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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 1,243 records · Page 69
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Analysis of shockless dynamic compression data on solids to multi-megabar pressures: Application to tantalum

Magnetically-driven, planar shockless-compression experiments to multi-megabar pressures were performed on tantalum samples using a stripline target geometry. Free-surface velocity waveforms were measured in 15 cases; nine of these in a dual-sample configuration with two samples of different thicknesses on opposing electrodes, and six in a single-sample configuration with a bare electrode opposite the sample. Details are given on the application of inverse Lagrangian analysis (ILA) to these data, including potential sources of error. The most significant source of systematic error, particularly for single-sample experiments, was found to arise from the pulse-shape dependent free-surface reflected wave interactions with the deviatoric-stress response of tantalum. This could cause local, possibly temporary, unloading of material from a ramp compressed state, and thus multi-value response in wave speed that invalidates the free-surface to in-material velocity mapping step of ILA. By averaging all 15 data sets, a final result for the principal quasi-isentrope of tantalum in stress-strain was obtained to a peak longitudinal stress of 330 GPa with conservative uncertainty bounds of ±4.5% in stress. The result agrees well with a tabular equation of state developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

State-to-state reaction dynamics of {sup 18}O+{sup 32}O{sub 2} studied by a time-dependent quantum wavepacket method

The title isotope exchange reaction was studied by converged time-dependent wave packet calculations, where an efficient 4th order split operator was applied to propagate the initial wave packet. State-to-state differential and integral cross sections up to the collision energy of 0.35 eV were obtained with {sup 32}O{sub 2} in the hypothetical j{sub 0} = 0 state. It is discovered that the differential cross sections are largely forward biased in the studied collision energy range, due to the fact that there is a considerable part of the reaction occurring with large impact parameter and short lifetime relative to the rotational period of the intermediate complex. The oscillations of the forward scattering amplitude as a function of collision energy, which result from coherent contribution of adjacent resonances, may be a sensitive probe for examining the quality of the underlying potential energy surface. A good agreement between the theoretical and recent experimental integral and differential cross sections at collision energy of 7.3 kcal/mol is obtained. However, the theoretical results predict slightly too much forward scattering and colder rotational distributions than the experimental observations at collision energy of 5.7 kcal/mol.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Numerical simulation of cathode plasma dynamics in magnetically insulated vacuum transmission lines

A novel algorithm for the simulation of cathode plasmas in particle-in-cell codes is described and applied to investigate cathode plasma evolution in magnetically insulated transmission lines (MITLs). The MITL electron sheath is modeled by a fully kinetic electron species. Electron and ion macroparticles, both modeled as fluid species, form a dense plasma which is initially localized at the cathode surface. Energetic plasma electron particles can be converted to kinetic electrons to resupply the electron flux at the plasma edge (the “effective” cathode). Using this model, we compare results for the time evolution of the cathode plasma and MITL electron flow with a simplified (isothermal) diffusion model. Simulations in 1D show a slow diffusive expansion of the plasma from the cathode surface. But in multiple dimensions, the plasma can expand much more rapidly due to anomalous diffusion caused by an instability due to the strong coupling of a transverse magnetic mode in the electron sheath with the expanding resistive plasma layer.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Accurate quantum dynamics calculations of vibrational spectrum of dideuteromethane CH{sub 2}D{sub 2}

