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DOE OSTI2025

SRF cavity instability detection with machine learning at CEBAF

During the operation of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF), one or more unstable superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities often cause beam loss trips while the unstable cavities themselves do not necessarily trip off. The present RF controls for the legacy cavities report at only 1 Hz, which is too slow to detectfast transient instabilities during these trip events. These challenges make the identification of an unstable cavity out of the hundreds installed at CEBAF a difficult and time-consuming task. To tackle these issues, a fast data acquisition system (DAQ) for the legacy SRF cavities has been developed, which records the sample at 5 kHz. An unsupervised learning framework has been developed to identify anomalous SRF cavity behavior. We will discuss the present status of the DAQ system and our framework, along with recent successes in detecting anomalous cavity behavior. Overall, our method offers a practical solution for identifying unstable SRF cavities, contributing to increased beam availability and machine reliability.

Accelerator Physics↗

DOE OSTI2025

Robotic Assembly of SRF Cavity Pair

Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) cavities for particle accelerators require tight tolerances, ultrahigh vacuum, and strict cleanliness during assembly. As in the semiconductor industry, defects such as particles and residues are deleterious to performance, possibly rendering a cavity unfit for use. This problem is addressed primarily through cleanroom assembly during sensitive steps and rigorous chemical processing to prevent and remove such defects. Human workers are often the largest source of contamination, even with proper gowning and practices. The semiconductor industry has long integrated robots in cleanroom operation, but this has not occurred for SRF cavity production; SRF cavities, unlike wafers, are complex shapes, require more hands-on mechanical assembly, and are low-volume production items. At Jefferson Laboratory, a co-operative robot (cobot) has been setup to overcome these problems. Cobots are safe for use alongside human workers and can integrate new tools such as a 3D camera part detection and gripper for item manipulation. Therefore, cobots represent a promising avenue for reducing particulate generated during a variety of assembly tasks. A mockup of a cavity pair and coupler was setup and the cobot programmed to automatically pick up the coupler and place on the mating cavity flange. Particle counting methods were setup to measure human vs cobot assembly particulate generation inside a cavity mockup. Other potential uses will be discussed for further improving SRF cavity assembly steps, where a cobot can replace or assist a human operator, and what potential gains are expected.

Duzik, Adam [Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator↗

NASA NTRS1975

Lunar electromagnetic scattering. III - Propagation at arbitrary angles to the cavity axis

An analytic theory is developed for both the steady state and the time-dependent electric and magnetic fields inside the moon and its downstream cavity for interplanetary electromagnetic field fluctuations incident at arbitrary angles to the cavity axis. The moon model has an electrical conductivity, electrical permittivity, and magnetic permeability which vary arbitrarily with radius. The cavity downstream of the moon in the solar wind is assumed to be an infinitely long nonconducting cylinder. If the interplanetary field fluctuations propagate parallel to the cavity, the far cavity field is a single cylindrical transverse electric mode propagating downstream with the same frequency, wavelength, and phase velocity as the interplanetary field. The far cavity field is the result of a forced surface wave on the cylindrical boundary of the void. When the interplanetary fluctuations are incident at an arbitrary angle to the cavity axis, the far cavity field is a superposition of an infinite number of cylindrical TE and TM modes.

Horning, B. L.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Study of three-dimensional cavity flow at transonic speeds

The present investigation of cavity flow in the subsonic and transonic speed regimes gives attention to the effect of Reynolds number on the flow inside the cavity. A rectangular, three-dimensional cavity was tested over Mach 0.3-1.05, and at Reynolds number/foot from 1 million to 4.2 million; two different cavity sizes were tested. For the deeper of the two cavities, at low Reynolds number, and for all conditions tested with the shallow cavity, the data showed much less steadiness. The results also show that the shallow cavity static pressure measurements were sensitive to the thickness of the boundary layer entering the cavity.

