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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 OSTI2016

Dimensionality effects in void-induced explosive sensitivity

Here, the dimensionality of defects in high explosives controls their heat generation and the expansion of deflagrations from them. We compare the behaviour of spherical voids in three dimensions to that of circular voids in two dimensions. The behaviour is qualitatively similar, but the additional focusing along the extra transverse dimension significantly reduces the piston velocity needed to initiate reactions. However, the reactions do not grow as well in three dimensions, so detonations require larger piston velocities. Pressure exponents are seen to be similar to those for the two-dimensional system.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2013

THE GALACTIC SUPERNOVA REMNANT W49B LIKELY ORIGINATES FROM A JET-DRIVEN, CORE-COLLAPSE EXPLOSION

We present results from a 220 ks observation of the Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) W49B using the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer on board the Chanrda X-ray Observatory. We exploit these data to perform detailed spatially resolved spectroscopic analyses across the SNR with the aim to investigate the thermodynamic properties and explosive origin of W49B. We find substantial variation in the electron temperature and absorbing column toward W49B, and we show that the mean metal abundances are consistent with the predicted yields in models of bipolar/jet-driven core-collapse SNe. Furthermore, we set strict upper limits on the X-ray luminosity of any undetected point sources, and we exclude the presence of a neutron star associated with W49B. We conclude that the morphological, spectral, and environmental characteristics of W49B are indicative of a bipolar Type Ib/Ic SN origin, making it the first of its kind to be discovered in the Milky Way.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

A 10,000 YEAR OLD EXPLOSION IN DR21

Sensitive high angular resolution ({approx}2'') CO(2-1) line observations made with the Submillimeter Array of the flow emanating from the high-mass star-forming region DR21 located in the Cygnus X molecular cloud are presented. These new interferometric observations indicate that this well known enigmatic outflow appears to have been produced by an explosive event that took place about 10,000 years ago, and that might be related to the disintegration of a massive stellar system such as the one that occurred in Orion Becklin-Neugebauer/Kleinman-Low 500 years ago, but about 20 times more energetic. This result therefore argues in favor of the idea that the disintegration of young stellar systems perhaps is a frequent phenomenon present during the formation of massive stars. However, many more theoretical and observational studies are still needed to confirm our hypothesis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Modeling the Structural Response from a Propagating High Explosive Using Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics

This report primarily concerns the use of two massively parallel finite element codes originally written and maintained at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. ALE3D is an explicit hydrodynamics code commonly employed to simulate wave propagation from high energy scenarios and the resulting interaction with nearby structures. This coupled response ensures that a structure is accurately applied with a blast loading varying both in space and time. Figure 1 illustrates the radial outward propagation of a pressure wave due to a center detonated spherical explosive originating from the lower left. The radial symmetry seen in this scenario is lost when instead a cylindrocal charge is detonated. Figure 2 indicates that a stronger, faster traveling pressure wave occurs in the direction of the normal axis to the cylinder. The ALE3D name is derived because of the use of arbitrary-Lagrange-Eulerian elements in which the mesh is allowed to advect; a process through which the mesh is modified to alleviate tanlging and general mesh distortion often cuased by high energy scenarios. The counterpart to an advecting element is a Lagrange element, whose mesh moves with the material. Ideally all structural components are kept Lagrange as long as possible to preserve accuracy of material variables and minimize advection related errors. Advection leads to mixed zoning, so using structural Lagrange elements also improves the visualization when post processing the results. A simplified representation of the advection process is shown in Figure 3. First the mesh is distorted due to material motion during the Lagrange step. The mesh is then shifted to an idealized and less distorted state to prevent irregular zones caused by the Lagrange motion. Lastly, the state variables are remapped to the elements of the newly constructed mesh. Note that Figure 3 represents a purely Eulerian mesh relaxation because the mesh is relocated back to the pre-Lagrange position. This is the case when the material flows through a still mesh. This is not typically done in an ALE3D analysis, especially if Lagrange elements exist. Deforming Lagrange elements would certainly tangle with a Eulerian mesh eventually. The best method in this case is to have an advecting mesh positioned as some relaxed version of the pre and post Lagrange step; this gives the best opportunity of modeling a high energy event with a combination of Lagrange and ALE elements. Dyne3D is another explicit dynamic analysis code, ParaDyn being the parallel version. ParaDyn is used for predicting the transient response of three dimensional structures using Lagrangian solid mechanics. Large deformation and mesh tangling is often resolved through the use of an element deletion scheme. This is useful to accommodate component failure, but if it is done purely as a means to preserve a useful mesh it can lead to problems because it does not maintain continuity of the material bulk response. Whatever medium exists between structural components is typically not modeled in ParaDyn. Instead, a structure either has a known loading profile applied or given initial conditions. The many included contact algorithms can calculate the loading response of materials if and when they collide. A recent implementation of an SPH module in which failed or deleted material nodes are converted to independent particles is currently being utilized for a variety of spall related problems and high velocity impact scenarios. Figure 4 shows an example of a projectile, given an initial velocity, and how it fails the first plate which generates SPH particles which then interact with and damage the second plate.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

