Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “SOURCE”

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 OSTI2018

DOE/NNSA Efforts to Facilitate the Disposal of Risk Significant Sealed Sources - 18590

Commercial disposal of high-activity Class B and C disused sources has been particularly challenging in the U.S. For many years, a lack of disposal facility access, a shortage of certified of Type B transportation containers, and outdated regulatory guidance had effectively relegated a large number of risk-significant sources to indefinite storage. Progress has been made in all of these efforts. The DOE/NNSA Office of Radiological Security (ORS) and the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD) Source Collection and Threat Reduction (SCATR) piloted the commercial disposal of a high-activity Cs- 137 source. To facilitate implementation of the NRC's revised waste classification guidance on sealed sources. Disposal of the 560 Ci blood irradiator at the U.S. Ecology facility in Richmond has helped to establish the availability of disposal access for similar sources under the 'alternative approach' provisions of the NRC's 2015 Concentration Averaging and Encapsulation Branch Technical Position (CA BTP). However, while these developments are significant for making disposal access available, the available information suggests that commercial sealed source users continue to keep disused sources in storage. This may be due to remaining uncertainty regarding disposal access, or due to the high cost of commercial disposal. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Safe and Secure Management of Disused Radioactive Sealed Sources in Egypt - 19063

Radioactive sources offer many benefits in medicine, industry and education but the lack of appropriate long-term management when they eventually become disused has led to accidents, in some cases with serious consequences, and increased their vulnerability for use in a malicious act. This lack is evident in the absence of clearly defined policy and strategy, responsibilities and resources to meet those responsibilities for safe, secure and sustainable management of disused sources. The strengthening of national legislative and regulatory infrastructures globally has led to major improvements in the protection and control of radioactive sources. Nevertheless, in many countries, radioactive sources were in use before such infrastructures had been developed or adequately strengthened and were therefore not under regulatory control. The paper presents some aspects from Egyptian experience related to safe and secure measures for management of Cs-137, Ra-226 and Co-60 sealed sources. Data relating to the disused radioactive sealed sources, DSRS inventory as well as the arrangements made in order to prepare for conditioning of sources is presented. The efforts made by technical staff and radiation protection team for all arrangements and details such as conditioning set-up, working area, leakage test, certified stainless capsules, radiation protection measures and sources characterization in addition to all security measures for stored DSRS are also presented. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Sustainable Security through International Source Repatriation - 19659

Ensuring that there is a viable pathway for characterizing, transporting, and disposing of disused radioactive sealed sources (sources) is essential to any end-of-life management strategy. The Off-Site Source Recovery Program, sponsored by the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration's Office of Radiological Security, provides permanent and sustained threat reduction through the secure removal and repatriation of disused sealed radioactive sources of United States origin at international locations. With over two decades of operations, the Off-Site Source Recovery Program has developed source removal processes and techniques to ensure the compliant, effective and timely disposition of the material. For device disassembly support, the program subcontracts vendors qualified and experienced in source extraction from devices. United States origin source repatriations provide for permanent threat reduction and reduce their overall global footprint. (author)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2011

Life cycle assessment of base-load heat sources for district heating system options