Plentovich, E. B.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Temporal features of the outflow of heavy ionospheric ions in response to a high altitude plasma cavity

Using a hydrodynamic model for the plasma, it is demonstrated that the auroral plasma cavity is capable of drawing an appreciably large flux of oxygen ions, which are normally gravitationally bound. This escape mechanism of O(+) does not involve any additional heating or acceleration of the plasma in the ionosphere. The temporal evolution of the outflow shows that it starts near the cavity and penetrates into the ionosphere with a flux front moving down with the ion-acoustic speed. A steady outflow is reached in a few hours for a cavity at a height of one R(e) if the cavity is maintained. This time reduces to less than 1 hour for cavity heights less than 3000 km. During the transient state the outflux can appreciably exceed that in the steady state. In view of the horizontal convection, the transient outflow is of special significance. As the cavity descends, the ionospheric flux of O(+) increases; for the lower edge of the cavity in the altitude range 3000-10,000 km, the steady flux is found to be in the range 10 to the 7th to 10 to the 9th. An analysis for the steady state shows that outflow is controlled by the density scale height in the cavity.

Singh, Nagendra↗

NASA NTRS1990

Hydrogen masers with cavity frequency switching servos

The stability of the free-running hydrogen maser is limited by pulling of the unperturbed hydrogen transition frequency due to instability of the cavity resonance frequency. While automatic spin-exchange tuning is in principle the more basic and accurate method, the required beam intensity switching and the long servo time constant result in reduced stability for measuring intervals up to 10(exp 6) seconds. More importantly, the spin-exchange tuning method requires a second stable frequency source as a reference, ideally a second hydrogen maser, to get the best results. The cavity frequency switching servo, on the other hand, has very little effect on the maser short term stability, and is fast enough to correct for cavity drift while maintaining the cavity at the spin-exchange tuned offset required to minimize instability due to beam intensity fluctuations. Not only does the cavity frequency switching servo not require a second stable frequency source, but the frequency reference is the atomic hydrogen radiated beam signal, so that no extra RF connections need be made to the cavity, and externally generated signals that would perturb the hydrogen atom need not be transmitted through the cavity. The operation of the cavity frequency switching stabilization method is discussed and the transient response of the servo and certain other aspects of the technique that have potential for achieving improved basic accuracy are illustrated.

Peters, Harry E.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Analytical prediction of EM scattering by complex obstacles within electrically large open cavities

An analytical technique is described for predicting the electromagnetic (EM) scattering by complex obstacles within electrically large open waveguide cavities. This topic is of relevance to EM scattering and EMC type applications. A general open ended waveguide cavity is illustrated and is assumed to be relatively arbitrarily shaped, and the open front end of the cavity is illuminated by an arbitrarily polarized external plane wave field. The interior obstacle is assumed to be located within the cavity near the back end, and it generally contributes significantly to the fields scattered into the exterior by the entire cavity configuration. The present scattering analysis is restricted to within approximately 70 degs from boresight with respect to the open front end; outside of this region, the scattering by the external features of the cavity are generally more significant than from the interior of the cavity. The scattering analysis is composed of two main parts. One analysis is of the coupling of the incident plane wave field, via the open front end using the high frequency ray or beam shooting methods. The other analysis deals with separately obtaining the plane wave scattering characteristics of the interior obstacle. Thus the present analysis represents a hybrid combination of an asymptotic high frequency ray/beam method for tracking the fields through the cavity, together with any suitable method for obtaining a plane wave characterization of the interior obstacle.

Pathak, Prabhakar H.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Experimental investigation of turbine disk cavity aerodynamics and heat transfer

An experimental investigation of turbine disk cavity aerodynamics and heat transfer was conducted to provide an experimental data base that can guide the aerodynamic and thermal design of turbine disks and blade attachments for flow conditions and geometries simulating those of the space shuttle main engine (SSME) turbopump drive turbines. Experiments were conducted to define the nature of the aerodynamics and heat transfer of the flow within the disk cavities and blade attachments of a large scale model simulating the SSME turbopump drive turbines. These experiments include flow between the main gas path and the disk cavities, flow within the disk cavities, and leakage flows through the blade attachments and labyrinth seals. Air was used to simulate the combustion products in the gas path. Air and carbon dioxide were used to simulate the coolants injected at three locations in the disk cavities. Trace amounts of carbon dioxide were used to determine the source of the gas at selected locations on the rotors, the cavity walls, and the interstage seal. The measurements on the rotor and stationary walls in the forward and aft cavities showed that the coolant effectiveness was 90 percent or greater when the coolant flow rate was greater than the local free disk entrainment flow rate and when room temperature air was used as both coolant and gas path fluid. When a coolant-to-gas-path density ratio of 1.51 was used in the aft cavity, the coolant effectiveness on the rotor was also 90 percent or greater at the aforementioned condition. However, the coolant concentration on the stationary wall was 60 to 80 percent at the aforementioned condition indicating a more rapid mixing of the coolant and flow through the rotor shank passages. This increased mixing rate was attributed to the destabilizing effects of the adverse density gradients.

