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At least 973 records · Page 54
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Simulation of the Post-Shot Radiation Environment in the National Ignition Facility

The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is the world’s biggest and most energetic laser system for inertial confinement fusion. The NIF is designed to perform shots with varying fusion yield (up to 20 MJ or 7.1 × 10 18 neutrons per shot). A great number of diagnostic instruments are present inside the target chamber (TC) and target bay (TB) during shots. The gamma dose rates due to neutron activation are estimated at various decay times following the high-yield (20-MJ) shots. Several components, like the snout assemblies of the diagnostic instrument manipulators and target positioners are inserted inside the TC, close to the target during the shot. These components represent major sources of gamma decay after retraction outside the TC. Five days after a 20-MJ shot, dose rates near the highly activated (retracted) parts are on the order of 1 mSv/h and dose rates within the TB outside the TC but at distance from the retracted components drop to about 50 to 70 μSv/h. The dose is dominated by decay of 24 Na (T 1/2 = 14.95 h) and waiting for two additional days drops the dose rates significantly. Seven days following a 20-MJ shot, dose rates in the immediate vicinity of the retracted components drop to <0.2 mSv/h and the general ambient dose rates within the TB (away from retracted components) near the TC drop to <10 μSv/h. Dose rates at much larger distances from the TC (near TB wall) are an order of magnitude lower. Detailed radiation transport simulations are performed to create detailed dose rate maps for all floors inside the TB. The maps are used to measure worker stay-out times following shots before entry is permitted into the TB.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Double-Wiebe Function for Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition Combustion Using Reformate Diesel

Abstract Reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) combustion has previously been proposed as a method to achieve high fuel conversion efficiency and reduce engine emissions. A single-fuel RCCI combustion strategy can have decreased fuel system complexity by using a reformate fuel for port fuel injection and the parent fuel (diesel) for direct injection. This paper presents a one-dimensional computational model of a compression ignition engine with single-fuel RCCI. A Wiebe function is used to predict the combustion process by representing the mass fraction burned (MFB) on a crank angle resolved basis. One single-Wiebe function (SWF) and two double-Wiebe functions(DWFs) were fitted to experimentally derive MFB data using the least-square method. The fitted results were compared with MFBs calculated from experimental data to verify the accuracy. The SWF did not fully capture the MFB curve with high fidelity while the detailed DWF captured the MFB curve within a root mean square error of 1.4%. The reduced double-Wiebe function (RDWF) also resulted in a predicted combustion profile with similar accuracy. Hence, the RDWF was used in a GT-power thermodynamic study to understand the effects of the low-temperature heat release (LTHR) fraction and combustion phasing on combustion characteristics. At optimum phasing of 5–10 crank angle degree after the top dead center, increasing the LTHR fraction from 20% to 60% resulted in the fuel conversion efficiency increasing from 39.5% to 41.1%, thus suggesting that the reformate fuel-based RCCI strategy is viable to unlock improved combustion performance.

Energy & Fuels↗
NASA NTRS2015

Green Liquid Monopropellant Thruster

Physical Sciences, Inc. (PSI), and Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) are developing a unique chemical propulsion system for next-generation NASA science spacecraft and missions. The system is compact, lightweight, and can operate with high reliability over extended periods of time and under a wide range of thermal environments. The system uses a new storable, low-toxicity liquid monopropellant as its working fluid. In Phase I, the team demonstrated experimentally the critical ignition and combustion processes for the propellant and used the data to develop thruster design concepts. In Phase II, the team developed and demonstrated in the laboratory a proof-of-concept prototype thruster. A Phase III project is envisioned to develop a full-scale protoflight propulsion system applicable to a class of NASA missions.

Joshi, Prakash B.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Experimental investigation of piston heat transfer under conventional diesel and reactivity-controlled compression ignition combustion regimes