Purpose There has been an increased interest in utilizing renewable energy sources in district heating systems. District heating systems are centralized systems that provide heat for residential and commercial buildings in a community. While various renewable and conventional energy sources can be used in such systems, many stakeholders are interested in choosing the feasible option with the least environmental impacts. This paper evaluates and compares environmental burdens of alternative energy source options for the base load of a district heating center in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC) using the life cycle assessment method. The considered energy sources include natural gas, wood pellet, sewer heat, and ground heat. Methods The life cycle stages considered in the LCA model cover all stages from fuel production, fuel transmission/transportation, construction, operation, and finally demolition of the district heating system. The impact categories were analyzed based on the IMPACT 2002+ method. Results and discussion On a life-cycle basis, the global warming effect of renewable energy options were at least 200 kgeqCO2 less than that of the natural gas option per MWh of heat produced by the base load system. It was concluded that less than 25% of the upstream global warming impact associated with the wood pellet energy source option was due to transportation activities and about 50% of that was resulted from wood pellet production processes. In comparison with other energy options, the wood pellets option has higher impacts on respiratory of inorganics, terrestrial ecotoxicity, acidification, and nutrification categories. Among renewable options, the global warming impact of heat pump options in the studied case in Vancouver, BC, were lower than the wood pellet option due to BC's low carbon electricity generation profile. Ozone layer depletion and mineral extraction were the highest for the heat pump options due to extensive construction required for these options. Conclusions Natural gas utilization as the primary heat source for district heat production implies environmental complications beyond just the global warming impacts. Diffusing renewable energy sources for generating the base load district heat would reduce human toxicity, ecosystem quality degradation, global warming, and resource depletion compared to the case of natural gas. Reducing fossil fuel dependency in various stages of wood pellet production can remarkably reduce the upstream global warming impact of using wood pellets for district heat generation.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Numerical modeling of the SNS H{sup −} ion source

Ion source rf antennas that produce H- ions can fail when plasma heating causes ablation of the insulating coating due to small structural defects such as cracks. Reducing antenna failures that reduce the operating capabilities of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) accelerator is one of the top priorities of the SNS H- Source Program at ORNL. Numerical modeling of ion sources can provide techniques for optimizing design in order to reduce antenna failures. There are a number of difficulties in developing accurate models of rf inductive plasmas. First, a large range of spatial and temporal scales must be resolved in order to accurately capture the physics of plasma motion, including the Debye length, rf frequencies on the order of tens of MHz, simulation time scales of many hundreds of rf periods, large device sizes on tens of cm, and ion motions that are thousands of times slower than electrons. This results in large simulation domains with many computational cells for solving plasma and electromagnetic equations, short time steps, and long-duration simulations. In order to reduce the computational requirements, one can develop implicit models for both fields and particle motions (e.g. divergence-preserving ADI methods), various electrostatic models, or magnetohydrodynamic models. We have performed simulations using all three of these methods and have found that fluid models have the greatest potential for giving accurate solutions while still being fast enough to perform long timescale simulations in a reasonable amount of time. We have implemented a number of fluid models with electromagnetics using the simulation tool USim and applied them to modeling the SNS H- ion source. We found that a reduced, single-fluid MHD model with an imposed magnetic field due to the rf antenna current and the confining multi-cusp field generated increased bulk plasma velocities of > 200 m/s in the region of the antenna where ablation is often observed in the SNS source. We report here on comparisons of simulated plasma parameters and code performance using more accurate physical models, such as two-temperature extended MHD models, for both a related benchmark system describing a inductively coupled plasma reactor, and for the SNS ion source. We also present results from scaling studies for mesh generation and solvers in the USim simulation code.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Source Partitioning of Methane Emissions and its Seasonality in the U.S. Midwest

Abstract The methane (CH 4 ) budget and its source partitioning are poorly constrained in the Midwestern United States. We used tall tower (185 m) aerodynamic flux measurements and atmospheric scale factor Bayesian inversions to constrain the monthly budget and to partition the total budget into natural (e.g., wetlands) and anthropogenic (e.g., livestock, waste, and natural gas) sources for the period June 2016 to September 2017. Aerodynamic flux observations indicated that the landscape was a CH 4 source with a mean annual CH 4 flux of +13.7 ± 0.34 nmol m −2 s −1 and was rarely a net sink. The scale factor Bayesian inversion analyses revealed a mean annual source of +12.3 ± 2.1 nmol m −2 s −1 . Flux partitioning revealed that the anthropogenic source (7.8 ± 1.6 Tg CH 4 yr −1 ) was 1.5 times greater than the bottom‐up gridded United States Environmental Protection Agency inventory, in which livestock and oil/gas sources were underestimated by 1.8‐fold and 1.3‐fold, respectively. Wetland emissions (4.0 ± 1.2 Tg CH 4 yr −1 ) were the second largest source, accounting for 34% of the total budget. The temporal variability of total CH 4 emissions was dominated by wetlands with peak emissions occurring in August. In contrast, emissions from oil/gas and other anthropogenic sources showed relatively weak seasonality.