We report a rigorous variational study of the infrared (IR) vibrational spectra of both CH{sub 2}D{sub 2} and {sup 13}CH{sub 2}D{sub 2} isotopomers using an exact molecular Hamiltonian. Calculations are carried out using a recently developed multi-layer Lanczos algorithm based on the accurate refined Wang and Carrington potential energy surface of methane and the low-order truncated ab initio dipole moment surface of Yurchenko et al. [J. Mol. Spectrosc. 291, 69 (2013)]. All well converged 357 vibrational energy levels up to 6100 cm{sup −1} of CH{sub 2}D{sub 2} are obtained, together with a comparison to previous calculations and 91 experimental bands available. The calculated frequencies are in excellent agreement with the experimental results and give a root-mean-square error of 0.67 cm{sup −1}. In particular, we also compute the transition intensities from the vibrational ground state for both isotopomers. Based on the theoretical results, 20 experimental bands are suggested to be re-assigned. Surprisingly, an anomalous C isotopic effect is discovered in the nν{sub 5} modes of CH{sub 2}D{sub 2}. The predicted IR spectra provide useful information for understanding those unknown bands.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Adjoint Fokker-Planck equation and runaway electron dynamics

The adjoint Fokker-Planck equation method is applied to study the runaway probability function and the expected slowing-down time for highly relativistic runaway electrons, including the loss of energy due to synchrotron radiation. In direct correspondence to Monte Carlo simulation methods, the runaway probability function has a smooth transition across the runaway separatrix, which can be attributed to effect of the pitch angle scattering term in the kinetic equation. However, for the same numerical accuracy, the adjoint method is more efficient than the Monte Carlo method. The expected slowing-down time gives a novel method to estimate the runaway current decay time in experiments. A new result from this work is that the decay rate of high energy electrons is very slow when E is close to the critical electric field. This effect contributes further to a hysteresis previously found in the runaway electron population.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Dynamics of a reconnection-driven runaway ion tail in a reversed field pinch plasma

While reconnection-driven ion heating is common in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas, the underlying mechanisms for converting magnetic to kinetic energy remain not fully understood. Reversed field pinch discharges are often characterized by rapid ion heating during impulsive reconnection, generating an ion distribution with an enhanced bulk temperature, mainly perpendicular to magnetic field. In the Madison Symmetric Torus, a subset of discharges with the strongest reconnection events develop a very anisotropic, high energy tail parallel to magnetic field in addition to bulk perpendicular heating, which produces a fusion neutron flux orders of magnitude higher than that expected from a Maxwellian distribution. Here, we demonstrate that two factors in addition to a perpendicular bulk heating mechanism must be considered to explain this distribution. First, ion runaway can occur in the strong parallel-to-B electric field induced by a rapid equilibrium change triggered by reconnection-based relaxation; this effect is particularly strong on perpendicularly heated ions which experience a reduced frictional drag relative to bulk ions. Second, the confinement of ions varies dramatically as a function of velocity. Whereas thermal ions are governed by stochastic diffusion along tearing-altered field lines (and radial diffusion increases with parallel speed), sufficiently energetic ions are well confined, only weakly affected by a stochastic magnetic field. High energy ions traveling mainly in the direction of toroidal plasma current are nearly classically confined, while counter-propagating ions experience an intermediate confinement, greater than that of thermal ions but significantly less than classical expectations. The details of ion confinement tend to reinforce the asymmetric drive of the parallel electric field, resulting in a very asymmetric, anisotropic distribution.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Dynamics of ion beam charge neutralization by ferroelectric plasma sources

Ferroelectric Plasma Sources (FEPSs) can generate plasma that provides effective space-charge neutralization of intense high-perveance ion beams, as has been demonstrated on the Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment NDCX-I and NDCX-II. This article presents experimental results on charge neutralization of a high-perveance 38 keV Ar + beam by a plasma produced in a FEPS discharge. By comparing the measured beam radius with the envelope model for space-charge expansion, it is shown that a charge neutralization fraction of 98% is attainable with sufficiently dense FEPS plasma. The transverse electrostatic potential of the ion beam is reduced from 15V before neutralization to 0.3 V, implying that the energy of the neutralizing electrons is below 0.3 eV. Measurements of the time-evolution of beam radius show that near-complete charge neutralization is established similar to –5 μs after the driving pulse is applied to the FEPS and can last for 35 μs. It is argued that the duration of neutralization is much longer than a reasonable lifetime of the plasma produced in the sub-mu s surface discharge. Measurements of current flow in the driving circuit of the FEPS show the existence of electron emission into vacuum, which lasts for tens of mu s after the high voltage pulse is applied. Lastly, it is argued that the beam is neutralized by the plasma produced by this process and not by a surface discharge plasma that is produced at the instant the high-voltage pulse is applied.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Adlayer structure dependent ultrafast desorption dynamics in carbon monoxide adsorbed on Pd (111)