THE OXYGEN FEATURES IN TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE NATURE OF THERMONUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS

The absorption feature O i λ 7773 is an important spectral indicator for type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) that can be used to trace the unburned material in outer layers of the exploding white dwarf (WD). In this work, we use a large sample of SNe Ia to examine this absorption at early phases (i.e., 13 day ≲ t ≲ 7 day) and make comparisons with the absorption features of Si ii λ 6355 and the Ca ii near-infrared triplet. We show that for a subgroup of spectroscopically normal SNe with normal photospheric velocities (i.e., v {sub si} ≲ 12,500 km s{sup 1} at optical maximum), the line strength of the high velocity feature (HVF) of O i is inversely correlated with that of Si ii (or Ca ii), and this feature also shows a negative correlation with the luminosity of SNe Ia. This finding, together with other features we find for the O i HVF, reveal that for this subgroup of SNe Ia, explosive oxygen burning occurs in the outermost layer of the SN. Differences in the oxygen burning could lead to the observed diversity, which is in remarkable agreement with the popular delayed-detonation model of Chandrasekhar mass WDs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

A Safer Nuclear Enterprise - Application to Nuclear Explosive Safety (NES)(U)

Activities and infrastructure that support nuclear weapons are facing significant challenges. Despite an admirable record and firm commitment to make safety a primary criterion in weapons design, production, handling, and deployment - there is growing apprehension about terrorist acquiring weapons or nuclear material. At the NES Workshop in May 2012, Scott Sagan, who is a proponent of the normal accident cycle, presented. Whether a proponent of the normal accident cycle or High Reliability Organizations - we have to be diligent about our safety record. Constant vigilance is necessary to maintain our admirable safety record and commitment to Nuclear Explosive Safety.

ACCIDENTS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Self-Propulsion by Directed Explosive Emulsification

An active droplet system, programmed to repeatedly move autonomously at a specific velocity in a well-defined direction, is demonstrated. Coulombic energy is stored in oversaturated interfacial assemblies of charged nanoparticle-surfactants by an applied DC electric field and can be released on demand. Spontaneous emulsification is suppressed by an increase in the stiffness of the oversaturated assemblies. Rapidly removing the field releases the stored energy in an explosive event that propels the droplet, where thousands of charged microdroplets are ballistically ejected from the surface of the parent droplet. The ejection is made directional by a symmetry breaking of the interfacial assembly, and the combined interaction force of the microdroplet plume on one side of the droplet propels the droplet distances tens of times its size, making the droplet active. The propulsion is autonomous, repeatable, and agnostic to the chemical composition of the nanoparticles. The symmetry-breaking in the nanoparticle assembly controls the microdroplet velocity and direction of propulsion. Finally, this mechanism of droplet propulsion will advance soft micro-robotics, establishes a new type of active matter, and introduces new vehicles for compartmentalized delivery.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Calibration and uncertainty quantification for Davis Equation of State models for the High Explosive PBX 9501 products