Chen, Zichong↗
DOE OSTI2017

Physics-Based Hazard Assessment for Critical Structures Near Large Earthquake Sources

We argue that for critical structures near large earthquake sources: (1) the ergodic assumption, recent history, and simplified descriptions of the hazard are not appropriate to rely on for earthquake ground motion prediction and can lead to a mis-estimation of the hazard and risk to structures; (2) a physics-based approach can address these issues; (3) a physics-based source model must be provided to generate realistic phasing effects from finite rupture and model near-source ground motion correctly; (4) wave propagations and site response should be site specific; (5) a much wider search of possible sources of ground motion can be achieved computationally with a physics-based approach; (6) unless one utilizes a physics-based approach, the hazard and risk to structures has unknown uncertainties; (7) uncertainties can be reduced with a physics-based approach, but not with an ergodic approach; (8) computational power and computer codes have advanced to the point that risk to structures can be calculated directly from source and site-specific ground motions. Spanning the variability of potential ground motion in a predictive situation is especially difficult for near-source areas, but that is the distance at which the hazard is the greatest. The basis of a “physical-based” approach is ground-motion syntheses derived from physics and an understanding of the earthquake process. This is an overview paper and results from previous studies are used to make the case for these conclusions. Our premise is that 50 years of strong motion records is insufficient to capture all possible ranges of site and propagation path conditions, rupture processes, and spatial geometric relationships between source and site. Predicting future earthquake scenarios is necessary; models that have little or no physical basis but have been tested and adjusted to fit available observations can only “predict” what happened in the past, which should be considered description as opposed to prediction. Finally, we have developed a methodology for synthesizing physics-based broadband ground motion that incorporates the effects of realistic earthquake rupture along specific faults and the actual geology between the source and site.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2013

Source Estimation by Full Wave Form Inversion

Given time-dependent ground motion recordings at a number of receiver stations, we solve the inverse problem for estimating the parameters of the seismic source. The source is modeled as a point moment tensor source, characterized by its location, moment tensor components, the start time, and frequency parameter (rise time) of its source time function. In total, there are 11 unknown parameters. We use a non-linear conjugate gradient algorithm to minimize the full waveform misfit between observed and computed ground motions at the receiver stations. An important underlying assumption of the minimization problem is that the wave propagation is accurately described by the elastic wave equation in a heterogeneous isotropic material. We use a fourth order accurate finite difference method, developed in [12], to evolve the waves forwards in time. The adjoint wave equation corresponding to the discretized elastic wave equation is used to compute the gradient of the misfit, which is needed by the non-linear conjugated minimization algorithm. A new source point moment source discretization is derived that guarantees that the Hessian of the misfit is a continuous function of the source location. An efficient approach for calculating the Hessian is also presented. We show how the Hessian can be used to scale the problem to improve the convergence of the non-linear conjugated gradient algorithm. Numerical experiments are presented for estimating the source parameters from synthetic data in a layer over half-space problem (LOH.1), illustrating rapid convergence of the proposed approach.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Aerosol sources in subway environments

