Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “PINS”

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 937 records · Page 52
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

$\mathrm{REX}$: An analytical tool for reactor operating envelope expansion through fuel-clad thermo-mechanics

Here REX, an analytical reactor design tool for the identification and expansion of reactor operating envelopes, is introduced and detailed. Written in MATLAB, REX takes core geometries and axially discretized detector and depletion output from the Serpent neutron transport code and performs full-core, pin-specific thermal-hydraulic and thermo-mechanical calculations. REX identifies the operating envelopes of advanced, solid-fuel nuclear reactors on the basis of their fuel-cladding, fuel-gas, and coolant-cladding interfacial thermo-mechanics. It iteratively pushes coolant inlet temperatures and modifies fuel pin geometries to induce mechanical failure in their original cladding materials at the fullest extent of their fuel cycle lengths and permissible coolant inlet temperatures. It then attempts to expand their operating envelopes by determining the mechanical responses of alternative cladding materials under the same geometric conditions. The result of the REX calculation sequence is a set of 5-D variables describing the temperatures, pressures, geometries, and mechanics of the core as functions of assembly, fuel pin, axial zone, depletion step, and coolant inlet temperature for each candidate cladding material with the limiting fuel pin geometry for the original material.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

BISON fuel performance modeling optimization for experiment X447 and X447A using axial swelling and cladding strain measurements

With the recent need to qualify new reactor designs such as the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR), fuel performance calculations need to be performed to determine safety criteria of the proposed designs. In order to validate the fuel performance results obtained by a fuel performance code, BISON, for new reactor designs, legacy fuel from EBR-II and FFTF MFF with Post -Irradiation Examination (PIE) data need to be used as validation cases to benchmark models. Here in this work, BISON has been paired with the Fuels Irradiation & Physics Database (FIPD) and IFR Materials Information System (IMIS) to supply PIE data for comparison with simulations of EBR-II experiments X447/X447A. X447/X447A were assessed by implementing models for Fuel Cladding Chemical Interaction (FCCI) within BISON and optimizing the friction coefficient between the fuel surface and the cladding, the anisotropic swelling factor, and the HT9 first thermal creep scalar (which scales the first term in the HT9 creep equation) to best match the PIE axial fuel swelling height and cladding profilometry for all pins in X447/X447A. The optimal values were found using a generic algorithm developed to select different values for the three parameters until end criteria was met and error couldn’t be reduced further. The BISON-simulated cladding profilometry was evaluated using Standard Error of the Estimate (SEE) to account for the profile shape of the cladding profilometry. Optimal values for the friction coefficient, anisotropic fuel swelling factor, and HT9 first thermal creep scalar were found to best fit the BISON simulation results to the PIE measurements found in IMIS and FIPD. Improvements to current models are suggested to account for the underprediction of fuel swelling at low burnups and the overprediction of fuel swelling at higher burnups observed for the axial fuel swelling height. Although two pins in EBR-II X447/X447A (DP70 and DP75) were known to fail due to FCCI, none of the pins simulated in BISON reached a cumulative damage fraction (CDF) above 0.008 with FCCI correlations coupled in the BISON simulations. The error estimate generated for all pins in X447/X447A using optimal values was 209 µm, which is deemed acceptable.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Numerical implementation of the MOOSE subchannel module (SCM) algorithm

The subchannel module of moose (SCM), previously referred to as Pronghorn-SC, is a subchannel code designed to resolve single-phase flow fields and calculate the relevant flow variables, in nuclear reactor fuel-pin assemblies. The assemblies it models are: water-cooled, with bare fuel-pins in a square ducted, quadrilateral lattice and liquid-metal/water-cooled, with bare/wire-wrapped fuel pins in a hexagonal ducted, triangular lattice. Previous publications have presented the development, validation and verification of SCM. This work presents an comparative overview of the different solvers implemented within SCM. This includes the solver algorithm description, and a performance comparison. The two test cases chosen to demonstrate the solver performance were taken from the PSBT enthalpy mixing benchmark and the ORNL-19 pin benchmark.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Thermodynamic approach for enhancing superconducting critical current performance

