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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 973 records · Page 54
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Conceptual designs of two petawatt-class pulsed-power accelerators for high-energy-density-physics experiments

Here, we have developed conceptual designs of two petawatt-class pulsed-power accelerators: Z 300 and Z 800. The designs are based on an accelerator architecture that is founded on two concepts: single-stage electrical-pulse compression and impedance matching [Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 10, 030401 (2007)]. The prime power source of each machine consists of 90 linear-transformer-driver (LTD) modules. Each module comprises LTD cavities connected electrically in series, each of which is powered by 5-GW LTD bricks connected electrically in parallel. (A brick comprises a single switch and two capacitors in series.) Six water-insulated radial-transmission-line impedance transformers transport the power generated by the modules to a six-level vacuum-insulator stack. The stack serves as the accelerator’s water-vacuum interface. The stack is connected to six conical outer magnetically insulated vacuum transmission lines (MITLs), which are joined in parallel at a 10-cm radius by a triple-post-hole vacuum convolute. The convolute sums the electrical currents at the outputs of the six outer MITLs, and delivers the combined current to a single short inner MITL. The inner MITL transmits the combined current to the accelerator’s physics-package load. Z 300 is 35 m in diameter and stores 48 MJ of electrical energy in its LTD capacitors. The accelerator generates 320 TW of electrical power at the output of the LTD system, and delivers 48 MA in 154 ns to a magnetized-liner inertial-fusion (MagLIF) target [Phys. Plasmas 17, 056303 (2010)]. The peak electrical power at the MagLIF target is 870 TW, which is the highest power throughout the accelerator. Power amplification is accomplished by the centrally located vacuum section, which serves as an intermediate inductive-energy-storage device. The principal goal of Z 300 is to achieve thermonuclear ignition; i.e., a fusion yield that exceeds the energy transmitted by the accelerator to the liner. 2D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations suggest Z 300 will deliver 4.3 MJ to the liner, and achieve a yield on the order of 18 MJ. Z 800 is 52 m in diameter and stores 130 MJ. This accelerator generates 890 TW at the output of its LTD system, and delivers 65 MA in 113 ns to a MagLIF target. The peak electrical power at the MagLIF liner is 2500 TW. The principal goal of Z 800 is to achieve high-yield thermonuclear fusion; i.e., a yield that exceeds the energy initially stored by the accelerator’s capacitors. 2D MHD simulations suggest Z 800 will deliver 8.0 MJ to the liner, and achieve a yield on the order of 440 MJ. Z 300 and Z 800, or variations of these accelerators, will allow the international high-energy-density-physics community to conduct advanced inertial-confinement-fusion, radiation-physics, material-physics, and laboratory-astrophysics experiments over heretofore-inaccessible parameter regimes.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

gRASPA

GPU Monte Carlo Simulation Code with a taste of RASPA We present enhancements in Monte Carlo simulation speed and functionality within an open-source code, gRASPA, which uses graphical processing units (GPUs) to achieve significant performance improvements compared to serial, CPU implementations of Monte Carlo. The code supports a wide range of Monte Carlo simulations, including canonical ensemble (NVT), grand canonical, NVT Gibbs, Widom test particle insertions, and continuous-fractional component Monte Carlo. Implementation of grand canonical transition matrix Monte Carlo (GC-TMMC) and a novel feature to allow different moves for the different components of metal-organic framework (MOF) structures exemplify the capabilities of gRASPA for precise free energy calculations and enhanced adsorption studies, respectively. The introduction of a High-Throughput Computing (HTC) mode permits many Monte Carlo simulations on a single GPU device for accelerated materials discovery. The code can incorporate machine learning (ML) potentials. The open-source nature of gRASPA promotes reproducibility and openness in science, and users may add features to the code and optimize it for their own purposes. The code is written in CUDA/C++ and SYCL/C++ to support different GPU vendors. The gRASPA code is publicly available at https://github.com/snurr-group/gRASPA.

