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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 1,171 records · Page 65
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Analysis of Joist Masonry Moisture Content Monitoring

BSC TO5 Task 7.2 Analysis of Joist Masonry Moisture Content Monitoring House - Lawrence, MA 01840 This work involved the field monitoring of embedded wood joist ends in a solid brick building in zone 5A that was retrofitted with interior insulation. Eleven joists throughout the building (which have a variety of orientations, exposures, and masonry wall types) were monitored for wood MCs at the embedded joist ends and for temperatures and RHs within the joist pocket. Indoor and outdoor conditions were also recorded. Results were collected for 28 months (December 2012-April 2015). One limitation was that the renovation was still ongoing; limited wintertime construction heating and no permanent occupancy were factors. Much of the building experienced cold interior temperatures (e.g., construction heating) during the winters. These were not typical interior heating set points. Because the building was essentially unoccupied, no significant interior moisture was generated. These boundary conditions are not normal service conditions. Overall, the RHs and MCs measured in joist pockets were higher than recommended for longterm durability. Many of the joist pockets had sustained conditions of 100% RH, and many wood MCs were in the 25%-35% range for extended periods. Typical guidance includes: (1) MCs lower than 20% are safe, and (2) decay fungi become active at MCs higher than 28%. ASHRAE xi 160 analysis showed that high RH levels coincided with temperatures that were high enough to support mold growth for most of the monitoring period (60%-70% of the hours) in most joists. However, no damage was seen at the joist ends when the instrumentation was installed or when a joist end sample was removed. This suggests that dense, old-growth framing might be able to survive these MCs without damage. Orientation has a significant effect on RH and MC levels: solar heating and drying kept all southfacing joist MCs well within the safe range. The east and west orientations had mixed results: some were in the safe range, but others exceeded the 20% MC level. The north side joists consistently had the highest MCs. Almost all the joists showed seasonal rises and falls; MC and RH conditions were higher during the summer and lower during the winter. This indicates the temperature gradient caused moisture to be driven inward during the summer. MC plots with driving rain showed no discernable correlations. In the parts of the building that had significant wintertime heating, many joists showed a drop in MC that coincided with the addition of heat, even after insulation and air sealing were installed. The joist ends showed a repeated pattern of MC measurements at their upper and lower ends. The lower joist end was consistently wetter than the upper joist end, which can be attributed to contact with the masonry pocket, gravity drainage of bulk water to the bottom of the pocket, greater drying at the top of the beam or deeper embedment at the bottom of the beam, and a larger air pocket at the top of the beam. The north-facing insulated and uninsulated joist ends were compared; a significant or consistent MC or RH difference was not seen between these cases. All three joist pockets essentially remained at a constant 100% RH.

Array↗
DOE OSTI2016

Complex Nano-Scale Structures for Unprecedented Properties in Steels

Processing bulk nanoscrystalline materials for structural applications still poses a rather large challenge, particularly in achieving an industrially viable process. In this context, recent work has proved that complex nanoscale steel structures can be formed by solid reaction at low temperatures. These nanocrystalline bainitic steels present the highest strength ever recorded, unprecedented ductility, fatigue on par with commercial bearing steels and exceptional rolling-sliding wear performances. In this paper, a description of the characteristics and significance of these remarkable structures in the context of the atomic mechanism of transformation is provided.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1986

Particle migration in rotating liquids

An analytical solution predicting the behavior of particles in the presence of both gravitational and rotational fields is obtained at the limit of quasi-steady creeping flow. The experiments performed in the present work using fluid particles, as well as the experiments already reported on solid particles, agree satisfactorily with the theory.