Highlights: • PM{sub 2.5} concentrations varied widely among subway platforms (26–86 µg m{sup −3}). • Main PM{sub 2.5} component in metro microenvironment is iron oxide. • Subway sources contribution account for up to 91% of ambient subway PM{sub 2.5}. • From the five subway-specific sources identified, brakes contributed the most. • Elements related with health issues are apportioned mostly by subway sources (> 60%). Millions of people use rail subway public transport around the world, despite the relatively high particulate matter (PM) concentrations in these underground environments, requiring the identification and quantification of the aerosol source contributions to improve the air quality. An extensive aerosol monitoring campaign was carried out in eleven subway stations in the Barcelona metro system, belonging to seven subway lines. PM{sub 2.5} samples were collected during the metro operating hours and chemically analysed to determine major and trace elements, inorganic ions, and total carbon. The chemical compositions of subway components such as brake pads, rail tracks and pantographs were also determined. The mean PM{sub 2.5} concentrations varied widely among stations, ranging from 26 µg m{sup −3} to 86 µg m{sup −3}. Subway PM{sub 2.5} was mainly constituted by Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} (30–66%), followed by carbonaceous matter (18–37%) for the old stations, while for new stations equipped with Platform Screen Doors (PSD) these percentages go down to 21–44% and 15–30%, respectively. Both the absolute concentrations and the relative abundance of key species differed for each subway station, although with common patterns within a given subway line. This is a result of the different emission chemical profiles in different subway lines (using diverse types of brakes and/or pantographs). The co-emission of different sources poses a problem for their separation by receptor models. Nevertheless, receptor modelling (Positive Matrix Factorization) was applied resulting in ten sources, five of them subway-specific: RailWheel, RailWheel+Brake, Brake{sub A}, Brake{sub B}, Pb. The sum of their contributions accounted for 43–91% of bulk PM{sub 2.5} for the old stations and 21–52% for the stations with PSD. The decrease of the activity during the weekends resulted in a decrease (up to 56%) in the subway-specific sources contribution to the –already lower– bulk PM{sub 2.5} concentrations compared to weekdays. The health-related elements are mainly apportioned (> 60%) by subway sources.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

A review study of rare Earth, Cobalt, Lithium, and Manganese in Coal-based sources and process development for their recovery

The world’s majority predominantly relies on foreign sources for supplying critical minerals. This renders the countries susceptible to supply chain disruption and urges them to develop alternative sources to compete in technological advancements. Among many proven newly identified sources, coal and coal-based materials present their opportunities. Due to the complex structure of coal, many mineral forms can be found in coal-related sources, including critical element-containing minerals. Among the fifty critical elements and minerals defined by the USGS, the rare earth elements, cobalt, lithium, and manganese, are particularly significant as they have enormous importance in high-technology product development. These critical metals can be found in high concentrations in coal-derived sources, such as coal refuse, coal combustion products, and coal acid mine drainage, and be recovered through various separation techniques. Further, this study aims to advance the understanding of these elements' extraction and commercial potential from coal and coal-related sources and help address the world's challenges in the critical mineral supply chain. The concentrations and occurrences of these four commodities in coal-related sources were first reviewed. Later, their recovery processes were discussed, and a conceptual process flowsheet was proposed to selectively recover the rare earth elements, lithium, cobalt, and manganese from coal-based sources.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Network Algorithms for Detection of Radiation Sources