Li, Zhao [Purdue/Northwestern/Notre Dame Universit↗
DOE OSTI2020

Innovations in optimization and control of accelerators using methods of differential geometry and genetic algorithms (Final Report)

Online tuning of particle accelerators is necessary in order to achieve optimal machine performance. However, it is also a major challenge due to the large parameter space which must be searched and the fact that many of the desir- able objectives compete with one another, and so will not reach their optimal values simultaneously. In order to mitigate these issues, we have explored using dimension-reduction techniques to reduce the size of the parameter space which must be searched and multi-objective genetic algorithms to obtain the sets of tuning parameters which provide pareto-optimal values for the objectives. These methods have enabled us to obtain improved values of the vertical emittance at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR), and to do so with greater control of orbit errors. Algorithmic tuning is a multidisciplinary endeavour, requiring expertise in beam dynamics, diagnostics, control systems and computer science, and thus a key practical problem is to formulate a common language in which experts with different specialties can communicate. We developed a solution to this problem in the form of a generic accelerator software interface that allows for rapid prototyping of optimization and control algorithms. Our interface is built on the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control Systems (EPICS) and makes possible testing control code in simulation before deployment on real accelerators, as well as deployment of third-party optimization code.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Generalized 3D beam dynamics model for industrial traveling wave linacs design and simulations

Beam dynamics simulations in traveling wave (TW) accelerating structures with significant beam loading is a challenging problem. Some codes are capable of calculating the TW electromagnetic fields, and some can track particles through such fields, but most cannot treat both self-consistently. A few commercial codes can model the physics correctly at the expense of many processor-hour computations to obtain converged self-consistent solutions. However, simple, accurate equations of motion for intensive beam dynamics in TW accelerating structure analysis have been previously obtained by Masunov and subsequently implemented in the Hellweg code, which was developed at the Moscow Engineering-Physics Institute. Hellweg is based on equations that allow fast simulations of beam dynamics while taking into account such effects as beam loading, space charge, and external magnetic fields. In this paper, we describe in detail some recent improvements to the Hellweg physics kernel. We have generalized the Masunov results into a 3D set of equations of motion, which include all spatial components of the radiofrequency (RF) and external magnetic fields. We have also improved the Lapostolle space charge model to the general 3D ellipsoid form for any dimensions’ ratio, consideration for the particles outside the beam core, and the fields from the neighboring bunches that can exist in the real machine. These modifications allow approaching the Hellweg accuracy to the self-consistent commercial codes while keeping the simulation time short, which is essential during the linac design and optimization stage. The implementation of these new capabilities in Hellweg is carefully benchmarked against other codes and analytical calculations. The code is freely available with an open source license.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2013

Aperture-based antihydrogen gravity experiment: Parallel plate geometry

An analytical model and a Monte Carlo simulation are presented of an experiment that could be used to determine the direction of the acceleration of antihydrogen due to gravity. The experiment would rely on methods developed by existing antihydrogen research collaborations. The configuration consists of two circular, parallel plates that have an axis of symmetry directed away from the center of the earth. The plates are separated by a small vertical distance, and include one or more pairs of circular barriers that protrude from the upper and lower plates, thereby forming an aperture between the plates. Antihydrogen annihilations that occur just beyond each barrier, within a “shadow” region, are asymmetric on the upper plate relative to the lower plate. The probability for such annihilations is determined for a point, line and spheroidal source of antihydrogen. The production of 100,000 antiatoms is predicted to be necessary for the aperture-based experiment to indicate the direction of free fall acceleration of antimatter, provided that antihydrogen is produced within a sufficiently small antiproton plasma at a temperature of 4 K.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

On the possibility of footprint compression with one lens in nonlinear accelerator lattice

Electromagnetic interaction of colliding beams along with other nonlinear fields often limits the beams' lifetimes and luminosities. Nonlinearities result in the spread of betatron frequencies (footprint) and, thus, may enhance dynamic diffusion of particles due to high order resonances. One of the possible ways to eliminate nonlinearities and overcome the corresponding difficulties is compensation of nonlinear forces, but, in practice, it is hardly possible to obtain exact linearity of the system. The compensation with a single nonlinear lens cannot cope with distributed nonlinearities, nonlinearities due to parasitic crossings, etc. Here, we present a method to compute parameters of nonlinear element (lens) that eliminates both the footprint and resonance strength without achieving full compensation.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Pseudospectral particle-in-cell formulation with arbitrary charge and current-density time dependencies for the modeling of relativistic plasmas

This paper introduces a formulation of the particle-in-cell (PIC) method for the modeling of relativistic plasmas, that leverages the ability of the pseudospectral analytical time-domain solver (PSATD) to handle arbitrary time dependencies of the charge and current densities during one PIC cycle (applied to second-order polynomial dependencies here). Here, the formulation is applied to a modified set of Maxwell's equations that was proposed earlier in the context of divergence cleaning, and to recently proposed extensions of the PSATD-PIC algorithm. Detailed analysis and testings revealed that, under some condition, the formulation can expand the range of numerical parameters under which PIC simulations are stable and accurate when modeling relativistic plasmas such as, e.g., plasma-based particle accelerators.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Pronghorn: A Porous Media Thermal-Hydraulics Core Simulator and its Validation with the SANA Experiments