Abstract The addition of artificial pinning centers has led to an impressive increase in the critical current density ( J c ) of superconductors, enabling record-breaking all-superconducting magnets and other applications. The J c of superconductors has reached ~0.2–0.3 J d , where J d is the depairing current density, and the numerical factor depends on the pinning optimization. By modifying λ and/or ξ, the penetration depth and coherence length, respectively, we can increase J d . For (Y 0.77 Gd 0.23 )Ba 2 Cu 3 O y ((Y,Gd)123), we can achieve this by controlling the carrier density, which is related to λ and ξ. We can also tune λ and ξ by controlling the chemical pressure in Fe-based superconductors, i.e., BaFe 2 (As 1− x P x ) 2 films. The variation in λ and ξ leads to an intrinsic improvement in J c via J d , allowing extremely high values of J c of 130 MA/cm 2 and 8.0 MA/cm 2 at 4.2 K, consistent with an enhancement in J d of a factor of 2 for both incoherent nanoparticle-doped (Y,Gd)123 coated conductors (CCs) and BaFe 2 (As 1− x P x ) 2 films, showing that this new material design is useful for achieving high critical current densities in a wide array of superconductors. The remarkably high vortex-pinning force in combination with this thermodynamic and pinning optimization route for the (Y,Gd)123 CCs reached ~3.17 TN/m 3 at 4.2 K and 18 T ( H || c ), the highest values ever reported for any superconductor.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Accelerated vortex dynamics across the magnetic 3D-to-2D crossover in disordered superconductors

Disorder can have remarkably disparate consequences in superconductors, driving superconductor–insulator transitions in ultrathin films by localizing electron pairs and boosting the supercurrent carrying capacity of thick films by localizing vortices (magnetic flux lines). Though the electronic 3D-to-2D crossover at material thicknesses d ~ ξ (coherence length) is well studied, a similarly consequential magnetic crossover at d ~ L c (pinning length) that should drastically alter material properties remains largely underexamined. According to collective pinning theory, vortex segments of length L c bend to adjust to energy wells provided by point defects. Consequently, if d truncates L c , a change from elastic to rigid vortex dynamics should increase the rate of thermally activated vortex motion S. Here, we characterize the dependence of S on sample thickness in Nb and cuprate films. The results for Nb are consistent with collective pinning theory, whereas creep in the cuprate is strongly influenced by sparse large precipitates. In conclusion, we leverage the sensitivity of S to d to determine the generally unknown scale L c , establishing a new route for extracting pinning lengths in heterogeneously disordered materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Effects of surface properties on barrier height and barrier inhomogeneities of platinum contacts to n-type 4H-SiC

We investigated the Schottky barrier of Pt/4H-SiC contact as a function of 4H-SiC surface properties which effectively controlled by electronic cyclotron resonance hydrogen plasma pretreatment for different periods and annealing. It is found that the effective barrier height monotonically increases with decreasing the degree of Fermi level pinning. Electrically homogeneous contacts are observed when the Fermi level (FL) is 'pinned (Bardeen limit)' and 'free-pinned (Schottky limit).' However, a partial pinning of FL leads to Gaussian distribution of inhomogeneous barrier height. These results could be correlated with changes in the magnitude and spatial distribution of surface state density after different pretreatments.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

High-field critical current enhancement by irradiation induced correlated and random defects in (Ba{sub 0.6}K{sub 0.4})Fe{sub 2}As{sub 2}

Mixed pinning landscapes in superconductors are emerging as an effective strategy to achieve high critical currents in high, applied magnetic fields. Here, we use heavy-ion and proton irradiation to create correlated and point defects to explore the vortex pinning behavior of each and combined constituent defects in the iron-based superconductor Ba{sub 0.6}K{sub 0.4}Fe{sub 2}As{sub 2} and find that the pinning mechanisms are non-additive. The major effect of p-irradiation in mixed pinning landscapes is the generation of field-independent critical currents in very high fields. At 7 T ‖ c and 5 K, the critical current density exceeds 5 MA/cm{sup 2}.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Movement of basal plane dislocations in GaN during electron beam irradiation