In support of national defense, Domestic Nuclear Detection Office’s (DNDO) Intelligent Radiation Sensor Systems (IRSS) program supported the development of networks of radiation counters for detecting, localizing and identifying low-level, hazardous radiation sources. Industry teams developed the first generation of such networks with tens of counters, and demonstrated several of their capabilities in indoor and outdoor characterization tests. Subsequently, these test measurements have been used in algorithm replays using various sub-networks of counters. Test measurements combined with algorithm outputs are used to extract Key Measurements and Benchmark (KMB) datasets. We present two selective analyses of these datasets: (a) a notional border monitoring scenario that highlights the benefits of a network of counters compared to individual detectors, and (b) new insights into the Sequential Probability Ratio Test (SPRT) detection method, which lead to its adaptations for improved detection. Using KMB datasets from an outdoor test, we construct a notional border monitoring scenario, wherein twelve 2”*2” NaI detectors are deployed on the periphery of 21*21meter square region. A Cs-137 (175 uCi) source is moved across this region, starting several meters from outside and finally moving away. The measurements from individual counters and the network were processed using replays of a particle filter algorithm developed under IRSS program. The algorithm outputs from KMB datasets clearly illustrate the benefits of combining measurements from all networked counters: the source was detected before it entered the region, during its trajectory inside, and until it moved several meters away. When individual counters are used for detection, the source was detected for much shorter durations, and sometimes was missed in the interior region. The application of SPRT for detecting radiation sources requires choosing the detection threshold, which in turn requires a source strength estimate, typically specified as a multiplier of the background radiation level. A judicious selection of this source multiplier is essential to achieve optimal detection probability at a specified false alarm rate. Typically, this threshold is chosen from the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) by varying the source multiplier estimate. ROC is expected to have a monotonically increasing profile between the detection probability and false alarm rate. We derived ROCs for multiple indoor tests using KMB datasets, which revealed an unexpected loop shape: as the multiplier increases, detection probability and false alarm rate both increase until a limit, and then both contract. Consequently, two detection probabilities correspond to the same false alarm rate, and the higher is achieved at a lower multiplier, which is the desired operating point. Using the Chebyshev’s inequality we analytically confirm this shape. Then, we present two improved network-SPRT methods by (a) using the threshold off-set as a weighting factor for the binary decisions from individual detectors in a weighted majority voting fusion rule, and (b) applying a composite SPRT derived using measurements from all counters.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2017

A High-Power Broadband Terahertz Source Enabled by Three-Dimensional Light Confinement in a Plasmonic Nanocavity

The scope and potential uses of time-domain terahertz imaging and spectroscopy are mainly limited by the low optical-to-terahertz conversion efficiency of photoconductive terahertz sources. State-of-theart photoconductive sources utilize short-carrier-lifetime semiconductors to recombine carriers that cannot contribute to efficient terahertz generation and cause additional thermal dissipation. Here, we present a novel photoconductive terahertz source that offers a significantly higher efficiency compared with terahertz sources fabricated on short-carrier-lifetime substrates. The key innovative feature of this source is the tight three-dimensional confinement of the optical pump beam around the terahertz nanoantennas that are used as radiating elements. This is achieved by means of a nanocavity formed by plasmonic structures and a distributed Bragg reflector. Consequently, almost all of the photo-generated carriers can be routed to the terahertz nanoantennas within a sub-picosecond time-scale. This results in a very strong, ultrafast current that drives the nanoantennas to produce broadband terahertz radiation. We experimentally demonstrate that this terahertz source can generate 4 mW pulsed terahertz radiation under an optical pump power of 720 mW over the 0.1–4 THz frequency range. This is the highest reported power level for terahertz radiation from a photoconductive terahertz source, representing more than an order of magnitude of enhancement in the optical-to-terahertz conversion efficiency compared with state-of-the-art photoconductive terahertz sources fabricated on shortcarrier- lifetime substrates.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

A spatial beam property analyzer based on dispersive crystal diffraction for low-emittance X-ray light sources

Abstract The advent of low-emittance synchrotron X-ray sources and free-electron lasers urges the development of novel diagnostic techniques for measuring and monitoring the spatial source properties, especially the source sizes. This work introduces an X-ray beam property analyzer based on a multi-crystal diffraction geometry, including a crystal-based monochromator and a Laue crystal in a dispersive setting to the monochromator. By measuring the flat beam and the transmitted beam profiles, the system can provide a simultaneous high-sensitivity characterization of the source size, divergence, position, and angle in the diffraction plane of the multi-crystal system. Detailed theoretical modeling predicts the system’s feasibility as a versatile characterization tool for monitoring the X-ray source and beam properties. The experimental validation was conducted at a bending magnet beamline at the Swiss Light Source by varying the machine parameters. A measurement sensitivity of less than 10% of a source size of around 12 µm is demonstrated. The proposed system offers a compact setup with simple X-ray optics and can also be utilized for monitoring the electron source.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