Pebble bed High Temperature Reactors (HTRs) are characterized by many advantageous design features, such as excellent passive heat removal in accidents, large margins to fuel failure, and online refueling potential. However, a significant challenge in the core modeling of pebble bed reactors is the complex fuel-coolant structure. This paper presents a new porous media simulation code, Pronghorn, that aims to alleviate modeling challenges for pebble bed reactors by providing a fast-running, medium- fidelity core simulator. Pronghorn is intended to accelerate the design and analysis cycle for pebble bed and prismatic HTRs by permitting fast scoping studies and providing boundary conditions for systems-level analysis. Pronghorn is built on the Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) using modern software practices and a thorough testing framework. This paper describes the physical models used in Pronghorn and demonstrates Pronghorn’s capability for modeling gas-cooled pebble bed HTRs by presenting simulation results obtained for the German SANA pebble bed decay heat experiments. Within the limitations of the porous media approximation and existing available closure relationships, Pronghorn predicts the SANA experimental pebble temperatures well, expanding the code’s validation base. A brief code-to-code comparison shows a similar level of accuracy with other porous media simulation tools; this enhances Pronghorn’s advantages of an arbitrary equation of state, unstructured mesh capabilities, compressible flow models, high coupling potential to MOOSE fuels performance and systems-level thermal-hydraulics codes, and modern software design.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2015

GEANT4 simulations for beam emittance in a linear collider based on plasma wakefield acceleration

Alternative acceleration technologies are currently under development for cost-effective, robust, compact, and efficient solutions. One such technology is plasma wakefield acceleration, driven by either a charged particle or laser beam. However, the potential issues must be studied in detail. In this paper, the emittance evolution of a witness beam through elastic scattering from gaseous media and under transverse focusing wakefields is studied.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Commissioning of a Varian Clinac iX 6 MV photon beam using Monte Carlo simulation

Monte Carlo modelling of a linear accelerator is the first and most important step in Monte Carlo dose calculations in radiotherapy. Monte Carlo is considered today to be the most accurate and detailed calculation method in different fields of medical physics. In this research, we developed a photon beam model for Varian Clinac iX 6 MV equipped with MilleniumMLC120 for dose calculation purposes using BEAMnrc/DOSXYZnrc Monte Carlo system based on the underlying EGSnrc particle transport code. Monte Carlo simulation for this commissioning head LINAC divided in two stages are design head Linac model using BEAMnrc, characterize this model using BEAMDP and analyze the difference between simulation and measurement data using DOSXYZnrc. In the first step, to reduce simulation time, a virtual treatment head LINAC was built in two parts (patient-dependent component and patient-independent component). The incident electron energy varied 6.1 MeV, 6.2 MeV and 6.3 MeV, 6.4 MeV, and 6.6 MeV and the FWHM (full width at half maximum) of source is 1 mm. Phase-space file from the virtual model characterized using BEAMDP. The results of MC calculations using DOSXYZnrc in water phantom are percent depth doses (PDDs) and beam profiles at depths 10 cm were compared with measurements. This process has been completed if the dose difference of measured and calculated relative depth-dose data along the central-axis and dose profile at depths 10 cm is ≤ 5%. The effect of beam width on percentage depth doses and beam profiles was studied. Results of the virtual model were in close agreement with measurements in incident energy electron 6.4 MeV. Our results showed that photon beam width could be tuned using large field beam profile at the depth of maximum dose. The Monte Carlo model developed in this study accurately represents the Varian Clinac iX with millennium MLC 120 leaf and can be used for reliable patient dose calculations. In this commissioning process, the good criteria of dose difference in PDD and dose profiles were achieve using incident electron energy 6.4 MeV.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Emulator of PR‐DNS: Accelerating Dynamical Fields With Neural Operators in Particle‐Resolved Direct Numerical Simulation