Annamalai, P.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Superconductivity devices: Commercial use of space

The work described in this report covers various aspects of the Rainbow solid-state actuator technology. It is presented in six parts dealing with materials, processing, fabrication, properties and associated phenomena. The Rainbow actuator technology is a relatively new materials development which had its inception in 1992. It consists of a new processing technology for preparing piezoelectric and electrostrictive ceramic materials. It involves a high temperature chemical reduction process which leads to an internal pre-stressing of the oxide wafer, thus the name Rainbow, an acronym for Reduced And INternally Biased Oxide Wafer. Ceramics fabricated by this method produce bending-mode actuator devices which possess several times more displacement and load bearing capacity than present-day benders (unimorphs, bimorphs). It is anticipated that these solid-state, electromechanical actuators which can be used in a number of applications in space such as cryopump motors, anti-vibration active structures, autoleveling platforms, telescope mirror correctors and autofocusing devices. When considering any of these applications, the key to the development of a successful device is the successful development of a ceramic material which can produce maximum displacement per volt input; hence, this initiative involving a solid-state means for achieving unusually high electromechanical displacement can be significant and far reaching. An additional benefit obtained from employing the piezoelectric effect in these actuator devices is the ability to also utilize them as sensors; and, indeed, they can be used as both motor (actuator) and generator (sensor) in multifunction devices.

Haertling, Gene↗
NASA NTRS1996

Superconductivity Devices: Commercial Use of Space

The work described in this report covers various aspects of the Rainbow solid-state actuator and sensor technologies. It is presented in five parts dealing with sensor applications, nonlinear properties, stress-optic and electrooptic properties, stacks and arrays, and publications. The Rainbow actuator technology is a relatively new materials development which had its inception in 1992. It involves a new processing technique for preparing pre-stressed, high lead containing piezoelectric and electrostrictive ceramic materials. Ceramics fabricated by this method produce bending-mode actuator devices which possess several times more displacement and load bearing capacity than present-day benders. Since they can also be used in sensor applications, Rainbows are part of the family of materials known as smart ceramics. During this period, PLZT Rainbow ceramics were characterized with respect to their piezoelectric properties for potential use in stress sensor applications. Studies of the nonlinear and stress-optic/electrooptic birefringent properties were also initiated during this period. Various means for increasing the utility of stress-enhanced Rainbow actuators are presently under investigation.

Haertling, Gene↗
NASA NTRS1997

Filmless Radiography

Technology initially prototyped under a Small Business Innovation Research contract between Quantex Corporation and Langley Research Center was licensed to Liberty Technology and incorporated into RADView, a new filmless radiography technology. The NASA-sponsored work involved the investigation of Electron Trapping, which led to a solid-state film that uses a special class of photoluminescent materials to capture radiographic images. RadView is a total imaging solution for the conversion of radiographic film records to digital format and digital acquisitions of radiographs. With the RADView technology, there is a reduction of exposure times and errors; film waste is eliminated; and the efficiency of data management and precise image analysis is boosted. The solid-state film can be exposed, read, erased, and re- exposed indefinitely until mechanical replacement is required. Digital images can be stored to optical media for up to 100 years and beyond without information loss.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2004

A Model for Shear Layer Effects on Engine Noise Radiation

Prediction of aircraft engine noise is an important aspect of addressing the issues of community noise and cabin noise control. The development of physics based methodologies for performing such predictions has been a focus of Computational Aeroacoustics (CAA). A recent example of code development in this area is the ducted fan noise propagation and radiation code CDUCT-LaRC. Included within the code is a duct radiation model that is based on the solution of FfowcsWilliams-Hawkings (FW-H) equation with a penetrable data surface. Testing of this equation for many acoustic problems has shown it to provide generally better results than the Kirchhoff formula for moving surfaces. Currently, the data surface is taken to be the inlet or exhaust plane for inlet or aft-fan cases, respectively. While this provides reasonable results in many situations, these choices of data surface location lead to a few limitations. For example, the shear layer between the bypass ow and external stream can refract the sound waves radiated to the far field. Radiation results can be improved by including this effect, as well as the rejection of the sound in the bypass region from the solid surface external to the bypass duct surrounding the core ow. This work describes the implementation, and possible approximation, of a shear layer boundary condition within CDUCT-LaRC. An example application also illustrates the improvements that this extension offers for predicting noise radiation from complex inlet and bypass duct geometries, thereby providing a means to evaluate external treatments in the vicinity of the bypass duct exhaust plane.