High-energy sources at low radio frequency: the Murchison Widefield Array view of Fermi blazars

Low-frequency radio arrays are opening a new window for the study of the sky, both to study new phenomena and to better characterize known source classes. Being flat-spectrum sources, blazars are so far poorly studied at low radio frequencies. In this paper, we characterize the spectral properties of the blazar population at low radio frequency, compare the radio and high-energy properties of the gamma-ray blazar population, and search for radio counterparts of unidentified gamma-ray sources. We cross-correlated the 6100 deg 2 Murchison Widefield Array Commissioning Survey catalogue with the Roma blazar catalogue, the third catalogue of active galactic nuclei detected by Fermi-LAT, and the unidentified members of the entire third catalogue of gamma-ray sources detected by Fermi-LAT. When available, we also added high-frequency radio data from the Australia Telescope 20 GHz catalogue. We find low-frequency counterparts for 186 out of 517 (36%) blazars, 79 out of 174 (45%) gamma-ray blazars, and 8 out of 73 (11%) gamma-ray blazar candidates. The mean low-frequency (120–180 MHz) blazar spectral index is (α low ) = 0.57 ± 0.02: blazar spectra are flatter than the rest of the population of low-frequency sources, but are steeper than at ~GHz frequencies. Low-frequency radio flux density and gamma-ray energy flux display a mildly significant and broadly scattered correlation. Ten unidentified gamma-ray sources have a (probably fortuitous) positional match with low radio frequency sources. Low-frequency radio astronomy provides important information about sources with a flat radio spectrum and high energy. However, the relatively low sensitivity of the present surveys still misses a significant fraction of these objects. Finally, upcoming deeper surveys, such as the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-Sky MWA (GLEAM) survey, will provide further insight into this population.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

The eROSITA Final Equatorial-Depth Survey (eFEDS): Identification and characterization of the counterparts to point-like sources

In November 2019, eROSITA on board of the Spektrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) observatory started to map the entire sky in X-rays. After the four-year survey program, it will reach a flux limit that is about 25 times deeper than ROSAT. During the SRG performance verification phase, eROSITA observed a contiguous 140 deg 2 area of the sky down to the final depth of the eROSITA all-sky survey (eROSITA Final Equatorial-Depth Survey; eFEDS), with the goal of obtaining a census of the X-ray emitting populations (stars, compact objects, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and active galactic nuclei) that will be discovered over the entire sky. This paper presents the identification of the counterparts to the point sources detected in eFEDS in the main and hard samples and their multi-wavelength properties, including redshift. To identify the counterparts, we combined the results from two independent methods (NWAY and ASTROMATCH), trained on the multi-wavelength properties of a sample of 23k XMM-Newton sources detected in the DESI Legacy Imaging Survey DR8. Then spectroscopic redshifts and photometry from ancillary surveys were collated to compute photometric redshifts. Of the eFEDS sources, 24 774 of 27 369 have reliable counterparts (90.5%) in the main sample and 231 of 246 sources (93.9%) have counterparts in the hard sample, including 2514 (3) sources for which a second counterpart is equally likely. By means of reliable spectra, Gaia parallaxes, and/or multi-wavelength properties, we have classified the reliable counterparts in both samples into Galactic (2695) and extragalactic sources (22 079). For about 340 of the extragalactic sources, we cannot rule out the possibility that they are unresolved clusters or belong to clusters. Inspection of the distributions of the X-ray sources in various optical/IR colour-magnitude spaces reveal a rich variety of diverse classes of objects. The photometric redshifts are most reliable within the KiDS/VIKING area, where deep near-infrared data are also available. This paper accompanies the eROSITA early data release of all the observations performed during the performance and verification phase. Together with the catalogues of primary and secondary counterparts to the main and hard samples of the eFEDS survey, this paper releases their multi-wavelength properties and redshifts.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Inclined slot-excited annular electron cyclotron resonance plasma source for hyperthermal neutral beam generation

