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At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2015

The Effect of Stochastically Varying Creep Parameters on Residual Stresses in Ceramic Matrix Composites

Constituent properties, along with volume fraction, have a first order effect on the microscale fields within a composite material and influence the macroscopic response. Therefore, there is a need to assess the significance of stochastic variation in the constituent properties of composites at the higher scales. The effect of variability in the parameters controlling the time-dependent behavior, in a unidirectional SCS-6 SiC fiber-reinforced RBSN matrix composite lamina, on the residual stresses induced during processing is investigated numerically. The generalized method of cells micromechanics theory is utilized to model the ceramic matrix composite lamina using a repeating unit cell. The primary creep phases of the constituents are approximated using a Norton-Bailey, steady state, power law creep model. The effect of residual stresses on the proportional limit stress and strain to failure of the composite is demonstrated. Monte Carlo simulations were conducted using a normal distribution for the power law parameters and the resulting residual stress distributions were predicted.

residual stress↗
NASA NTRS1983

The potential of SAR directional spectra in operational wave forecasting

Digitally processed Seasat SAR ocean wave imagery, when digitally transformed, smoothed, and corrected for known instrument biases, can accurately track multiple (at least three) wave systems in the open ocean, across major currents, and into shallow water. Furthermore, the relative backscatterer of the digitally processed SAR image, when sampled within a single pass and along a constant range, responds to the local wind through a simple power law relationship. The results indicate that SAR spectra, if obtained from a low altitude satellite, could be an important supplement to global winds and non-directional wave heights obtained through other methods.

Beal, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Structure and particle properties of Saturn's E Ring

The present systematic reanalysis of a substantial portion of extant photometric data on the Saturn E Ring has calibrated every observation on the basis of a common 3D model. A simple power-law model is found to describe the ring's normal optical depth profile with orbital radius; this trend is departed from, however, near the density peak, where there emerges a 30-percent localized decrease in thickness. No power-law size distribution is found to be compatible with available photometry. The peculiar size distribution points to a ring origin in a process that was not collisional or disruptive.

Showalter, Mark R.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Role of electronic energy loss on defect production and interface stability: Comparison between ceramic materials and high-entropy alloys

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) and some complex alloys exhibit desirable properties and significant structural stability in harsh environments, including possible applications in advanced reactors. Energetic ion irradiation is often used as a surrogate for neutron irradiation; however, the impact of ion electronic energy deposition and dissipation is often neglected. Moreover, differences in recoil energy spectrum and density of cascade events on damage evolution must also be considered. In many chemically complex alloys, the mean free path of electrons is reduced significantly, thus their decreased thermal conductivity and slow dissipation of localized radiation energy can have noticeable effects on displacement cascade evolution that is greatly different from metals with high thermal conductivity. In this work, nanocrystalline HEAs of Ni 20 Fe 20 Co 20 Cr 20 Cu 20 and nonequiatomic (NiFeCoCr) 97 Cu 3 , both having much lower room-temperature thermal conductivity than pure Ni or Fe, are chosen as model HEAs to reveal the role that electronic energy loss during ion irradiation has in complex alloys. The response of nanocrystalline HEAs is investigated under irradiation at room temperature using MeV Ni and Au ions that have different ratios of electronic energy to damage energy, which is the energy dissipated in displacing atoms. Different from previously reported amorphization of nanocrystalline SiC, experimental results on these HEAs show that, similar to the process in nanocrystalline oxide materials, both inelastic thermal spikes via electron–phonon coupling and elastic thermal spikes via collisions among atomic nuclei contribute to the overall grain growth. The growth follows a power law dependence with the total deposited ion energy, and the derived value of the power-exponent suggests that the irradiation-induced instability at and near grain boundaries leads to local rapid atomic rearrangements and consequently grain growth. The high power-exponent value can be attributed to the sluggish diffusion and delayed defect evolution arising from the chemical complexity intrinsic to HEAs. Here, this work calls attention to quantified fundamental understanding of radiation damage processes beyond that of simplified displacement events, especially in simulating neutron environments.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Hydrologic connectivity and dynamics of solute transport in a mountain stream: Insights from a long-term tracer test and multiscale transport modeling informed by machine learning

The movement of solutes in a watershed is a complex process with multiple interactions and feedbacks across spatial and temporal scales. Modeling the dynamics of solute transport along diverse hydrologic pathways within watersheds – from hillslopes to stream channels and in and out of the hyporheic zones – is challenging but critically important, as these processes integrate and contribute to the biogeochemical functioning of the river corridor up to the river network scale. Here we use results from a long-term network-scale tracer test at the H.J. Andrews experimental forest in western Cascade Mountains, Oregon, USA to inform a multiscale framework for transport in stream corridors. The framework uses a Lagrangian-based subgrid model to represent the effects of hyporheic exchange flow and advective transport at stream network scales. The spatially and temporally resolved stream discharge needed for the transport model is imputed across the river system by an entity-aware long short-term memory network. Modeled concentrations show good agreements with the observations and exhibit power scaling laws indicative of a very wide range of timescales over which hyporheic exchange flow occurs. Our results demonstrate a data-informed modeling framework that links dynamical processes occurring at small scales to a network context to help understand how changes at reach scale cascade into network-scale effects, providing a useful tool for sustainable river basin management.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1989

A quasi-passive CMOS pipeline D/A converter

A novel pipeline digital-to-analog converter configuration, based on switched-capacitor techniques, is described. An n-bit D/A conversion can be implemented by cascading n + 1 unit cells. The device count of the circuit increases linearly, not exponentially, with the conversion accuracy. The new configuration can be pipelined. Hence, the conversion rate can be increased without requiring a higher clock rate. An experimental 10-bit DAC prototype has been fabricated using a 3-micron CMOS process. The results show that high-speed, high-accuracy, and low-power operation can be achieved without special process or postprocess trimming.