Nark, Douglas M.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Fixed Packed Bed Reactors in Reduced Gravity

We present experimental data on flow pattern transitions, pressure drop and flow characteristics for cocurrent gas-liquid flow through packed columns in microgravity. The flow pattern transition data indicates that the pulse flow regime exists over a wider range of gas and liquid flow rates under microgravity conditions compared to 1-g and the widely used Talmor map in 1-g is not applicable for predicting the transition boundaries. A new transition criterion between bubble and pulse flow in microgravity is proposed and tested using the data. Since there is no static head in microgravity, the pressure drop measured is the true frictional pressure drop. The pressure drop data, which has much smaller scatter than most reported 1-g data clearly shows that capillary effects can enhance the pressure drop (especially in the bubble flow regime) as much as 200% compared to that predicted by the single phase Ergun equation. The pressure drop data are correlated in terms of a two-phase friction factor and its dependence on the gas and liquid Reynolds numbers and the Suratman number. The influence of gravity on the pulse amplitude and frequency is also discussed and compared to that under normal gravity conditions. Experimental work is planned to determine the gas-liquid and liquid-solid mass transfer coefficients. Because of enhanced interfacial effects, we expect the gas-liquid transfer coefficients kLa and kGa (where a is the gas-liquid interfacial area) to be higher in microgravity than in normal gravity at the same flow conditions. This will be verified by gas absorption experiments, with and without reaction in the liquid phase, using oxygen, carbon dioxide, water and dilute aqueous amine solutions. The liquid-solid mass transfer coefficient will also be determined in the bubble as well as the pulse flow regimes using solid benzoic acid particles in the packing and measuring their rate of dissolution. The mass transfer coefficients in microgravity will be compared to those in normal gravity cocurrent flow to determine the mass transfer enhancement and propose new mass transfer correlations for two-phase gas-liquid flows through packed beds in microgravity.

Motil, Brian J.↗
NASA NTRS2005

The Explorer's Guide to Impact Craters

Impact cratering is a fundamental geologic process of our solar system. It competes with other processes, such as plate tectonics, volcanism, fluvial, glacial and eolian activity, in shaping the surfaces of planetary bodies. In some cases, like the Moon and Mercury, impact craters are the dominant landform. On other planetary bodies impact craters are being continuously erased by the action of other geological processes, like volcanism on Io, erosion and plate tectonics on the Earth, tectonic and volcanic resurfacing on Venus, or ancient erosion periods on Mars. The study of crater populations is one of the principal tools for understanding the geologic history of a planetary surface. Among the general public, impact cratering has drawn wide attention through its portrayal in several Hollywood movies. Questions that are raised after watching these movies include: How do scientists learn about impact cratering? , and What information do impact craters provide in understanding the evolution of a planetary surface? Fundamental approaches used by scientists to learn about impact cratering include field work at known terrestrial craters, remote sensing studies of craters on various solid surfaces of solar system bodies, and theoretical and laboratory studies using the known physics of impact cratering.

Chuang, F.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Electrical Monitoring Devices Save on Time and Cost

In order to protect the Solar Dynamics Observatory's instruments from blowing their fuses and being rendered unusable, Goddard Space Flight Center worked with Micropac Industries Inc., based in Garland, Texas, to develop solid-state power controllers, which can depower and then resupply power to an instrument in the event of an electric surge. The company is now selling the technology for use in industrial plants.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2016

Magnetocaloric Materials Revolutionize Refrigeration Technology

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have partnered with General Electric (GE) Appliances on a building technologies project to revolutionize today’s 100-year-old home refrigeration technology. Using magnetocaloric materials (MCM), they’ve eliminated the need for a vapor compression cycle, associated refrigerants, and their negative environmental impacts. The research team is currently working to determine the most effective means to transfer heat from the solid MCM, and using fluid passed through high-resolution microchannels shows promise. This technology has the potential to reduce energy consumption by 25%, and GE hopes to commercialize magnetocaloric refrigerators for use in homes by 2020.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