Abstract This paper investigates the uncertainty in the parameters used in the calibration of an Davis Equation Of State (EOS) for the detonation products of the High Explosive PBX 9501. The procedure sought to make use of all available information about this HE to inform the best set of calibration parameters as well as the uncertainty in these parameters. The procedure made use of historical experimental data, the results from thermo‐chemical modeling as well as data on the best isentrope function fit to cylinder test experimental data. Combining all these heterogeneous data sources together in a Bayesian calibration, yielded a posterior mean and covariance. Sampling from the posterior distribution and evaluating an important Quantity Of Interest (QOI) in the EOS model, the detonation speed of a one‐inch rate stick, produced a distribution which showed variations which were in agreement with experiments. The uncertainty in the EOS was reported as eleven sets of model calibrations which spanned the range of this QOI.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2025

Megahertz Rate Optical Diagnostics of Explosively Generated Soot

Detonation of a solid explosive produces a turbulent and luminous post‐detonation fireball containing condensed carbon soot. Diagnostics of soot dynamics are needed for model validation and to interpret emission signals. Diffuse back‐illumination extinction imaging (DBI‐EI) and laser‐induced incandescence (LII) are two common optical diagnostics for flame soot. This work extends both to measure time‐resolved soot dynamics from a 12 mm HMX hemisphere. DBI‐EI measured line‐of‐sight optical extinction exceeds 99% in some regions. Results are tomographically inverted to obtain a signal proportional to the soot volume fraction. Pulse‐burst LII measures are presented at 1 MHz. For the first time, LII results are combined with DBI‐EI extinction measurements to quantify and correct for signal trapping. Following this, spatially and temporally resolved DBI‐EI and LII measures are shown to be in reasonable agreement. Finally, experimental results are compared against recently developed simulations. Quantitative differences in the soot mixing dynamics are resolved. These findings motivate future model improvements and demonstrate ongoing needs for diagnostic advancements for heavily sooting environments.

diffuse back-illumination extinction imaging↗
DOE OSTI2026

Improvement of Drop‐Hammer Impact Testing for Safety Assessment of High Explosives Using 10‐mg Samples

Here, in this study, we established an improved method for drop-hammer impact testing of small quantities of high explosives (10 mg). We performed about seven hundred impact tests under various experimental conditions (e.g., sandpaper vs bare anvil, different sample masses, drop-weights, and striker diameters) to determine an optimal set of conditions and reaction detection methods (e.g., gas analysis, video, and sound recordings) that give the most statistically reliable results with 10 mg samples. We used both Frequentist and Bayesian statistical approaches to compare estimates of the drop height (DH50) that initiates a reaction 50% of the time, and to quantify the associated uncertainty. Gas analysis proved to be the most reliable reaction detection method, showing unambiguous rises in HE decomposition products (e.g., CO 2 ) even when the other indicators (e.g., sound, video) were inconclusive. The impact tests performed with a bare anvil showed much better reproducibility than those conducted with sandpaper, reducing the largest uncertainty observed in the data sets by a factor of 1.7. The DH 50 values obtained from three different sample masses (10, 20, and 35 mg) fell within the uncertainties of the measurements. We demonstrated the improved procedure (i.e., 10-mg samples, gas analysis, bare anvil, and Bayesian approach) on a variety of PETN samples having different surface areas and thermal histories.

PETN↗
DOE OSTI2018

Explosion-induced ignition and combustion of acetylene clouds

We investigate the explosion-induced ignition and combustion of an acetylene cloud in a rectangular chamber (10 cm × 10 cm × 39 cm). In the experiments, a 0.2-g PETN charge was located at $x = 9.7\,\hbox {cm}$ and a soap bubble (d=5cm) filled with pure acetylene was located at $x = 27\,\hbox {cm}$ as measured relative to the end wall. Detonation of the charge created a blast wave that crushed the soap bubble—inducing mixing with the air. After 0.55 ms, the mixture ignited, forming at turbulent combustion cloud. The flow was modeled using the compressible Navier–Stokes equations assuming unity Lewis number. Arrhenius-based kinetics were used to model ignition. Adaptive mesh refinement was used to capture turbulent mixing on the grid (the MILES approach of J. Boris). Computed pressures were found to be in agreement with measured pressure histories. Finite-rate kinetics were required to capture the ignition processes over the duration of the experiment.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