Daniels, W. A.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Cavity Unsteady-Pressure Measurements at Subsonic and Transonic Speeds

An experimental investigation was conducted in the Langley 8-Foot Transonic Pressure Tunnel to determine the flow characteristics of rectangular cavities with varying relative dimensions at subsonic and transonic speeds. Cavities were tested with width-to-depth ratios of 1, 4, 8, and 16 for length-to-depth ratios l/h of 1 through 17.5. The maximum cavity depth was 2.4 in., and the turbulent boundary layer approaching the cavity was approximately 0.5 in. thick. Unsteady- and mean static-pressure measurements were made at free-stream Mach numbers from 0.20 to 0.95 at a unit Reynolds number per foot of approximately 3 x 10(exp 6); however, only unsteady-pressure results are presented in this paper. Results indicate that as l/h increases, cavity flows changed from resonant to nonresonant with resonant amplitudes decreasing gradually. Resonant spectra are obtained largely in cavities with mean static-pressure distributions characteristic of open and transitional flows. Resonance sometimes occurred for closed flow. Increasing cavity width or decreasing cavity depth while holding l/h fixed had the effect of increasing resonant amplitudes and sometimes induced resonance. The effects due to changes in width are more pronounced. Decreasing Mach number has the effect of broadening the resonances.

Tracy, Maureen B.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Experimental and Numerical Characterization of a Cylindrical Blackbody Cavity

During hypersonic flight, high temperatures and high heat fluxes are generated on the surfaces of vehicles. The Flight Loads Laboratory (FLL) at Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) is equipped with a calibration furnace, capable of calibrating heat flux gages up to 1100kW per square meters, and temperature sensors up to 2600 C. One heating configuration of the calibration furnace is a cylindrical blackbody cavity. Throughout the blackbody there are temperature gradients due to various boundary conditions. These boundary conditions include resistance heating, radiant heat transfer, and conduction to water-cooled electrodes. Also, an inert gas is purged through the graphite blackbody to prevent it from oxidizing. Consequently, the various modes of heat transfer present during operation of the blackbody cavity must be well understood in order to produce accurate heat flux gage and temperature sensor calibrations for use in ground testing or flight testing of hypersonic vehicles. The first step towards understanding the heat transfer in the blackbody cavity was to perform experiments at 1100 C, with and without outer surface insulation, while taking detailed temperature measurements inside the blackbody cavity. Steady state thermal models of the blackbody cavity were then developed. These models included detailed thermal analysis using commercial thermal analysis software. Conduction, radiation, and convection were considered in the thermal models for two cases: one with the outside of the blackbody cavity insulated and the second without insulation. This paper describes the experimental and numerical efforts used to characterize the steady state operation of the blackbody cavity. It describes the analysis of the test measurements, the boundary conditions used in the numerical models, and how the models were calibrated to fit the experimental data. Effects of various uncertainties, such as material properties, and convection are discussed.Initial thermal models predicted temperatures in the deepest part of the blackbody cavity within 7 C of the measured value and produced trends comparable to the experimental data, throughout the models. Adjustment of the boundary conditions, which were included in the thermal models, produced good agreement with measured temperatures. Free and forced convection of the purge gas inside the blackbody was found to be insignificant.