The piston of a heavy-duty single-cylinder research engine was instrumented with 11 fast-response surface thermocouples, and a commercial wireless telemetry system was used to transmit the signals from the moving piston. The raw thermocouple data were processed using an inverse heat conduction method that included Tikhonov regularization to recover transient heat flux. By applying symmetry, the data were compiled to provide time-resolved spatial maps of the piston heat flux and surface temperature. A detailed comparison was made between conventional diesel combustion and reactivity-controlled compression ignition combustion operations at matched conditions of load, speed, boost pressure, and combustion phasing. The integrated piston heat transfer was found to be 24% lower, and the mean surface temperature was 25 C lower for reactivity-controlled compression ignition operation as compared to conventional diesel combustion, in spite of the higher peak heat release rate. Lower integrated piston heat transfer for reactivity-controlled compression ignition was found over all the operating conditions tested. The results showed that increasing speed decreased the integrated heat transfer for conventional diesel combustion and reactivity-controlled compression ignition. The effect of the start of injection timing was found to strongly influence conventional diesel combustion heat flux, but had a negligible effect on reactivity-controlled compression ignition heat flux, even in the limit of near top dead center high-reactivity fuel injection timings. These results suggest that the role of the high-reactivity fuel injection does not significantly affect the thermal environment even though it is important for controlling the ignition timing and heat release rate shape. The integrated heat transfer and the dynamic surface heat flux were found to be insensitive to changes in boost pressure for both conventional diesel combustion and reactivity-controlled compression ignition. However, for reactivity-controlled compression ignition, the mean surface temperature increased with changes in boost suggesting that equivalence ratio affects steady-state heat transfer.

Splitter, Derek A↗
DOE OSTI2025

Quantitative Risk Assessment for Fuel Cell Electric Bus Hydrogen Storage and Refueling Facility

It is necessary to understand the safety implications and risk mitigation options for fuel cell electric bus fleet deployment, especially for related facilities responsible for operations such as production, storage, compression, and dispensing of hydrogen for use by the buses. In this report, we present a quantitative risk assessment for a potential fuel cell electric bus fleet that was motivated by efforts to improve resilience at the Portland International Airport but can be applicable to a range of hydrogen case studies and use cases. We estimated risk for a facility that produces, stores, compresses, and dispenses hydrogen for the fleet of buses, with a focus on individual risk to people in terms of annual frequency of fatality. We considered the frequency of hydrogen leaks that could result in harmful physical outcomes like jet fires or explosions, and the consequences of those outcomes for people. We created customized fault trees to calculate the frequencies of different sizes of leaks and event sequence diagrams to calculate ignition probabilities for the various leak sizes. We also leveraged the HyRAM+ toolkit to use these inputs to calculate overall risk for the facility, which we separated into one section responsible for producing, storing, and compressing hydrogen, and one section responsible for dispensing the hydrogen to the buses. We found that the dispensing area seemed to have a higher risk than the production/storage/compression area of the facility, largely because of the inclusion of a component with a high leak frequency (the heat exchanger used to cool the hydrogen before entering the vehicle, to prevent overheating and expansion of hydrogen in the onboard tank). For the example production and refueling facility we evaluated and the data we used for the analysis, the leak frequency had a larger impact on the risk differences between the two sections on the facility, compared to the physical outcome consequence, which was slightly different due to the varying fuel conditions, but not substantially different. Actions can be taken to prevent these hazards (e.g., lowering leak frequencies in system components) or to mitigate the consequences if they do occur (e.g., installing barriers to protect people if ignition events occur). The choice of which actions to take depends not only on safety considerations but also on space, time, staffing, feasibility, and financial constraints. Therefore, the quantitative risk assessment approach can help understand relative risk contributions from different components, leak sizes, consequences, and human actions, to prioritize risk reduction strategies and balance these parameters. The outcomes of this report may be useful for a variety of stakeholders working in the hydrogen, transportation, vehicle, and aviation sector, including those responsible for aspects like facility design, operations, and regulations. There is not a single value of risk that determines whether a hypothetical system is “safe” or not. The insights about risk mitigations may be leveraged, and the quantitative risk assessment approach can be applied to other case studies to understand risk priorities and contributions specific to different FCEB and hydrogen facility uses.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2011

Modeling the Auto-Ignition of Biodiesel Blends with a Multi-Step Model

There is growing interest in using biodiesel in place of or in blends with petrodiesel in diesel engines; however, biodiesel oxidation chemistry is complicated to directly model and existing surrogate kinetic models are very large, making them computationally expensive. The present study describes a method for predicting the ignition behavior of blends of n-heptane and methyl butanoate, fuels whose blends have been used in the past as a surrogate for biodiesel. The autoignition is predicted using a multistep (8-step) model in order to reduce computational time and make this a viable tool for implementation into engine simulation codes. A detailed reaction mechanism for n-heptane-methyl butanoate blends was used as a basis for validating the multistep model results. The ignition delay trends predicted by the multistep model for the n-heptane-methyl butanoate blends matched well with that of the detailed CHEMKIN model for the majority of conditions tested.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Influence of pilot-fuel mixing on the spatio-temporal progression of two-stage autoignition of diesel-sprays in low-reactivity ambient fuel-air mixture