An inclined slot-excited antenna (ISLAN) electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma source is newly designed and constructed for higher flux hyperthermal neutral beam (HNB) generation. The developed ISLAN source is modified from vertical slot-excited antenna (VSLAN) source in two aspects: one is the use of inclined slots instead of vertical slots, and the other is a cusp magnetic field configuration rather than a toroidal configuration. Such modifications allow us to have more uniform arrangement of slots and magnets, then enabling plasma generation more uniform and thinner. Moreover, ECR plasma allows higher ionization rate, enabling plasma density higher even in submillitorr pressures, therefore decreasing the collision rate and/or the reionization rate of the reflected atoms while passing through the plasma, and eventually getting higher flux of HNBs. In this paper, we report the design features and the plasma characteristics of the ISLAN source by doing plasma measurements and electromagnetic simulations. It was found that ISLAN source can be a high potential source for larger flux HNB generation; the source was found to give higher plasma densities and better uniformities than inductively coupled plasma source, particularly in low pressure ranges. Also, it is important that using ISLAN gives easier matching and better stability, i.e., ISLAN shows similar field patterns and good plasma symmetries irrespective of the variations of the mean diameter of the ring resonator and/or the presence of a limiter or a reflector, and the operating pressures.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

Ignition probability of polymer-bonded explosives accounting for multiple sources of material stochasticity

Accounting for the combined effect of multiple sources of stochasticity in material attributes, we develop an approach that computationally predicts the probability of ignition of polymer-bonded explosives (PBXs) under impact loading. The probabilistic nature of the specific ignition processes is assumed to arise from two sources of stochasticity. The first source involves random variations in material microstructural morphology; the second source involves random fluctuations in grain-binder interfacial bonding strength. The effect of the first source of stochasticity is analyzed with multiple sets of statistically similar microstructures and constant interfacial bonding strength. Subsequently, each of the microstructures in the multiple sets is assigned multiple instantiations of randomly varying grain-binder interfacial strengths to analyze the effect of the second source of stochasticity. Critical hotspot size-temperature states reaching the threshold for ignition are calculated through finite element simulations that explicitly account for microstructure and bulk and interfacial dissipation to quantify the time to criticality (t{sub c}) of individual samples, allowing the probability distribution of the time to criticality that results from each source of stochastic variation for a material to be analyzed. Two probability superposition models are considered to combine the effects of the multiple sources of stochasticity. The first is a parallel and series combination model, and the second is a nested probability function model. Results show that the nested Weibull distribution provides an accurate description of the combined ignition probability. The approach developed here represents a general framework for analyzing the stochasticity in the material behavior that arises out of multiple types of uncertainty associated with the structure, design, synthesis and processing of materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Cold and intense OH radical beam sources

We present the design and performance of two supersonic radical beam sources: a conventional pinhole-discharge source and a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) source, both based on the Nijmegen pulsed valve. Both designs have been characterized by discharging water molecules seeded in the rare gases Ar, Kr, or Xe. The resulting OH radicals have been detected by laser-induced fluorescence. The measured OH densities are (3.0 ± 0.6) × 10{sup 11} cm{sup -3} and (1.0 ± 0.5) × 10{sup 11} cm{sup -3} for the pinhole-discharge and DBD sources, respectively. The beam profiles for both radical sources show a relative longitudinal velocity spread of about 10%. The absolute rotational ground state population of the OH beam generated from the pinhole-discharge source has been determined to be more than 98%. The DBD source even produces a rotationally colder OH beam with a population of the ground state exceeding 99%. For the DBD source, addition of O{sub 2} molecules to the gas mixture increases the OH beam density by a factor of about 2.5, improves the DBD valve stability, and allows to tune the mean velocity of the radical beam.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