Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “ELEMENTS”

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.

At least 865 records · Page 48
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Gas-phase oxidation and nanoparticle formation in multi-element laser ablation plumes

The evolution from gas-phase oxidation to nanoparticle and agglomerate formation was studied in nanosecond laser-produced plasmas of a multi-principal element alloy target in air. Here gas-phase oxidation of plasma species was monitored in situ via optical emission spectroscopy, while a custom-built single particle mass spectrometer was used to measure size and compositions of agglomerated nanoparticles formed in laser ablation plumes. Ex situ analysis employing transmission electron microscopy was used to study nanoparticle morphology, crystal structure, and element distribution at the nanoscale. Emission spectra indicate that gas-phase oxidation of elements in the alloy target are formed at varying times during plume evolution, and mass spectrometry results indicate fractal agglomerates contain all principal alloying elements and their oxides. Finally, electron microscopy characterization illustrates that these agglomerates consist of multiple material types: sub-10 nm diameter amorphous, multi-element nanoparticles, ≈10–30 nm diameter Ti-rich crystalline oxide nanoparticles, and ejected base material. Results highlight that the multi-component target composition impacts molecular formation in the gas phase and the morphology, composition, and structure of nanoparticles and agglomerates formed.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

How to efficiently select an arbitrary Clifford group element

We give an algorithm which produces a unique element of the Clifford group on n qubits (C{sub n}) from an integer 0≤i<|C{sub n}| (the number of elements in the group). The algorithm involves O(n{sup 3}) operations and provides, in addition to a canonical mapping from the integers to group elements g, a factorization of g into a sequence of at most 4n symplectic transvections. The algorithm can be used to efficiently select random elements of C{sub n} which are often useful in quantum information theory and quantum computation. We also give an algorithm for the inverse map, indexing a group element in time O(n{sup 3})

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Element specificity of ortho-positronium annihilation for alkali-metal loaded SiO{sub 2} glasses

Momentum distributions associated with ortho-positronium (o-Ps) pick-off annihilation photon are often influenced by light elements, as, e.g., carbon, oxygen, and fluorine. This phenomenon, so-called element specificity of o-Ps pick-off annihilation, has been utilized for studying the elemental environment around the open spaces. To gain an insight into the element specificity of o-Ps pick-off annihilation, the chemical shift of oxygen 1s binding energy and the momentum distributions associated with o-Ps pick-off annihilation were systematically investigated for alkali-metal loaded SiO{sub 2} glasses by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and positron-age-momentum correlation spectroscopy, respectively. Alkali metals introduced into the open spaces surrounded by oxygen atoms cause charge transfer from alkali metals to oxygen atoms, leading to the lower chemical shift for the oxygen 1s binding energy. The momentum distribution of o-Ps localized into the open spaces is found to be closely correlated with the oxygen 1s chemical shift. This correlation with the deepest 1s energy level evidences that the element specificity of o-Ps originates from pick-off annihilation with orbital electrons, i.e., dominantly with oxygen 2p valence electrons and s electrons with lower probability.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Synergistic effect of alloying elements doping and external pressure on the elastic property of Ni{sub 3}Al: A first-principles study

In this paper, the basic electronic structures and elastic properties of Ni{sub 3}Al doping with alloying elements (Re, Cr, and Mo) under different pressures have been investigated using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory. It is shown that both alloying elements and external applied pressure contribute positively to the elastic properties of Ni{sub 3}Al, and the configurations of the compounds remain almost unchanged. The calculated elastic constants and moduli increase linearly with the pressure increasing from 0 and 40 GPa. Among the alloying elements studied in the present work, Re exhibits the most significant effect compared with the other elements, showing its practical importance. Especially, if both alloying elements doping and pressure effects are considered simultaneously, which has not been considered previously, the studied compounds exhibit an even better elastic property than the simple superposition of the two influences. Such synergistic effect demonstrates promising applications of Ni-based single crystal superalloys in possible extreme mechanical environments.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