The spatial and temporal locations of autoignition for direct-injection compression-ignition engines depend on fuel chemistry, temperature, pressure, and mixing trajectories in the fuel jets. Dual-fuel systems can provide insight into both fuel-chemistry and physical effects by varying fuel reactivities and engine operating conditions. In this context, the spatial and temporal progression of two-stage autoignition of a diesel-fuel surrogate, n-heptane, in a lean-premixed charge of synthetic natural-gas (NG) and air is imaged in an optically accessible heavy-duty diesel engine. The lean-premixed charge of NG is prepared by fumigation upstream of the engine intake manifold. Optical diagnostics include high-speed (15kfps) cool-flame chemiluminescence-imaging as an indicator of low-temperature heat-release (LTHR) and OH* chemiluminescence-imaging as an indicator high-temperature heat-release (HTHR). NG prolongs the ignition delay of the pilot fuel and increases the combustion duration. Zero-dimensional chemical-kinetics simulations provide further understanding by replicating a Lagrangian perspective for mixtures evolving along streamlines originating either at the fuel nozzle or in the ambient gas, for which the pilot-fuel concentration is either decreasing or increasing, respectively. The zero-dimensional simulations predict that LTHR initiates most likely on the air streamlines before transitioning to HTHR, either on fuel-streamlines or on air-streamlines in regions of near-constant φ. Due to the relatively short pilot-fuel injection-durations, the transient increase in entrainment near the end of injection (entrainment wave) is important for quickly creating auto-ignitable mixtures. To achieve desired combustion characteristics, e.g., multiple ignition-kernels and favorable combustion phasing and location (e.g., for reducing wall heat-transfer or optimizing charge stratification), adjusting injection parameters could tailor mixing trajectories to offset changes in fuel ignition chemistry.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2017

Vehicle electrical system state controller

A motor vehicle electrical power distribution system includes a plurality of distribution sub-systems, an electrical power storage sub-system and a plurality of switching devices for selective connection of elements of and loads on the power distribution system to the electrical power storage sub-system. A state transition initiator provides inputs to control system operation of switching devices to change the states of the power distribution system. The state transition initiator has a plurality of positions selection of which can initiate a state transition. The state transition initiator can emulate a four position rotary ignition switch. Fail safe power cutoff switches provide high voltage switching device protection.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS1994

Fire hazard considerations for composites in vehicle design

Military ground vehicles fires are a significant cause of system loss, equipment damage, and crew injury in both combat and non-combat situations. During combat, the ability to successfully fight an internal fire, without losing fighting and mobility capabilities, is often the key to crew survival and mission success. In addition to enemy hits in combat, vehicle fires are initiated by electrical system failures, fuel line leaks, munitions mishaps and improper personnel actions. If not controlled, such fires can spread to other areas of the vehicle, causing extensive damage and the potential for personnel injury and death. The inherent fire safety characteristics (i.e. ignitability, compartments of these vehicles play a major roll in determining rather a newly started fire becomes a fizzle or a catastrophe. This paper addresses a systems approach to assuring optimum vehicle fire safety during the design phase of complex vehicle systems utilizing extensive uses of composites, plastic and related materials. It provides practical means for defining the potential fire hazard risks during a conceptual design phase, and criteria for the selection of composite materials based on its fire safety characteristics.

Gordon, Rex B.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Status of Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Methane Injector Study for a Mars Ascent Engine

Preliminary mission studies for human exploration of Mars have been performed at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). These studies indicate that for non-toxic chemical rockets only a cryogenic propulsion system would provide high enough performance to be considered for a Mars ascent vehicle. Although the mission is possible with Earth-supplied propellants for this vehicle, utilization of in-situ propellants is highly attractive. This option would significantly reduce the overall mass of the return vehicle. Consequently, the cost of the mission would be greatly reduced because the number and size of the Earth launch vehicle(s) needed for the mission decrease. NASA/Johnson Space Center has initiated several concept studies (2) of in-situ propellant production plants. Liquid oxygen (LOX) is the primary candidate for an in-situ oxidizer. In-situ fuel candidates include methane (CH4), ethylene (C2H4), and methanol (CH3OH). MSFC initiated a technology development program for a cryogenic propulsion system for the Mars human exploration mission in 1998. One part of this technology program is the effort described here: an evaluation of propellant injection concepts for a LOX/liquid methane Mars Ascent Engine (MAE) with an emphasis on light-weight, high efficiency, reliability, and thermal compatibility. In addition to the main objective, hot-fire tests of the subject injectors will be used to test other key technologies including light-weight combustion chamber materials and advanced ignition concepts. This state-of-the-art technology will then be applied to the development of a cryogenic propulsion system that will meet the requirements of the planned Mars sample return (MSR) mission. The current baseline propulsion system for the MSR mission uses a storable propellant combination [monomethyl hydrazine/mixed oxides of nitrogen-25(MMH/MON-25)]. However, a mission option that incorporates in-situ propellant production and utilization for the ascent stage is being carefully considered as a subscale precursor to a future human mission to Mars.