Benchmark of the LAMMPS code on CRESCO and SUMMIT HPC systems

In this work we present the benchmark results of a numerical model where the solid Deuterium grows under gas pressure. The two-phase molecular Deuterium systems (gas + solid) is modeled using classical molecular dynamics approach and the LAMMPS code. The performance between different modern supercomputers are analyzed and compared. In addition, the numerical simulations reach high accuracy to produce results that match with the data collected through laboratory experiments.

Lupo Pasini, Massimiliano↗
DOE OSTI2016

Underground Gas Sampling for {sup 37}Ar in Hard Limestone

On-Site Inspection (OSI) is a part of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Each State Party has the right to request an OSI to clarify if a nuclear weapon test or other nuclear explosion has been carried out in violation of the Treaty. In order to conduct an OSI, States Parties must have a solid understanding of the source term, environmental transport, and radionuclide background. This work focuses on the development of sampling technologies to measure {sup 37}Ar and other underground forensic radiotracer noble gasses. The inert properties of these noble gasses makes them vital for the detection of underground nuclear tests. (authors)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

A New Era for Modern Bubble Chamber Technology: Cooling and Real-Time Control for the MAMBA Neutrino Bubble Chamber∗

Future neutrino experiments such as DUNE will be limited less by statistics than by how well neutrino--nucleus interactions are understood, and the cleanest way to improve that understanding is to measure interactions with light nuclei such as hydrogen or deuterium. The detector best suited to the job, the bubble chamber, has not been built for a neutrino beam in about fifty years. MAMBA (Modern Adaptive Modular Bubble chamber Archetype) is a small prototype at Fermilab intended to bring the technology back with modern cryogenics and automation, cycling continuously at 1~Hz. This paper summarizes my work on two of its subsystems during a summer internship. A new solid copper thermal link brought the coldhead to 21.3~K in a commissioning cooldown, near the 20~K operating target. An Industrial Shields Raspberry Pi programmable logic controller (PLC) running OpenPLC was characterized at a median round-trip response of 0.64~ms over 20,000 trials, with 0.66\% of trials exceeding 1~ms. Both results support continuous cycling.

Williams, Nicholas [Fermilab; DuPage Coll.]↗
DOE OSTI2021

Verification Testing For Solid-Element Material Models 11-19 in DYNA3D/ParaDyn

This technical report documents the creation and implementation of verification tests for solid-element material models 11 through 19 available in DYNA3D/ParaDyn. The verification tests covered all aspects of each material model, except for the Weibull distribution functionality in material models 15 and 19. General test cases were created to verify the elastic and plastic behavior of the material models. Other additional tests were developed to examine the intricacies of each material model. Each test involved the use a kinematic load case and specification of material parameters necessary to activate corresponding features of the material model. The load cases prescribed the full time history of the kinematic motion for the solid elements, and these loads are independent of the material model or element formulation. When possible, closed form solutions were then derived for each verification test in a continuum setting. The DYNA3D simulations for each test were carried out over a unit time interval, t ϵ [0, 1], and the as implemented DYNA3D response was compared to the closed form solutions evaluated at discrete points in time. A relative error measure was determined for each test to justify the proper implementation of the material model. The relative errors comparing the DYNA3D solution to the analytical solution were, in general, on the order of machine precision except where noted. This signifies the proper implementation of solid-element material models 11-19. In the development of these verification tests, six bugs were found and fixed in the source code. Additionally, this work generated eighteen DYNA3D input decks and answer extraction scripts in the DYNA3D/ParaDyn Software Quality Assurance test suite, which are comprised of a total of 285 solid-element tests. Testing for each material model utilizes two input decks and answer extraction scripts, where one focuses on the linear elastic response and the other examines the inelastic and remaining functionalities of the material model. In total, this work added 285 individual verification test problems in the DYNA3D/ParaDyn test suite.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS2024