Abstract Particle‐resolved direct numerical simulations (PR‐DNS) play an increasing role in investigating aerosol‐cloud‐turbulence interactions at the most fundamental level of processes. However, the high computational cost associated with high resolution simulations poses considerable challenges for large domain or long duration simulation using PR‐DNS. To address these issues, here we present an emulator of the complex physics‐based PR‐DNS developed by use of the data‐driven Fourier Neural Operator (FNO) method. The effectiveness of the method is showcased by presenting turbulence and temperature fields in a two‐dimensional space. The results demonstrate high accuracy at various resolutions and the emulator is two orders of magnitude cheaper in terms of computational demand compared to the physics‐based PR‐DNS model. Furthermore, the FNO emulator exhibits strong generalization capabilities for different initial conditions and ultra‐high‐resolution without the need to retrain models. These findings highlight the potential of the FNO method as a promising tool to simulate complex fluid dynamics problems with high accuracy, computational efficiency, and generalization capabilities, enhancing our understanding of the aerosol‐cloud‐precipitation system.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Irradiation Accelerated Corrosion of Stainless Steel and Ferritic-Martensitic Steel in Simulated Primary Water

Austenitic stainless steel, and ferritic-martensitic steel were irradiated with a proton beam while simultaneously exposed to simulated PWR primary water. Samples were exposed for 4-72 hr in 320°C water with 3 wppm hydrogen while simultaneously irradiated at surface dose rates from 400-4000 kGy/s (4x10-7 to 7x10-6 dpa/s). After exposure, samples were characterized with TEM, EDS, and Raman spectroscopy to determine the effects of radiation on the growth and stability of the oxide films. Samples which were irradiated during exposure had thinner inner oxides compared to unirradiated samples. Irradiated samples also had hematite on their surfaces, while unirradiated samples did not, indicating an increase in corrosion potential due to irradiation. Sample regions which were not irradiated but were exposed to the flow of irradiated water were similar to directly irradiated regions, suggesting that water radiolysis is the mechanism primarily responsible for the observed effects.

Stainless Steel, ferritic-martensitic steel, radia↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hybrid simulation of energetic particles interacting with magnetohydrodynamics using a slow manifold algorithm and GPU acceleration

The hybrid method combining particle-in-cell and magnetohydrodynamics can be used to study the interaction between energetic particles and global plasma modes. In this paper we introduce the M3D-C1-K code, which is developed based on the M3D-C1 finite element code solving the magnetohydrodynamics equations, with a newly developed kinetic module simulating energetic particles. The particle pushing is done using a new algorithm by applying the Boris pusher to the classical Pauli particles to simulate the slow-manifold of particle orbits, with long-term accuracy and fidelity. The particle pushing can be accelerated using GPUs with a significant speedup. The moments of the particles are calculated using the δƒ method, and are coupled into the magnetohydrodynamics simulation through pressure or current coupling schemes. Several linear simulations of magnetohydrodynamics modes driven by energetic particles have been conducted using M3D-C1-K with the δƒ method, including fishbone, toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes and reversed shear Alfvén eigenmodes. Good agreement with previous results from other eigenvalue, kinetic and hybrid codes have been achieved.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Application of a temporal multiscale method for efficient simulation of degradation in PEM Water Electrolysis under dynamic operating conditions

Hydrogen is emerging as a vital energy carrier, driven by the need to reduce carbon emissions. Proton Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolysis (PEMWE) enables hydrogen production under fluctuating renewable power conditions but requires improved understanding and stability of the anode catalyst layer under dynamic operating conditions, especially with low noble metal loadings. Long-term degradation experiments are both time-consuming and costly; therefore, a systematic, model-aided approach is essential. In the present work, a temporal multiscale method is applied to reduce the computational effort of simulating long-term degradation processes in PEMWE, with an exemplary focus on catalyst dissolution. A mechanistic model incorporating the oxygen evolution reaction, catalyst dissolution, and hydrogen permeation from the cathode to the anode was hypothesized and implemented. In this way, the local periodicity of transport and reaction processes in dynamic PEMWE operation, which influence the gradual degradation of the catalyst layer, is captured. The temporal multiscale method significantly reduces the computational effort of simulation, decreasing processing time from hours to mere minutes. This efficiency gain is attributed to the limited evolution of Slow-Scale variables during each period of time P of the Fast-Scale variables. Consequently, simulation is required only until local periodicity is achieved within each Slow-Scale time step. Hence, the fully resolved dynamic problem is decoupled into these two scales, employing a heterogeneous multiscale technique. The developed approach effectively accelerates parameter estimation and predictive simulations, supporting systematic modeling of PEMWE degradation under dynamic conditions.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2026