Trinh, Huu Ogyic↗
NASA NTRS1998

Light-Weight Injector Technology for Cryogenic Mars Ascent Engines

Preliminary mission studies for human exploration of Mars have been performed at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). These studies indicate that for chemical rockets only a cryogenic propulsion system would provide high enough performance to be considered for a Mars ascent vehicle. Although the mission is possible with Earth-supplied propellants for this vehicle, utilization of in-situ propellants is highly attractive. This option would significantly reduce the overall mass of launch vehicles. Consequently, the cost of the mission would be greatly reduced because the number and size of the Earth launch vehicle(s) needed for the mission decrease. NASA/Johnson Space Center has initiated several concept studies of in-situ propellant production plants. Liquid oxygen (LOX) is the primary candidate for an in-situ oxidizer. In-situ fuel candidates include methane (CH4), ethylene (C2H4), and methanol (CH3OH). MSFC initiated a technology development program for a cryogenic propulsion system for the Mars human exploration mission in 1998. One part of this technology program is the effort described here: an evaluation of propellant injection concepts for a LOX/liquid methane Mars Ascent Engine (MAE) with an emphasis on light-weight, high efficiency, reliability, and thermal compatibility. In addition to the main objective, hot-fire tests of the subject injectors will be used to test other key technologies including light-weight combustion chamber materials and advanced ignition concepts. This state-of-the-art technology will then be applied to the development of a cryogenic propulsion system that will meet the requirements of the planned Mars sample return (MSR) mission. The current baseline propulsion system for the MSR mission uses a storable propellant combination [monomethyl hydrazine/mixed oxides of nitrogen-25. However, a mission option that incorporates in-situ propellant production and utilization for the ascent stage is being carefully considered as a subscale precursor to a future human mission to Mars.

Trihn, Huu Phuoc↗
DOE OSTI2015

Stability of spherical converging shock wave

Based on Guderley's self-similar solution, stability of spherical converging shock wave is studied. A rigorous linear perturbation theory is developed, in which the growth rate of perturbation is given as a function of the spherical harmonic number ℓ and the specific heats ratio γ. Numerical calculation reveals the existence of a γ-dependent cut-off mode number ℓ{sub c}, such that all the eigenmode perturbations for ℓ > ℓ{sub c} are smeared out as the shock wave converges at the center. The analysis is applied to partially spherical geometries to give significant implication for different ignition schemes of inertial confinement fusion. Two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations are performed to verify the theory.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Concept and Role of Reference Architectures In NIF LRU Refurbishment Factories within LLNL

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) operates one of the most advanced laser systems in the world, relying on a vast number of optical components and Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) to maintain its functionality. Over time, these components degrade due to operational wear, necessitating refurbishment to sustain performance. However, many NIF LRU refurbishment factories have been “mothballed” or suffer from aging infrastructure, inconsistent work flows, and inefficiencies due to different approaches to production control and management. This paper explores the concept of reference architecture as a standardized framework to guide the redevelopment and restructuring of NIF LRU refurbishment factories. By establishing a common reference architecture, the refurbishment process can achieve reduced inefficiencies, produce quality products, and enhanced coordination across factories. This paper evaluates existing reference architectures, particularly those that integrate technical architecture, business architecture, customer context perspectives, and proposes tailored reference architecture for NIF LRU refurbishment factories.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1980

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration /NOAA/ contamination monitoring instrumentation

The JPL has designed and built a plume contamination monitoring package to be installed on a NOAA environmental services satellite. The package is designed to monitor any condensible contamination that occurs during the ignition and burn of a TE-M-364-15 apogee kick motor. The instrumentation and system interface are described, and attention is given to preflight analysis and test.

