SEARCH · Engineering Papers
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Tungsten-185 activity, which is produced by neutron activation of tungsten-184, determines thermal neutron flux. Radiochemical separation methods and counting techniques for irradiated tungsten provide accurate determination of the radiation exposure.
Cosmic ray neutron integrated flux measurements up to 350 km for energies to 15 Mev, determining neutron leakage flux
Rotating neutron stars, pulsars and cosmic X ray sources, accounting for large and small diameter sources by rotating neutron star losing mass in magnetic field
Neutron capture cross sections of molybdenum, tantalum, and U-238 and neutron flux spectrum measurements using He-3 proportional counter
Fast neutron transport characteristics of helical ducts using Monte Carlo code FASTER, computing neutron fluxes and attenuation
Fast neutron energy spectrum and flux, using balloon flight neutron detector with charged particle rejection scheme and pulse shape discriminator for gamma rays separation
Neutron radiographic viewing system consisting of camera head and control processor is developed for use in nondestructive testing applications. Camera head consists of neutron-sensitive image intensifier system, power supply, and SEC vidicon camera head. Both systems, with their optics, are housed on test mount.
The theory used in FASTER-III, a Monte Carlo computer program for the transport of neutrons and gamma rays in complex geometries, is outlined. The program includes the treatment of geometric regions bounded by quadratic and quadric surfaces with multiple radiation sources which have specified space, angle, and energy dependence. The program calculates, using importance sampling, the resulting number and energy fluxes at specified point, surface, and volume detectors. It can also calculate minimum weight shield configuration meeting a specified dose rate constraint. Results are presented for sample problems involving primary neutron, and primary and secondary photon, transport in a spherical reactor shield configuration.
The application of time of flight techniques for determining the shapes of the energy spectra of neutrons between 20 and 400 MeV is discussed. The neutrons are emitted at 20, 34, and 90 degrees in the bombardment of targets by 3 GeV protons. The targets used are carbon, aluminum, cobalt, and platinum with cylindrical cross section. Targets being bombarded are located in the internal circulating beam of a particle accelerator.
An experiment to measure neutrons in the upper atmosphere was performed on a balloon flight from Palestine, Texas, at an altitude of about 32 km. The experimental arrangement is discussed briefly, and results of a preliminary analysis of the data for neutrons in the energy range 3 to 30 MeV are given.
A method is examined for calculating the error of experimental data from a standard neutron monitor with the multiplicity of neutron generation. It is shown that use of the Poisson distribution to estimate the real statistical error is inadequate. The method proposed is for analysis of low-amplitude periodicities in the cosmic-ray variations.
The structure of the interior of neutron stars was examined. The equation of state for the interior of neutron stars was calculated.
The neutrons emitted by a plasma focus were analyzed by using a time-of-flight method. Flight paths as large as 80 m were used to obtain better than 10% energy resolution. The energy spectrum of neutrons from d-d reactions in the plasma focus shows a sharp onset with average maximum energies of 2.8 and 3.2 MeV in the radial and the axial directions, respectively. The average half-width of the energy spectrum was 270 keV with a shot-to-shot variation between 150 and 400 keV. Simultaneous measurements in the axial and radial directions showed no appreciable difference in the half-widths and thus indicated randomly oriented ion velocities in the plasma. A converging ion model is described which is found to be in agreement with the measured quantities.
The use of neutron radiographs to determine dimensional changes of heat transfer gaps in cylindrical nuclear fueled capsules is described. A method was developed which involves scanning a very fine grained neutron radiograph negative with a recording microdensitometer. The output of the densitometer is recorded on graph paper and the heat transfer gap is plotted as a well-defined optical density change. Calibration of the recording microdensitometer ratio arms permits measurements to be made of the heat transfer optical density change from the microdensitometer trace. Total heat transfer gaps, measured by this method, agree with the physical measurements within plus or minus 0.005 cm over a range of gaps from 0.061 to 0.178 cm.
Current theories of stellar evolution are examined, giving attention to neutrino emission processes and stellar collapse. Neutrinos can transfer energy produced in the collapsing core to the outer parts of the star. If the remaining core does not exceed a certain mass, it can remain in this highly condensed state to form a neutron star. The properties of neutron matter are discussed, taking into account the superfluid state, the crystallization of matter at subnuclear densities, aspects of rotation, and the magnetic field.
The degradation in performance of lithium-compensated silicon nuclear particle detectors induced by irradiation at room temperature with 0.6-MeV and 1.5-MeV electrons, 1.9-MeV protons, and fast neutrons from a plutonium-beryllium source has been investigated. With increasing fluence, the irradiations produced an increase of detector leakage current, noise, capacitance, and a degradation in the performance of the detector as a charged-particle energy spectrometer. Following the irradiations, annealing effects were observed when the detectors were reverse-biased at their recommended operating voltages. Upon removal of bias, a continuous degradation of detector performance characteristics occurred. Detectors which had been damaged by electrons and protons exhibited a stabilization in their characteristics within two weeks after irradiation, whereas detectors damaged by neutrons had a continuous degradation of performance over a period of several months.
Dose-response curves for pink somatic mutations in Tradescantia stamen hairs were analyzed after neutron and X-ray irradiation with doses ranging from a fraction of a rad to the region of saturation. The dose-effect relation for neutrons indicates a linear dependence from 0.01 to 8 rads; between 0.25 and 5 rads, a linear dependence is indicated for X-rays also. As a consequence the relative biological effectiveness reaches a constant value (about 50) at low doses. The observations are in good agreement with the predictions of the theory of dual radiation action and support its interpretation of the effects of radiation on higher organisms. The doubling dose of X-rays was found to be nearly 1 rad.
Study of the isotopic composition of gadolinium and samarium in four soil and seven drill stem samples returned by the Apollo 15 mission. The results show the possibility to date sedimentary processes on the lunar surface for time scales of around 100 million years because of the particular dependence of neutron capture reactions on depth. The neutron flux has a distinct peak as a function of depth. This peak appears to lie below the level of shallow cratering for time scales of less than one billion years and consequently forms a readily identified marker layer of both depth and time.