EFFECT OF COULOMB COLLISIONS ON THE GRAVITATIONAL SETTLING OF LOW AND HIGH FIRST IONIZATION POTENTIAL ELEMENTS

We model the effect of gravitational settling in the upper chromosphere on O, Fe, Si, and Ne, studying whether Coulomb collisions between ionized low First Ionization Potential (FIP) elements and protons is sufficient to cause abundance enhancements relative to oxygen. We find that low-FIP abundance enhancements comparable to observed values can be obtained provided the hydrogen ionization degree lies in the approximate range 10%-30%, which agrees with chromospheric models. Lower or higher hydrogen ionization causes the FIP-effect to become smaller or absent (depletion of all heavy elements). Iron must be almost fully ionized in order to become enriched relative to high-FIP elements, and this requires a high iron photoionization rate. The time scale necessary to produce the enrichment increases rapidly with increasing H ionization. For iron in a background from a semiempirical chromospheric model, with an H ion fraction of the order of 30%-40% in the upper chromosphere, 1-2 hr of settling is required to produce enhancements comparable to observations. The absolute abundance (relative to H), which monotonically decreases with time during settling, has by that time decreased by less than 50% in the same altitude region. With the same background conditions, the silicon abundance is more strongly enhanced by the settling than the iron abundance. The high-FIP element neon is depleted, relative to O and low-FIP elements, in the same background and altitude region where iron is enhanced, typically by 50% or more relative to O after 1-2 hr of settling.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

The superTIGER instrument: Measurement of elemental abundances of ultra-heavy galactic cosmic rays

The SuperTIGER (Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) instrument was developed to measure the abundances of galactic cosmic-ray elements from {sub 10}Ne to {sub 40}Zr with individual element resolution and the high statistics needed to test models of cosmic-ray origins. SuperTIGER also makes exploratory measurements of the abundances of elements with 40 < Z ≤ 60 and measures the energy spectra of the more abundant elements for Z ≤ 30 from about 0.8 to 10 GeV/nucleon. This instrument is an enlarged and higher resolution version of the earlier TIGER instrument. It was designed to provide the largest geometric acceptance possible and to reach as high an altitude as possible, flying on a standard long-duration 1.11 million m{sup 3} balloon. SuperTIGER was launched from Williams Field, McMurdo Station, Antarctica, on 2012 December 8, and made about 2.7 revolutions around the South Pole in 55 days of flight, returning data on over 50 × 10{sup 6} cosmic-ray nuclei with Z ≥ 10, including ∼1300 with Z > 29 and ∼60 with Z > 49. Here, we describe the instrument, the methods of charge identification employed, the SuperTIGER balloon flight, and the instrument performance.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Access to edge scenarios for testing a scraper element in early operation phases of Wendelstein 7-X

The edge topology of magnetic fusion devices is decisive for the control of the plasma exhaust. In Wendelstein 7-X, the island divertor concept will be used, for which the edge topology can change significantly as the internal currents in a plasma discharge evolve towards steady-state. Consequently, the device has been optimized to minimize such internal currents, in particular the bootstrap current [1]. Nonetheless, there are predicted pulse scenarios where effects of the remaining internal currents could potentially lead to overload of plasma-facing components. These internal currents are predicted to evolve on long time scales (tens of seconds) so their effects on the edge topology and the divertor heat loads may not be experimentally accessible in the first years of W7-X operation, where only relatively short pulses are possible. However, we show here that for at least one important long-pulse divertor operation issue, relevant physics experiments can be performed already in short-pulse operation, through judicious adjustment of the edge topology by the use of the existing coil sets. The specific issue studied here is a potential overload of the divertor element edges. This overload might be mitigated by the installation of an extra set of plasma-facing components, so-called scraper elements, as suggested in earlier publications. It is shown here that by a targeted control of edge topology, the effectiveness of such scraper elements can be tested already with uncooled test-scraper elements in short-pulse operation. Furthermore, this will allow an early and well-informed decision on whether long-pulse-capable (actively cooled) scraper elements should be built and installed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

