transport in gases at atmospheric pressures and above. We develop new analytic and computational methods for modeling RF ion transport at densities where dynamics are strongly influenced by buffer gas collisions. An analytic description of levitating and sweeping forces from phased arrays is obtained, then thermodynamic and kinetic principles are used to calculate ion loss rates in the presence of collisions. This methodology is validated against detailed microscopic SIMION simulations. We then explore a parameter space of special interest for neutrinoless double beta decay experiments: transport of barium ions in xenon at pressures from 1 to 10 bar. Our computations account for molecular ion formation and pressure dependent mobility as well as finite temperature effects. We discuss the challenges associated with achieving suitable operating conditions, which lie beyond the capabilities of existing devices, using presently available or near-future manufacturing techniques.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Application of regression, variance, and density based global sensitivity methods to integrated VERA-CS and BISON simulations [Application of regression, variance, and density based global sensitivity methods to integrated VERA-CS and BISON simulations]

Uncertainty quantification (UQ) and sensitivity analyses (SA) are performed for coupled simulations between VERA-CS, a coupled pin resolved neutron transport and subchannel thermal hydraulics code, and the fuel performance code BISON. The interface between VERA-CS and BISON is performed in a multiphysics environment known as the LOCA Toolkit for U.S. light water reactors (LOTUS) currently under development at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). A focus is placed on using a variety of SA measures, including two regression based (Pearson and Spearman), one variance based (Sobol indices), and three moment independent measures (Delta moment independent measures with L 1 , L 2 , and L ∞ norms). The problem under inspection is a single assembly depletion case for three fuel cycles. The figures of merit are the minimum departure from nucleate boiling ratio (MDNBR), maximum fuel centerline temperature (MFCT), and gap conductance at peak power (GCPP). SA results show MDNBR to be linear with consistent rankings throughout the fuel cycles. MFCT is linear, but with a change in rankings at the switch from open gap to closed gap models. GCPP is nonlinear at intermediate states that coincide with the onset of contact between fuel and cladding. Furthermore, these nonlinear states allow for the showcasing of higher order SA measures over first order methods.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Spectral Element Applications in Complex Nuclear Reactor Geometries: Tet-to-Hex Meshing

The spectral element code Nek5000 is an open-source, higher-order computational fluid dynamics code developed at Argonne National Laboratory. It is designed to solve incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, but it also has a low-Mach-number approximation feature available. Large eddy simulation is approached by explicit filtering of the velocity field (and other fields) to mimic the effect of dissipation due to the unresolved scale. The computational domain is decomposed into second-order hexahedral elements that conform to the boundaries. However, generating a high-quality pure-hexahedral mesh can be challenging for some problems. For simple geometries, traditional blocking methods can be used to decompose the domain into smaller blocks to generate a so-called structural mesh. A structural mesh can maintain good orthogonality but can have a highly skewed mesh to conform to the geometry, as well as unnecessary refinement in the far field. Moreover, for geometries with relative complexity, blocking the geometry becomes impossible. To address these issues, we adopted a let-to-hex strategy to generate a pure hexahedral mesh for Nek5000. First, we generate a pure tetrahedral mesh for the geometry; then we divide one tetrahedral element into four hexahedral elements. A pure tetrahedral mesh could be easily generated for complex geometries by using many current meshing codes. In this paper, we use the commercial codes ANSYS meshing and ANSYSICEM to generate the pure tetrahedral mesh and then convert it to a pure hexahedral mesh. Boundary layers are extruded in ANSYSICEM to maintain near-wall resolution.

ANSYS ICEM↗

Simulation of thermal hydraulic performance of multiple parallel micropin arrays for concentrating solar thermal applications with supercritical carbon dioxide

Concentrated solar power (CSP) plants have the potential to provide 24 h, renewable electricity. Current CSP systems have high capital and operational costs which makes the levelized cost of electricity uncompetitive with conventional techniques. Recent experimental research has shown the potential of small unit cells (up to 2 × 2 cm) containing micropin arrays (D H < 1 mm) to operate efficiently at high incident flux (>140 W cm -2 ) using supercritical carbon dioxide as the working fluid. Applying this technology to CSP systems would result in a smaller central receiver, which would reduce thermal losses, increase receiver efficiency and reduce the capital cost of the receiver component. This study investigates and addresses the practical thermal and hydraulic issues in numbering up these small unit cells into numerous parallel cells within an integrated module design. A thermal hydraulic network model is developed to quantify the distribution and the overall receiver efficiency of an integrated module. This model is used to specify maximum allowable unit cell size and header dimensions to maintain acceptable thermal performance and pressure loss. Once a module design was finalized, parametric studies were performed to study the effects of varying incident flux on flow distribution and thermal performance of the module. Finally, the results show that an integrated module design can be achieved with less than 5% flow maldistribution and a pressure drop acceptable to the remainder of the system.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