The movement of basal plane segments of dislocations in low-dislocation-density GaN films grown by epitaxial lateral overgrowth as a result of irradiation with the probing beam of a scanning electron microscope was detected by means of electron beam induced current. Only a small fraction of the basal plane dislocations was susceptible to such changes and the movement was limited to relatively short distances. The effect is explained by the radiation enhanced dislocation glide for dislocations pinned by two different types of pinning sites: a low-activation-energy site and a high-activation-energy site. Only dislocation segments pinned by the former sites can be moved by irradiation and only until they meet the latter pinning sites.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Current-driven vortex domain wall motion in wire-tube nanostructures

We have investigated the current-driven domain wall motion in nanostructures comprised of a pair of nanotube and nanowire segments. Under certain values of external magnetic fields, it is possible to pin a vortex domain wall in the transition zone between the wire and tube segments. We explored the behavior of this domain wall under the action of an electron flow applied in the opposite direction to the magnetic field. Thus, for a fixed magnetic field, it is possible to release a domain wall pinned simply by increasing the intensity of the current density, or conversely, for a fixed current density, it is possible to release the domain wall simply decreasing the magnetic external field. When the domain wall remains pinned due to the competition between the current density and the magnetic external field, it exhibits a oscillation frequency close to 8 GHz. The amplitude of the oscillations increases with the current density and decreases over time. On the other hand, when the domain wall is released and propagated through the tube segment, this shows the standard separation between a steady and a precessional regime. The ability to pin and release a domain wall by varying the geometric parameters, the current density, or the magnetic field transforms these wire-tube nanostructures in an interesting alternative as an on/off switch nano-transistor.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Magnetic leverage effects in amorphous SmCo/CoAlZr heterostructures

Although magnetic heterostructures are the basis of many magnetic technologies, the mechanisms involved in magnetization reversals in such structures are not fully understood, especially in amorphous multilayers. Here, we report on the SmCo/CoAlZr system and exploit resonant magnetic x-ray scattering to probe the element specific magnetization reversals. When combined into a tri-layer structure, two different switching fields and reversal mechanisms are observed for the Sm and Co sub-lattices. We argue that the decoupling of the sub-lattices arises from the local distribution of atomic species within the amorphous matrix leading to a strong magnetic leverage effect and exchange pinning. The decoupling arises due to strong interactions between regions of high Co density which span the interface. The relatively sparse interactions between Sm and Co induce a localized pinning of the Co-rich areas, resulting in an exchange bias in minor loops and an enhanced coercivity.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Structural and electronic properties of AlN(0001) surface under partial N coverage as determined by ab initio approach

Properties of bare and nitrogen-covered Al-terminated AlN(0001) surface were determined using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. At a low nitrogen coverage, the Fermi level is pinned by Al broken bond states located below conduction band minimum. Adsorption of nitrogen is dissociative with an energy gain of 6.05 eV/molecule at a H3 site creating an overlap with states of three neighboring Al surface atoms. During this adsorption, electrons are transferred from Al broken bond to topmost N adatom states. Accompanying charge transfer depends on the Fermi level. In accordance with electron counting rule (ECR), the DFT results confirm the Fermi level is not pinned at the critical value of nitrogen coverage θ{sub N}(1) = 1/4 monolayer (ML), but it is shifted from an Al-broken bond state to Np{sub z} state. The equilibrium thermodynamic potential of nitrogen in vapor depends drastically on the Fermi level pinning being shifted by about 4 eV for an ECR state at 1/4 ML coverage. For coverage above 1/4 ML, adsorption is molecular with an energy gain of 1.5 eV at a skewed on-top position above an Al surface atom. Electronic states of the admolecule are occupied as in the free molecule, no electron transfer occurs and adsorption of a N{sub 2} molecule does not depend on the Fermi level. The equilibrium pressure of molecular nitrogen above an AlN(0001) surface depends critically on the Fermi level position, being very low and very high for low and high coverage, respectively. From this fact, one can conclude that at typical growth conditions, the Fermi level is not pinned, and the adsorption and incorporation of impurities depend on the position of Fermi level in the bulk.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Investigation of new approaches for InGaN growth with high indium content for CPV application