We report our ultrafast photoinduced desorption investigation of the coverage dependence of substrate–adsorbate energy transfer in carbon monoxide adlayers on the (111) surface of palladium. As the CO coverage is increased, the adsorption site population shifts from all threefold hollows (up to 0.33 ML), to bridge and near bridge (>0.5 to 0.6 ML) and finally to mixed threefold hollow plus top site (at saturation at 0.75 ML). We show that between 0.24 and 0.75 ML this progression of binding site motifs is accompanied by two remarkable features in the ultrafast photoinduced desorption of the adsorbates: (i) the desorption probability increases roughly two orders magnitude, and (ii) the adsorbate–substrate energy transfer rate observed in two-pulse correlation experiments varies nonmonotonically, having a minimum at intermediate coverages. Simulations using a phenomenological model to describe the adsorbate–substrate energy transfer in terms of frictional coupling indicate that these features are consistent with an adsorption-site dependent electron-mediated energy coupling strength, η{sub el}, that decreases with binding site in the order: three-fold hollow > bridge and near bridge > top site. This weakening of η{sub el} largely counterbalances the decrease in the desorption activation energy that accompanies this progression of adsorption site motifs, moderating what would otherwise be a rise of several orders of magnitude in the desorption probability. Within this framework, the observed energy transfer rate enhancement at saturation coverage is due to interadsorbate energy transfer from the copopulation of molecules bound in three-fold hollows to their top-site neighbors.

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

Li + solvation and kinetics of Li + –BF 4 - /PF 6 - ion pairs in ethylene carbonate. A molecular dynamics study with classical rate theories

Using our polarizable force-field models and employing classical rate theories of chemical reactions, we examine the ethylene carbonate (EC) exchange process between the first and second solvation shells around Li+ and the dissociation kinetics of ion pairs Li+-[BF4] and Li+-[PF6] in this solvent. We calculate the exchange rates using transition state theory and correct them with transmission coefficients computed by the reactive flux; Impey, Madden, and McDonald approaches; and Grote-Hynes theory. We found the residence times of EC around Li+ ions varied from 70 to 450 ps, depending on the correction method used. We found the relaxation times changed significantly from Li+-[BF4] to Li+-[PF6] ion pairs in EC. Our results also show that, in addition to affecting the free energy of dissociation in EC, the anion type also significantly influence the dissociation kinetics of ion pairing. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences. The calculations were carried out using computer resources provided by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

Chang, Tsun-Mei↗
DOE OSTI2018

Dynamic compaction of nickel powder examined by x-ray phase contrast imaging

Understanding the shock response of porous, granular materials is important for many scientific applications. In this work, a propagation-based x-ray phase contrast imaging technique was used to examine the shock compaction response of Ni powder (particle size: 30 and 45 µm), encapsulated in PMMA cylinders, in situ and in real time. The propagating shock wave in the PMMA cylinder and the deformation of the Ni powder column were recorded, but the compaction wave in the Ni powder could not be observed due to insufficient penetration of x-ray photons through the sample. The overall shape of the deformed Ni column downstream of the PMMA shock looked qualitatively similar for both particle sizes: it deformed inward and then outward similar to a converging-diverging nozzle, followed by a ‘mushroom’-like structure at the impact face. A preliminary analysis of our data using shock-polar method provided insight into the observed shock and flow deflection angles at the PMMA/Ni interface, and permitted evaluation of the Ni powder EOS used in this work.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