Plasma-Based Elemental Analyzer for Crewed Transit and Planetary Habitation

As NASA continues to perform research on the ISS and move towards the Moon and Mars, it is important for astronauts to have a technology capable of determining the composition of solid, liquid, and gas samples. Currently, samples are transported back to Earth for analysis, which may impact results due to the time delay of samples waiting to be returned to Earth as well as potential sample contamination from re-entry, change in environment, and various personnel handling. Therefore, researchers at the Applied Chemistry Lab at KSC have developed a proof-of-concept “Plasma-Based Elemental Analyzer,” which has the capability of testing solid, liquid, and gas samples for identification. Currently, the analysis is only qualitative, with quantitative identification left for future work. This technology is similar to ICP-OES, but differs in instrument size and sample preparation. Both technologies use plasma to ionize samples for light emission. The plasma elemental analyzer aims to be portable and lightweight, require only electrical power, and analyze solid, liquid, and gas samples. It does not use acid digestion or a nebulizer, requires less power than ICP-OES, and is able to operate with minimal to no usage of argon gas. Furthermore, the plasma elemental analyzer operates within low power constraints, which makes it feasible for usage on future missions with higher power constraints. The technology was tested at atmospheric pressure using mostly room air as the carrier gas for plasma production in the proof-of-concept study. The results showed the peak signals of the elements with an associated arbitrary signal intensity that allowed for qualitative identification. Solid samples that were tested included inedible biomass from the Golden Heirloom Cherry Tomato plant and Lunar Highlands Simulants (LHS-1). The liquid samples included elements of interest for the space crop production community. This work showed that a system smaller than the traditional ICP-OES equipment is able to be designed and implemented in future use cases, although it requires further development.

Kenneth Engeling↗
NASA NTRS2010

Effect of Post-HALT Annealing on Leakage Currents in Solid Tantalum Capacitors

Degradation of leakage currents is often observed during life testing of tantalum capacitors and is sometimes attributed to the field-induced crystallization in amorphous anodic tantalum pentoxide dielectrics. However, degradation of leakage currents and the possibility of annealing of degraded capacitors have not been investigated yet. In this work the effect of annealing after highly accelerated life testing (HALT) on leakage currents in various types of solid tantalum capacitors was analyzed. Variations of leakage currents with time during annealing at temperatures from 125 oC to 180 oC, thermally stimulated depolarization (TSD) currents, and I-V characteristics were measured to understand the conduction mechanism and the reason for current degradation. Annealing resulted in a gradual decrease of leakage currents and restored their initial values. Repeat HALT after annealing resulted in reproducible degradation of leakage currents. The observed results are explained based on ionic charge instability (drift/diffusion of oxygen vacancies) in the tantalum pentoxide dielectrics using a modified Schottky conduction mechanism.

Teverovsky, Alexander↗
DOE OSTI2020

Probing solid-state reaction through microstrain: A case study on synthesis of LiCoO 2

Solid-state reaction has been widely adopted as a low-cost and scalable approach to synthesize inorganic materials for industrial applications. However, a special caution must be paid to carefully control the synthesis condition in order to obtain final products with desired structure and physical/chemical properties. In this work, LiCoO 2 was investigated as a model material to illustrate the complexity of the solid-state reaction, as well as its condition control. Taking the advantage of the high flux and high penetration capability of synchrotron X-ray source, in-situ high-energy X-ray diffraction was deployed to investigate the structural evolution of materials during the solid-state reaction while ex-situ high-resolution X-ray diffraction was utilized to quantify the residual microstrains of LiCoO 2 . It is shown that the microstrain is a sensitive indicator to probe the completeness of the solid-state reactions, and that it also provides a more quantitative way to establish the structure-property relationship of materials. It can serve as a sensitive indicator for the rational design of synthesis process for functional materials.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