Maag, C. R.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Evaluation and Improvement of Liquid Propellant Rocket Chugging Analysis Techniques. Part 2: a Study of Low Frequency Combustion Instability in Rocket Engine Preburners Using a Heterogeneous Stirred Tank Reactor Model

During the shutdown of the space shuttle main engine, oxygen flow is shut off from the fuel preburner and helium is used to push the residual oxygen into the combustion chamber. During this process a low frequency combustion instability, or chug, occurs. This chug has resulted in damage to the engine's augmented spark igniter due to backflow of the contents of the preburner combustion chamber into the oxidizer feed system. To determine possible causes and fixes for the chug, the fuel preburner was modeled as a heterogeneous stirred tank combustion chamber, a variable mass flow rate oxidizer feed system, a constant mass flow rate fuel feed system and an exit turbine. Within the combustion chamber gases were assumed perfectly mixed. To account for liquid in the combustion chamber, a uniform droplet distribution was assumed to exist in the chamber, with mean droplet diameter determined from an empirical relation. A computer program was written to integrate the resulting differential equations. Because chamber contents were assumed perfectly mixed, the fuel preburner model erroneously predicted that combustion would not take place during shutdown. The combustion rate model was modified to assume that all liquid oxygen that vaporized instantaneously combusted with fuel. Using this combustion model, the effect of engine parameters on chamber pressure oscillations during the SSME shutdown was calculated.

Bartrand, Timothy A.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Fire Detector

Because the liquid hydrogen which NASA stores for the space shuttle engines is easily ignited, a hand held ultraviolet fire detector was developed by detector electronics under NASA contract. The system was commercialized by Detector Electronics for use in other hydrogen handling facilities. The detector sensors spot a hydrogen flame at 100 feet, show radiation levels and provide an aural fire alert.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1999

Pyroshock Environments Characterized for Spacecraft Missions

Pyrotechnic shock, or pyroshock, is the transient response of a structure to loading induced by the ignition of pyrotechnic (explosive or propellant activated) devices. These devices are typically used to separate structural systems (e.g., separate a spacecraft from a launch vehicle) and deploy appendages (e.g., solar panels). Pyroshocks are characterized by high peak acceleration, high-frequency content, and short duration. Because of their high acceleration and high-frequency, pyroshocks can cause spaceflight hardware to fail. Verifying by test that spaceflight hardware can withstand the anticipated shock environment is considered essential to mission success. The Earth Observing System (EOS) AM-1 spacecraft for NASA's Mission to Planet Earth is scheduled to be launched on an Atlas IIAS vehicle in 1999, and the NASA Lewis Research Center is the launch vehicle integrator for this NASA Goddard Space Flight Center spacecraft. The EOS spacecraft was subjected to numerous ground shock tests to verify that its scientific instruments and avionics components will withstand the shock-induced vibration produced when the spacecraft separates from the launch vehicle. Shock test data from these tests represent the third largest available pyroshock database in the United States. Future spacecraft missions will directly benefit from the knowledge gained from these tests. The payload separation system used for EOS is a new system that operates by firing six separation nuts. This system was tested to verify its functional operation and to characterize the resulting shock levels. The launch vehicle contractor (Lockheed Martin Astronautics) and spacecraft contractor (Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space) completed 16 separation test firings. This resulted in an unusually large amount of pyroshock data. Typically, only one or two pyroshock test firings are performed for a spacecraft mission. Because of the size of this separation system shock database, engineers were able to perform unique statistical analyses to characterize the distribution of the test data. For example, it was proven that the shock data follow a lognormal distribution, a concept often assumed but rarely proven. The test-to-test repeatability of the shock source level was analyzed, and the effects of various test configurations and separation nut production lots were examined and quantified. Engineers investigated the change in shock level as the shock traveled from the spacecraft separation interface to the avionics components of the upper stage and analyzed the effects of the structural fidelity (simulator versus real) of the components and their weight on vibrational response. In addition, the shock attenuation with distance and across joints was quantified and compared with concepts originally generated in 1970, and the effects of separation nut preload and firing sequences effects were examined. Because of this EOS shock testing and the analyses performed at NASA Lewis, a significant amount of new information on pyroshock and its characteristics is now available to the aerospace industry. We hope that this information will help future spacecraft test planners to perform better and cheaper spacecraft separation shock tests and to better understand their test data.

Hughes, William O.↗