Abdelmessih, Amanie N.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Theory of hydrophobicity: transient cavities in molecular liquids

Observation of the size distribution of transient cavities in computer simulations of water, n-hexane, and n-dodecane under benchtop conditions shows that the sizes of cavities are more sharply defined in liquid water but the most-probable-size cavities are about the same size in each of these liquids. The calculated solvent atomic density in contact with these cavities shows that water applies more force per unit area of cavity surface than do the hydrocarbon liquids. This contact density, or "squeezing" force, reaches a maximum near cavity diameters of 2.4 angstroms. The results for liquid water are compared to the predictions of simple theories and, in addition, to results for a reference simple liquid. The numerical data for water at a range of temperatures are analyzed to extract a surface free energy contribution to the work of formation of atomic-size cavities. Comparison with the liquid-vapor interfacial tensions of the model liquids studied here indicates that the surface free energies extracted for atomic-size cavities cannot be accurately identified with the macroscopic surface tensions of the systems.

NASA Center ARC↗

NASA NTRS2004

Category 5: Sound Generation In Viscous Problems. Problem 2: Sound Generation By Flow Over a Cavity

The discrete frequency sound produced by the flow of air at low subsonic speeds over a deep cavity was investigated. A long aspect ratio rectangular cavity with a leading edge overhang that cut off of the cavity opening was placed flush with the top surface of a wind tunnel. The approach flow velocity was maintained at 50 m/s for the benchmark problem although results are also presented for other conditions. Boundary layer measurements conducted with a single element hotwire anemometer indicated that the boundary layer thickness just upstream of the cavity was equal to 17 mm. Sound pressure level measurements were made at three locations in the cavity: the center of the leading edge wall, the center of the cavity floor, and the center of the trailing edge wall. Three discrete tones were measured at all three locations with corresponding Strouhal numbers (based on cavity opening length and approach flow velocity) equal to 0.24, 0.26, and 0.41. The amplitudes of each tone were approximately equal at each measurement location in the cavity. Measurements made at other approach flow conditions indicated that the approach flow velocity and the boundary layer thickness affected the frequency characteristics of the discrete tones.

Henderson, Brenda S.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Computational Aerothermodynamic Assessment of Space Shuttle Orbiter Tile Damage: Open Cavities

Computational aerothermodynamic simulations of Orbiter windside tile damage in flight were performed in support of the Space Shuttle Return-to-Flight effort. The simulations were performed for both hypervelocity flight and low-enthalpy wind tunnel conditions and contributed to the Return-to-Flight program by providing information to support a variety of damage scenario analyses. Computations at flight conditions were performed at or very near the peak heating trajectory point for multiple damage scenarios involving damage windside acreage reaction cured glass (RCG) coated silica tile(s). The cavities formed by the missing tile examined in this study were relatively short leading to flow features which indicated open cavity behavior. Results of the computations indicated elevated heating bump factor levels predicted for flight over the predictions for wind tunnel conditions. The peak heating bump factors, defined as the local heating to a reference value upstream of the cavity, on the cavity floor for flight simulation were 67% larger than the peak wind tunnel simulation value. On the downstream face of the cavity the flight simulation values were 60% larger than the wind tunnel simulation values. On the outer mold line (OML) downstream of the cavity, the flight values are about 20% larger than the wind tunnel simulation values. The higher heating bump factors observed in the flight simulations were due to the larger driving potential in terms of energy entering the cavity for the flight simulations. This is evidenced by the larger rate of increase in the total enthalpy through the boundary layer prior to the cavity for the flight simulation.

Pulsonetti, Maria↗

NASA NTRS2010

Geometric Model of a Coronal Cavity

We observed a coronal cavity from August 8-18 2007 during a multi-instrument observing campaign organized under the auspices of the International Heliophysical Year (IHY). Here we present initial efforts to model the cavity with a geometrical streamer-cavity model. The model is based the white-light streamer mode] of Gibson et a]. (2003 ), which has been enhanced by the addition of a cavity and the capability to model EUV and X-ray emission. The cavity is modeled with an elliptical cross-section and Gaussian fall-off in length and width inside the streamer. Density and temperature can be varied in the streamer and cavity and constrained via comparison with data. Although this model is purely morphological, it allows for three-dimensional, multi-temperature analysis and characterization of the data, which can then provide constraints for future physical modeling. Initial comparisons to STEREO/EUVI images of the cavity and streamer show that the model can provide a good fit to the data. This work is part of the effort of the International Space Science Institute International Team on Prominence Cavities

Kucera, Therese A.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Thermal Properties and Evolution of a Coronal Cavity as Observed by the X-Ray Telescope on Hinode