THE ORIGINS OF LIGHT AND HEAVY R-PROCESS ELEMENTS IDENTIFIED BY CHEMICAL TAGGING OF METAL-POOR STARS

Growing interests in neutron star (NS) mergers as the origin of r-process elements have sprouted since the discovery of evidence for the ejection of these elements from a short-duration γ-ray burst. The hypothesis of a NS merger origin is reinforced by a theoretical update of nucleosynthesis in NS mergers successful in yielding r-process nuclides with A > 130. On the other hand, whether the origin of light r-process elements are associated with nucleosynthesis in NS merger events remains unclear. We find a signature of nucleosynthesis in NS mergers from peculiar chemical abundances of stars belonging to the Galactic globular cluster M15. This finding combined with the recent nucleosynthesis results implies a potential diversity of nucleosynthesis in NS mergers. Based on these considerations, we are successful in the interpretation of an observed correlation between [light r-process/Eu] and [Eu/Fe] among Galactic halo stars and accordingly narrow down the role of supernova nucleosynthesis in the r-process production site. We conclude that the tight correlation by a large fraction of halo stars is attributable to the fact that core-collapse supernovae produce light r-process elements while heavy r-process elements such as Eu and Ba are produced by NS mergers. On the other hand, stars in the outlier, composed of r-enhanced stars ([Eu/Fe] ≳ +1) such as CS22892-052, were exclusively enriched by matter ejected by a subclass of NS mergers that is inclined to be massive and consist of both light and heavy r-process nuclides.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mixed waste contamination selects for a mobile genetic element population enriched in multiple heavy metal resistance genes

Abstract Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) like plasmids, viruses, and transposable elements can provide fitness benefits to their hosts for survival in the presence of environmental stressors. Heavy metal resistance genes (HMRGs) are frequently observed on MGEs, suggesting that MGEs may be an important driver of adaptive evolution in environments contaminated with heavy metals. Here, we report the meta-mobilome of the heavy metal-contaminated regions of the Oak Ridge Reservation subsurface. This meta-mobilome was compared with one derived from samples collected from unimpacted regions of the Oak Ridge Reservation subsurface. We assembled 1615 unique circularized DNA elements that we propose to be MGEs. The circular elements from the highly contaminated subsurface were enriched in HMRG clusters relative to those from the nearby unimpacted regions. Additionally, we found that these HMRGs were associated with Gamma and Betaproteobacteria hosts in the contaminated subsurface and potentially facilitate the persistence and dominance of these taxa in this region. Finally, the HMRGs were associated with conjugative elements, suggesting their potential for future lateral transfer. We demonstrate how our understanding of MGE ecology, evolution, and function can be enhanced through the genomic context provided by completed MGE assemblies.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

An finite element analysis surrogate model with boundary oriented graph embedding approach for rapid design

Abstract In this work, we present a boundary oriented graph embedding (BOGE) approach for the graph neural network to assist in rapid design and digital prototyping. The cantilever beam problem has been solved as an example to validate its potential of providing physical field results and optimized designs using only 10 ms. Providing shortcuts for both boundary elements and local neighbor elements, the BOGE approach can embed unstructured mesh elements into the graph and performs an efficient regression on large-scale triangular-mesh-based finite element analysis (FEA) results, which cannot be realized by other machine-learning-based surrogate methods. It has the potential to serve as a surrogate model for other boundary value problems. Focusing on the cantilever beam problem, the BOGE approach with 3-layer DeepGCN model achieves the regression with mean square error (MSE) of 0.011 706 (2.41% mean absolute percentage error) for stress field prediction and 0.002 735 MSE (with 1.58% elements having error larger than 0.01) for topological optimization. The overall concept of the BOGE approach paves the way for a general and efficient deep-learning-based FEA simulator that will benefit both industry and Computer Aided Design (CAD) design-related areas.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Proteomic Insights into Trichome Responses to Elevated Elemental Stress in Cation Exchanger (CAX) Mutants