The Effect of Large-scale Magnetic Fluctuations on Energetic Particle Profiles across Interplanetary Shocks

In situ observations of energetic particles associated with interplanetary (IP) shocks, known as energetic storm particle (ESP) events, often show time-intensity profiles quite different from predictions of classical diffusive shock acceleration theory. We use numerical simulations, including test-particle simulations and hybrid simulations (with fluid electrons and kinetic protons) for shocks propagating into a turbulent magnetic field to study the ESP intensity-time profiles across a strong IP shock. We find that several types of energetic particle intensity profiles similar to in situ observations can be produced in our simulations. The peak of energetic particle count is often near, but can be shifted from, the locations of the shock front, with the peak usually being observed downstream of the shock. These findings may help understand particle acceleration at both traveling IP shocks and shocks in other heliospheric and astrophysical environments.

Lo, Ming-Yuan [New Mexico Consortium (NMC), Los Al↗
DOE OSTI2017

Preferential Heating and Acceleration of Heavy Ions in Impulsive Solar Flares

We simulate decaying turbulence in a homogeneous pair plasma using a three-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell method. A uniform background magnetic field permeates the plasma such that the magnetic pressure is three times larger than the thermal pressure and the turbulence is generated by counter-propagating shear Alfvén waves. The energy predominately cascades transverse to the background magnetic field, rendering the turbulence anisotropic at smaller scales. We simultaneously move several ion species of varying charge to mass ratios in our simulation and show that the particles of smaller charge to mass ratios are heated and accelerated to non-thermal energies at a faster rate. This is in accordance with the enhancement of heavy ions and a non-thermal tail in their energy spectrum observed in the impulsive solar flares. We further show that the heavy ions are energized mostly in the direction perpendicular to the background magnetic field, with a rate consistent with our analytical estimate of the rate of heating due to cyclotron resonance with the Alfvén waves, of which a large fraction is due to obliquely propagating waves.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Advances in Multi-Physics Modeling for Parallel Finite Element Code Suite ACE3P

SLAC developed ACE3P code suite is a comprehensive set of parallel finite-element codes for multi-physics modeling of particle accelerators. Running on massively parallel computer platforms for high fidelity and high accuracy simulation, ACE3P enables rapid virtual prototyping of accelerator and RF component design, optimization and analysis. Furthermore, recent advances of ACE3P have been focused on the implementation of advanced numerical algorithms, enhancement of multi-physics capabilities, and improvement of code performance on state-of-the-art high performance computing (HPC) platforms for large-scale RF modeling in accelerator applications and beyond. In this paper, we will present a nonlinear electromagnetic (EM) eigensolver for damping calculation of resonant modes for cavities coupled with waveguides, the thermal solver for accurate evaluation of heat loads in superconducting RF (SRF) cavity power coupler, the elastic solver for investigation of SRF cavity cryomodule (CM) bowing due to thermal effect, the frequency domain mechanical solver for studying SRF cavity mechanical oscillation modes, the particle tracking code for dark current simulation in SRF CM using a hybrid MPI+OpenMP parallel programing model, the time domain solver for high fidelity modeling of EM wave propagation for medical device in human body.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Three-dimensional simulations of the non-thermal broadband emission from young supernova remnants including efficient particle acceleration

Supernova remnants are believed to be major contributors to Galactic cosmic rays. In this paper, we explore how the non-thermal emission from young remnants can be used to probe the production of energetic particles at the shock (both protons and electrons). Our model couples hydrodynamic simulations of a supernova remnant with a kinetic treatment of particle acceleration. We include two important back-reaction loops upstream of the shock: energetic particles can (1) modify the flow structure and (2) amplify the magnetic field. As the latter process is not fully understood, we use different limit cases that encompass a wide range of possibilities. We follow the history of the shock dynamics and of the particle transport downstream of the shock, which allows us to compute the non-thermal emission from the remnant at any given age. We do this in three dimensions, in order to generate projected maps that can be compared with observations. We observe that completely different recipes for the magnetic field can lead to similar modifications of the shock structure, although to very different configurations of the field and particles. We show how this affects the emission patterns in different energy bands, from radio to X-rays and γ-rays. High magnetic fields (>100 μG) directly impact the synchrotron emission from electrons, by restricting their emission to thin rims, and indirectly impact the inverse Compton emission from electrons and also the pion decay emission from protons, mostly by shifting their cut-off energies to respectively lower and higher energies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