Coronal cavities are voids in coronal emission often observed above high latitude filament channels. sometimes, these cavities have areas of bright x-ray emission in their centers (i.e. Hudson et al 1999). In this study, we use data from the x-ray Telescope (XRT) on Hinode to examine the thermal emission properties of a cavity observed during July 2008 that contains bright x-ray emission in its center. using ratios of XRT filters, we find evidence for elevated temperatures in the cavity center. The area of elevated temperature evolves from a ring-shaped structure at the be~inning of the observation, to an elongated structure two days later, finally appearing as a compact round source four days after the initial observation. We use a morphological model to fit the cavity emission, and find that a uniform structure running through the cavity does not fit the observations well. Instead, the observations are reproduced by modeling several short cavity "cores" with different parameters on different days. These changing core parameters may be due to some observed activity heating different parts of the cavity core at different times. We also find that core temperatures of 1.75 MK, 1.7 MK and 2.25 MK (for 19 July, 21 July and 23 July, respectively) in the model lead to structures that are consistent with the data, and that line-of-sight effects serve to lower the effective temperature derived from the filter ratio. page

Reeves, K. K.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Thermal Properties of A Solar Coronal Cavity Observed with the X-Ray Telescope on Hinode

Coronal cavities are voids in coronal emission often observed above high latitude filament channels. Sometimes, these cavities have areas of bright X-ray emission in their centers. In this study, we use data from the X-ray Telescope (XRT) on the Hinode satellite to examine the thermal emission properties of a cavity observed during July 2008 that contains bright X-ray emission in its center. Using ratios of XRT filters, we find evidence for elevated temperatures in the cavity center. The area of elevated temperature evolves from a ring-shaped structure at the beginning of the observation, to an elongated structure two days later, finally appearing as a compact round source four days after the initial observation. We use a morphological model to fit the cavity emission, and find that a uniform structure running through the cavity does not fit the observations well. Instead, the observations are reproduced by modeling several short cylindrical cavity "cores" with different parameters on different days. These changing core parameters may be due to some observed activity heating different parts of the cavity core at different times. We find that core temperatures of 1.75 MK, 1.7 MK and 2.0 MK (for July 19, July 21 and July 23, respectively) in the model lead to structures that are consistent with the data, and that line-of-sight effects serve to lower the effective temperature derived from the filter ratio.

Reeves, Katherine K.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Effect of Sweep on Cavity Flow Fields at Subsonic and Transonic Speeds

An experimental investigation was conducted in the NASA Langley 7 x 10-Foot High Speed Tunnel (HST) to study the effect of leading- and trailing-edge sweep on cavity flow fields for a range of cavity length-to-height (l/h) ratios. The free-stream Mach number was varied from 0.2 to 0.8. The cavity had a depth of 0.5 inches, a width of 2.5 inches, and a maximum length of 12.0 inches. The leading- and trailing-edge sweep was adjusted using block inserts to achieve leading edge sweep angles of 65 deg, 55 deg, 45 deg, 35 deg, and 0 deg. The fore and aft cavity walls were always parallel. The aft wall of the cavity was remotely positioned to achieve a range of length-to-depth ratios. Fluctuating- and static-pressure data were obtained on the floor of the cavity. The fluctuating pressure data were used to determine whether or not resonance occurred in the cavity rather than to provide a characterization of the fluctuating pressure field. Qualitative surface flow visualization was obtained using a technique in which colored water was introduced into the model through static-pressure orifices. A complete tabulation of the mean static-pressure data for the swept leading edge cavities is included.

Tracy, Maureen B.↗

DOE OSTI2024

Healing Gradient Degradation in Nb3Sn SRF Cavities Using a Recoating Method

Despite having advantageous superconducting properties, Nb3Sn superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavities still have practical challenges compared to Nb SRF cavities due to the brittle nature of Nb3Sn. Performance degradation can occur when a Nb3Sn SRF cavity experiences mechanical stresses such as during handling and tuning of the cavity. In this study, we present a potential treatment for SRF cavities that have experienced stress induced performance degradation that involves a recoating procedure. The degraded cavity is coated with a small amount of Sn using a single step vapor-diffusion methodology. Using this approach we can recover a significant portion of the lost performance of a Nb3Sn SRF cavity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