We propose to use two new approaches that may overcome the issues of phase separation and high dislocation density in InGaN-based PIN solar cells. The first approach consists in the growth of a thick multi-layered InGaN/GaN absorber. The periodical insertion of the thin GaN interlayers should absorb the In excess and relieve compressive strain. The InGaN layers need to be thin enough to remain fully strained and without phase separation. The second approach consists in the growth of InGaN nano-structures for the achievement of high In content thick InGaN layers. It allows the elimination of the preexisting dislocations in the underlying template. It also allows strain relaxation of InGaN layers without any dislocations, leading to higher In incorporation and reduced piezo-electric effect. The two approaches lead to structural, morphological, and luminescence properties that are significantly improved when compared to those of thick InGaN layers. Corresponding full PIN structures have been realized by growing a p-type GaN layer on the top the half PIN structures. External quantum efficiency, electro-luminescence, and photo-current characterizations have been carried out on the different structures and reveal an enhancement of the performances of the InGaN PIN PV cells when the thick InGaN layer is replaced by either InGaN/GaN multi-layered or InGaN nanorod layer.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Direct observation of oxygen-vacancy-enhanced polarization in a SrTiO{sub 3}-buffered ferroelectric BaTiO{sub 3} film on GaAs

The integration of functional oxide thin-films on compound semiconductors can lead to a class of reconfigurable spin-based optoelectronic devices if defect-free, fully reversible active layers are stabilized. However, previous first-principles calculations predicted that SrTiO{sub 3} thin films grown on Si exhibit pinned ferroelectric behavior that is not switchable, due to the presence of interfacial vacancies. Meanwhile, piezoresponse force microscopy measurements have demonstrated ferroelectricity in BaTiO{sub 3} grown on semiconductor substrates. The presence of interfacial oxygen vacancies in such complex-oxide/semiconductor systems remains unexplored, and their effect on ferroelectricity is controversial. Here, we use a combination of aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and first-principles density functional theory modeling to examine the role of interfacial oxygen vacancies on the ferroelectric polarization of a BaTiO{sub 3} thin film grown on GaAs. We demonstrate that interfacial oxygen vacancies enhance the polar discontinuity (and thus the single domain, out-of-plane polarization pinning in BaTiO{sub 3}), and propose that the presence of surface charge screening allows the formation of switchable domains.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Ballistic rectification of vortex domain wall chirality at nanowire corners

The interactions of vortex domain walls with corners in planar magnetic nanowires are probed using magnetic soft X-ray transmission microscopy. Here,we show that when the domain walls are propagated into sharp corners using applied magnetic fields above a critical value, their chiralities are rectified to either clockwise or anticlockwise circulation depending on whether the corners turn left or right. Single-shot focused magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements are then used to demonstrate how, when combined with modes of domain propagation that conserve vortex chirality, this allows us to dramatically reduce the stochasticity of domain pinning at artificial defect sites. In conclusion, our results provide a tool for controlling domain wall chirality and pinning behavior both in further experimental studies and in future domain wall-based memory, logic and sensor technologies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

A Revised Capsule Design for the Accelerated Testing of Advanced Reactor Fuels

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) has been used successfully for the testing of fast reactor fuel for nearly two decades. These successes have been in spite of numerous challenges for testing fast reactor fuel in the ATR (a thermal spectrum reactor), but the solutions to those challenges have resulted in excessively long irradiation times (~10 years) for high-burnup targets as well as experiments that are highly sensitive to fabrication tolerances and eccentricities. This paper presents a solution to the problems of extended irradiation times and fabrication sensitivities. Thermal and neutronic analyses were performed to show that a reduced-diameter fuel pin with an equivalent linear heat generation rate can provide a prototypic thermal profile (peak centerline and inner clad temperature) along with a near-prototypic power profile within the ATR thermal spectrum. This allows the experiment to reach a high burnup in an expeditious timeframe compared to traditional ATR fast fuel irradiations. In addition, problems with fabrication sensitivities were addressed by introducing a double-encapsulated experiment that pushes the high heat flux helium gap farther away from the fuel pin. Fuel pin position eccentricities are also mitigated by using a large sodium bond between the pin and capsule fuel. The advantages and potential pitfalls of this revised design are discussed, including the effect of length scales on fuel system behavior.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Overview of the SAS4A Metallic Fuel Models and Extended Analysis of a Postulated Severe Accident in the Prototype Gen-IV Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor

