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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 703 records · Page 39

Magnetic Shield Design Modeling and Validation on SWOT Spacecraft Applied to Mars Flux Pinning Orbiting Sample Design

A modeling methodology was developed for use on the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission for the computational modeling and design of a magnetic shield for a 63 A-sq m source. Shield options were modeled and tested across various design parameters and validated with measurement. Measurement results fell within 10% of simulation in most cases of concern with sources of error well understood. These methods results informed a subsequent modeling activity for a future Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission concept with stringent magnetic cleanliness requirements to retain geologic integrity of the samples. One option for capturing the sample from orbit requires rare earth magnets in close proximity to the Martian samples. Magnetic modeling with a finite-element method solver estimated the magnetic environment and established the need for shielding. Further modeling then determined the shielding necessary to meet magnetic requirements, followed by the design of a mass-optimized solution.

Gonzales, Edward↗

Pinned in Microgravity: How Colloidal Suspensions Inhibit Droplet Motion

Understanding the fundamental behavior of colloidal fluids in microgravity is critical for advancing material science, manufacturing, and biological processes. In this study we investigate the dynamics of a droplet containing colloidal suspension when ejected in short term microgravity. These conditions are generated using a 2.2 second drop tower. A custom droplet generator was designed to produce consistent size-controlled droplets containing passive colloidal particles. The particles are suspended in water and subsequently ejected out of a hydrophobic wedge under microgravity conditions, where the droplet ejection time can be predicted [Torres & Weislogel, 2021]. The ejection times will be compared with de-ionized water ejected from the same system to investigate the effects of change in density and surface tension caused by the colloids. Successful passive colloidal ejection will lay the foundation for active colloid research in the future.

colloids↗

Results of Critical Experiments on Water-Moderated Fully-Reflected 6.90% Enriched UO2 Fuel Pin Arrays with a Fuel-to-Water Volume Ratio of 0.52 [Slides]

We have completed a second set of experiments in the Seven Percent Critical Experiment (7uPCX). We completed an evaluation of the experiments as criticality safety benchmark experiments. The reviews of the benchmark evaluation have been completed. The evaluation will be published in the 2013 edition of the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Benchmark Experiments as LEU-COMP THERM-078 (LCT078). This presentation is a brief tour of the experiments.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

A Parallel Multi-Domain Solution Methodology Applied to Nonlinear Thermal Transport Problems in Nuclear Fuel Pins

This paper describes an efficient and nonlinearly consistent parallel solution methodology for solving coupled nonlinear thermal transport problems that occur in nuclear reactor applications over hundreds of individual 3D physical subdomains. Efficiency is obtained by leveraging knowledge of the physical domains, the physics on individual domains, and the couplings between them for preconditioning within a Jacobian Free Newton Krylov method. Details of the computational infrastructure that enabled this work, namely the open source Advanced Multi-Physics (AMP) package developed by the authors is described. Details of verification and validation experiments, and parallel performance analysis in weak and strong scaling studies demonstrating the achieved efficiency of the algorithm are presented. Furthermore, numerical experiments demonstrate that the preconditioner developed is independent of the number of fuel subdomains in a fuel rod, which is particularly important when simulating different types of fuel rods. Finally, we demonstrate the power of the coupling methodology by considering problems with couplings between surface and volume physics and coupling of nonlinear thermal transport in fuel rods to an external radiation transport code.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