The effects of electrically exploding gold bridgewires into inert and explosive powder beds

Abstract The particle velocity created in beds of both low-density inert sugar and explosive PETN as a function of distance from an exploding bridgewire was measured using optical velocimetry and a silvered PMMA window. As expected, more violent bridge-bursts (from a greater-stored-energy capacitive discharge unit) resulted in greater particle velocities and a better supported compaction wave in sugar. In all cases, ramp waves, not shocks, were observed in the inert sugar. Large window velocities were observed for very powerful bursts (up to 270 m/s), but bursts required for stochastic detonator operation conditions resulted in sugar/PMMA window velocities of only 8–10 m/s 0.85 mm from the bridge location. In contrast, after a distance of only 0.65 mm, a building shock wave was observed in PETN under both threshold and reliable firing conditions. Subsequently a hot-spot-driven shock-to-detonation (SDT) process was observed prior to full detonation. The measured buildup process accounts for $$\approx $$ ≈ 66% of the so-called excess transit time (ETT) between the observed and theoretical total function time for the particular exploding-bridge-wire (EBW) detonator studied. The remainder must occur in the powerful output pellet region. In contrast to a common understanding, the ETT is found to be a weak function of the discharge energy. Thus, the operation of the detonator after a bridge-burst energy-to-powder reaction transition process is found to be hot-spot-driven SDT in both the low- and high-density pellets.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2012

Spectral and angular dependence of mid-infrared diffuse scattering from explosives residues for standoff detection using external cavity quantum cascade lasers

We present a study of the spectral and angular dependence of scattered mid-infrared light from surfaces coated with explosives residues (TNT, RDX, and tetryl) detected at a 2 meter standoff distance. An external cavity quantum cascade laser provided tunable illumination between 7 and 8 µm. Important differences were identified in the spectral features between specular reflection and diffuse scattering which will impact most practical testing scenarios and complicate material identification. We discuss some of the factors influencing the dependence of observed spectra on the experimental geometry.

Quantum cascade lasers, mid-IR spectroscopy, stand↗
DOE OSTI2018

Reliable and Efficient Way of Explosion Protection

The article highlights the current state of the issue and offers new patented technical solutions that eliminate shortcomings of the existing ones. A distinguishing feature of the new design solutions is the coexistence in safety devices (SD) of both blowout diaphragms and nonstandard safety valves, the moving masses of which do not affect the SD operation speed. Because of this, it is fully leakproof in normal situation and it opens fast enough in explosive scenario.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2017

Synthesis and characterization of surrogate nuclear explosion debris: urban glass matrix

Surrogate nuclear explosive debris was synthesized and characterized for major, minor, and trace elemental composition as well as uranium isotopics. The samples consisted of an urban glass matrix, equal masses soda lime and cement, doped with 500 ppm uranium with varying enrichments. The surface and cross section morphology were measured with SEM, and the major elemental composition was determined by XPS. LA-ICP-MS was used to measure the uranium isotopic abundance comparing different sampling techniques. Furthermore, the results provide an example of the utility of LA-ICP-MS for forensics applications.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗
DOE OSTI2018

Simulating the effects of underground nuclear explosions with an exploding wire

Exploding wires can deposit significant amounts of energy (1000’s of Joules on a nano-microsecond timescales) into a very confined space. Under the right conditions they can even produce neutrons. While most exploding wire studies have been performed in open air and to a lesser extent liquids we have started to investigate enclosing the wire element in solid matrices like concrete to mimic the effects of an underground nuclear explosion. The temperatures and pressures achieved are quite sufficient to induce structural cracking and localized flash melting in the enclosing media like a real underground nuclear detonation. As a result exploding wires would appear to form the perfect trigger for releasing confined chemical species including gases in geological media to study migration behavior in a controlled environment. Details of the apparatus and some illustrations of it potential will be given.

Underground Nuclear Explosions, Exploding Wires, X↗