Abstract Research on elemental distribution in plants is crucial for understanding nutrient uptake, environmental adaptation and optimizing agricultural practices for sustainable food production. Plant trichomes, with their self-contained structures and easy accessibility, offer a robust model system for investigating elemental repartitioning. Transport proteins, such as the four functional cation exchangers (CAXs) in Arabidopsis, are low-affinity, high-capacity transporters primarily located on the vacuole. Mutants in these transporters have been partially characterized, one of the phenotypes of the CAX1 mutant being altered with tolerance to low-oxygen conditions. A simple visual screen demonstrated trichome density and morphology in cax1, and quadruple CAX (cax1-4: qKO) mutants remained unaltered. Here, we used synchrotron X-ray fluorescence (SXRF) to show that trichomes in CAX-deficient lines accumulated high levels of chlorine, potassium, calcium and manganese. Proteomic analysis on isolated Arabidopsis trichomes showed changes in protein abundance in response to changes in element accumulation. The CAX mutants showed an increased abundance of plasma membrane ATPase and vacuolar H-pumping proteins, and proteins associated with water movement and endocytosis, while also showing changes in proteins associated with the regulation of plasmodesmata. These findings advance our understanding of the integration of CAX transport with elemental homeostasis within trichomes and shed light on how plants modulate protein abundance under conditions of altered elemental levels.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Design and Analysis of Multifidelity Finite Element Simulations

Abstract The numerical accuracy of finite element analysis (FEA) depends on the number of finite elements used in the discretization of the space, which can be varied using the mesh size. The larger the number of elements, the more accurate the results are. However, the computational cost increases with the number of elements. In current practice, the experimenter chooses a mesh size that is expected to produce a reasonably accurate result, and for which the computer simulation can be completed in a reasonable amount of time. Improvements to this approach have been proposed using multifidelity modeling by choosing two or three mesh sizes. However, mesh size is a continuous parameter, and therefore, multifidelity simulations can be performed easily by choosing a different value for the mesh size for each of the simulations. In this article, we develop a method to optimally find the mesh sizes for each simulation and satisfy the same time constraints as a single or a double mesh size experiment. A range of different mesh sizes used in the proposed method allows one to fit multifidelity models more reliably and predict the outcome when meshes approach infinitesimally small, which is impossible to achieve in actual simulations. We illustrate our approach using an analytical function and a cantilever beam finite element analysis experiment.

Engineering↗
DOE OSTI2016

TU-D-201-04: Veracity of Data Elements in Radiation Oncology Incident Learning Systems

Purpose: Incident learning systems encompass volumes, varieties, values, and velocities of underlying data elements consistent with the V’s of big data. Veracity, the 5th V however exists only if there is high inter-rater reliability (IRR) within the data elements. The purpose of this work was to assess IRR in the nationally deployed RO-ILS: Radiation Oncology-Incident Learning System (R) sponsored by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). Methods: Ten incident reports covering a wide range of scenarios were created in standardized narrative and video formats and disseminated to 67 volunteers of multiple disciplines from 26 institutions along with two published narratives from the International Commission of Radiological Protection to assess IRR on a nationally representative level. The volunteers were instructed to independently enter the associated data elements in a test version of RO-ILS over a 3-week period. All responses were aggregated into a spreadsheet to assess IRR using free-marginal kappa metrics. Results: 48 volunteers from 21 institutions completed all reports in the study period. The average kappa score for all raters across all critical data elements was 0.659 [range 0.326–1.000]. Statistically significant differences (p <0.05) were noted between reporters of different disciplines and raters with varying levels of experience. Kappa scores were high for event classification (0.781) and contributory factors (0.777) and low for likelihood-of-harm (0.326). IRR was highest among AAPM-ASTRO members (0.672) and lowest among trainees (0.463). Conclusion: A moderate-to-substantial level of IRR in RO-ILS was noted in this study. Although the number of events reviewed in this study was small, opportunities for improving the taxonomy for the lower scoring data elements as well as specific educational targets for training were identified by assessing data veracity quantitatively. This is expected to improve the quality of the data garnered from RO-ILS.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Modular Finite Element Methods

MFEM is a free, lightweight, scalable C++ library for finite element methods. The goal of MFEM is to enable research and development of scalable finite element discretization and solver algorithms through general finite element abstractions, accurate and flexible visualization, and tight integration with the hypre library. Conceptually, MFEM can be viewed as a finite element toolbox that provides the building blocks for developing finite element algorithms in a manner similar to that of MATLAB for linear algebra methods.