The SAS4A safety analysis code, originally developed for the analysis of postulated severe accidents in oxide fuel sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs), has been significantly extended to allow the mechanistic analysis of severe accidents in metallic fuel SFRs. The SAS4A metallic fuel models simulate the metallic fuel thermomechanical and chemical behavior and track the evolution and relocation of multiple fuel and cladding components during the pretransient irradiation and during the postulated accident, allowing an accurate description of the changes in the local fuel composition. The local fuel composition determines the fuel thermophysical properties, such as freezing and melting temperatures, which in turn affect the fuel relocation behavior and ultimately the core reactivity and power history during the postulated accidents. Models describing the fuel-cladding interaction and eutectic formation, the effects of the in-pin sodium on the in-pin fuel relocation, and the postfailure reentry of the molten fuel and fission gas from the pin plenum have also been added. This paper provides an overview of the SAS4A key metallic fuel models emphasizing the postfailure metallic fuel relocation models included in the LEVITATE-M module of SAS4A. The capabilities of the SAS4A metallic fuel models are illustrated through an extended SAS4A analysis of a postulated unprotected loss-of-flow and transient-overpower accident in the metallic fuel prototype Gen-IV sodium fast reactor. The results show that the maximum relative power reached during the postulated accident is 1.19 P 0 . The favorable characteristics of the metallic fuel cause a significant decrease in net reactivity and relative power due to prefailure in-pin fuel relocation. Furthermore, negative net reactivity values persist after cladding failure, and the postfailure fuel relocation events occur at low and decreasing power levels.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Coupled Monte Carlo Transport and Conjugate Heat Transfer for Wire-Wrapped Bundles Within the MOOSE Framework

Cardinal is an open-source application that couples OpenMC Monte Carlo transport and NekRS computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to the Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE), closing neutronics and thermal-fluid gaps in conducting high-resolution multiscale and multiphysics analyses of nuclear systems. We first provide a brief introduction to Cardinal's software design, data mapping, and coupling strategy to highlight our approach to overcoming common challenges in high-fidelity multiphysics simulations. Here we then present two Cardinal simulations for hexagonal pin bundles. The first is a validation of Cardinal's conjugate heat transfer coupling of NekRS's Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes model with MOOSE's heat conduction physics for a bare seven-pin Freon-12 bundle flow experiment. Predictions for pin surface temperatures under three different heating modes agree reasonably well with experimental data and similar CFD modeling from the literature. The second simulation is a multiphysics coupling of OpenMC, NekRS, and BISON for a reduced-scale, seven-pin wire-wrapped version of an Advanced Burner Reactor bundle. Wire wraps are approximated using a momentum source model, and coupled predictions are provided for velocity, temperature, and power distribution.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Clogging and transport of driven particles in asymmetric funnel arrays

In this paper, we numerically examine the flow and clogging of particles driven through asymmetric funnel arrays when the commensurability ratio of the number of particles per plaquette is varied. The particle-particle interactions are modeled with a soft repulsive potential that could represent vortex flow in type-II superconductors or driven charged colloids. The velocity-force curves for driving in the easy flow direction of the funnels exhibit a single depinning threshold; however, for driving in the hard flow direction, we find that there can be both negative mobility where the velocity decreases with increasing driving force as well as a reentrant pinning effect in which the particles flow at low drives but become pinned at intermediate drives. This reentrant pinning is associated with a transition from smooth one-dimensional flow at low drives to a clogged state at higher drives that occurs when the particles cluster in a small number of plaquettes and block the flow. When the drive is further increased, particle rearrangements occur that cause the clog to break apart. We map out the regimes in which the pinned, flowing, and clogged states appear as a function of plaquette filling and drive. Finally, the clogged states remain robust at finite temperatures but develop intermittent bursts of flow in which a clog temporarily breaks apart but quickly reforms.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