ECP↗
DOE OSTI2018

Analysis of Rare Earth Elements in Uranium Using Handheld Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (HH LIBS)

In this paper, a portable handheld laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (HH LIBS) instrument was evaluated as a rapid method to qualitatively analyze rare earth elements in a uranium oxide matrix. This research is motivated by the need for development of a method to perform rapid, at-line chemical analysis in a nuclear facility, particularly to provide a rapid first pass analysis to determine if additional actions or measurements are warranted. This will result in the minimization of handling and transport of radiological and nuclear material and subsequent exposure to their associated hazards. In this work, rare earth elements (Eu, Nd, and Yb) were quantitatively spiked into a uranium oxide powder and analyzed by the HH LIBS instrumentation. This method demonstrates the ability to rapidly identify elemental constituents in sub-percent levels in a uranium matrix. Preliminary limits of detection (LODs) were determined with values on the order of hundredths of a percent. Validity of this methodology was explored by employing a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standard reference materials (SRM) 610 and 612 (Trace Elements in Glass). Finally, it was determined that the HH LIBS method was able to clearly discern the rare earths elements of interest in the glass or uranium matrices.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2019

Camellia: A Rapid Development Framework for Finite Element Solvers

We report the discontinuous Petrov–Galerkin (DPG) methodology of Demkowicz and Gopalakrishnan guarantees the optimality of the finite element solution in a user-controllable energy norm, and provides several features supporting adaptive schemes. The approach provides stability automatically; there is no need for carefully derived numerical fluxes (as in DG schemes) or for mesh-dependent stabilization terms (as in stabilized methods). In this paper, we focus on features of Camellia that facilitate implementation of new DPG formulations; chief among these is a rich set of features in support of symbolic manipulation, which allow, e.g., bilinear formulations in the code to appear much as they would on paper. Many of these features are general in the sense that they can also be used in the implementation of other finite element formulations. In fact, because DPG’s requirements are essentially a superset of those of other finite element methods, Camellia provides built-in support for most common methods. We believe, however, that the combination of an essentially “hands-free” finite element methodology as found in DPG with the rapid development features of Camellia are particularly winsome, so we focus on use cases in this class. In addition to the symbolic manipulation features mentioned above, Camellia offers support for one-irregular adaptive meshes in 1D, 2D, 3D, and space-time. It provides a geometric multigrid preconditioner particularly suited for DPG problems, and supports distributed parallel execution using MPI. For its load balancing and distributed data structures, Camellia relies on packages from the Trilinos project, which simplifies interfacing with other computational science packages. Camellia also allows loading of standard mesh formats through an interface with the MOAB package. Camellia includes support for static condensation to eliminate element-interior degrees of freedom locally, usually resulting in substantial reduction of the cost of the global problem. Finally, we include a discussion of the variational formulations built into Camellia, with references to those formulations in the literature, as well as an MPI performance study.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Simulating Electron Impact Ionization using a General Particle Tracer (GPT) Custom Element

A new C++ custom element has been developed with the framework of General Particle Tracer (GPT) to simulate electron impact ionization of residual gas molecules. The custom element uses Monte-Carlo routines to determine both the ion production rate and the secondary electron kinetic energy based on user-defined gas densities and theoretical values for the ionization cross section and the secondary electron differential cross section. It then uses relativistic kinematics to track the secondary electron, the scattered electron, and the newly formed ion after ionization. The ion production rate and the secondary electron energy distribution determined by the custom element have been benchmarked against theoretical calculations and against simulations made using the simulation package IBSimu. While the custom element was originally built for particle accelerator simulations, it is readily extensible to other applications. The custom element will be described in detail and examples of applications at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility will be presented for ion production in a DC high voltage photo-gun.

Yoskowitz, J. T.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Construction of Hexahedral Elements Mesh Capturing Realistic Geometries of Bayou Choctaw SPR Site

The three-dimensional finite element mesh capturing realistic geometries of Bayou Choctaw site has been constructed using the sonar and seismic survey data obtained from the field. The mesh is consisting of hexahedral elements because the salt constitutive model is coded using hexahedral elements. Various ideas and techniques to construct finite element mesh capturing artificially and naturally formed geometries are provided. The techniques to reduce the number of elements as much as possible to save on computer run time with maintaining the computational accuracy is also introduced. The steps and methodologies could be applied to construct the meshes of Big Hill, Bryan Mound, and West Hackberry strategic petroleum reserve sites. The methodology could be applied to the complicated shape masses for not only various civil and geological structures but also biological applications such as artificial limbs.

42 ENGINEERING↗