Wang, Fong-Jim↗
NASA NTRS1995

Electron density power spectrum in the local interstellar medium

Interstellar scintillation (ISS), fluctuations in the amplitude and phase of radio waves caused by scattering in the interstellar medium, is important as a diagnostic of interstellar plasma turbulence. ISS is also of interest because it is noise for other radio astronomical observations. The unifying concern is the power spectrum of the interstellar electron density. Here we use ISS observations through the nearby (less than or approximately =1 kpc) (ISM) to estimate the spectrum. From measurements of angular broadening of pulsars and extragalactic sources, decorrelation bandwidth of pulsars, refractive steering of features in pulsar dynamic spectra, dispersion measured fluctuations of pulsars, and refractive scintillation index measurements, we construct a composite structure function that is approximately power law over 2 x 10(exp 6) m less than scale less than 10(exp 13) m. The data are consistent with the structure function having a logarithmic slope versus baseline less than 2; thus there is a meaningful connection between scales in the radiowave fluctuation field and the scales in the electron density field causing the scattering. The data give an upper limit to the inner scale, l(sub o) less than or approximately 10(exp 8) m and are consistent with much smaller values. We construct a composite electron density spectrum that is approximately power law over at least the approximately = 5 decade wavenumber range 10(exp -13)/m less than wavenumber less than 10(exp -8)/m and that may extend to higher wavenumbers. The average spectral index of electron density over this wavenumber range is approximately = 3.7, very close to the value expected for a Kolmogorov process. The outer scale size, L(sub o), must be greater than or approximately = 10(exp 13) m (determined from dispersion measure fluctuations). When the ISS data are combined with measurements of differential Faraday rotation angle, and gradients in the average electron density, constraints can be put on the spectrum at much smaller wave numbers. The composite spectrum is consistent with a Kolmogorov-like power law over a huge range (10 or more decades) of spatial wavenumber with an infrared outer scale L(sub o) greater than or approximately 10(exp 18)m. This power-law subrange-expressed as ratio of outer to inner scales-is comparable to or larger than that of other naturally occurring turbulent fluids, such as the oceans or the solar wind. We outline some of the theories for generating and maintaining such a spectrum over this huge wavenumber range.

Armstrong, J. W.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Finite-volume formalism for physical processes with an electroweak loop integral

This study investigates finite-volume effects in physical processes that involve the combination of long-range hadronic matrix elements with electroweak loop integrals. We adopt the approach of implementing the electroweak part as the infinite-volume version, which is denoted as the EW ∞ method in this work. A general approach is established for correcting finite-volume effects in cases where the hadronic intermediate states are dominated by either a single particle or two particles. For the single-particle case, this work derives the infinite volume reconstruction method from a new perspective. For the two-particle case, we provide the correction formulas for power-law finite-volume effects and unphysical terms with exponentially divergent time dependence. The finite-volume formalism developed in this study has broad applications, including the QED corrections in various processes and the two-photon exchange contribution in 𝐾 𝐿 → 𝜇 + ⁢𝜇 − or 𝜂 → 𝜇 + ⁢𝜇 − decays.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS1985

Analytical investigation of cavity blackbody lasers

The characteristics of an ideal blackbody cavity lasant were outlined. The choice of an ideal lasant is a complex process depending on a large number of factors, including the choice of a cooling medium and a buffer gas. Planck's radiation law limits the power input per unit area into a CO2 blackbody cavity laser making the surface area for high powered lasers excessively large. It is suggested that an alternative application might be small 1 W lasers for communication and surveillance, because it would be easy to maintain the cavity temperatures in synchronous orbits where 72 minutes each day are spent in the Earth's shadow.

Harries, W. L.↗
NASA NTRS1986

The impact of experimental measurement errors on long-term viscoelastic predictions

The impact of flight error in measured viscoelastic parameters on subsequent long-term viscoelastic predictions is numerically evaluated using the Schapery nonlinear viscoelastic model. Of the seven Schapery parameters, the results indicated that long-term predictions were most sensitive to errors in the power law parameter n. Although errors in the other parameters were significant as well, errors in n dominated all other factors at long times. The process of selecting an appropriate short-term test cycle so as to insure an accurate long-term prediction was considered, and a short-term test cycle was selected using material properties typical for T300/5208 graphite-epoxy at 149 C. The process of selection is described, and its individual steps are itemized.

Tuttle, M. E.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Strong Fe II forbidden line emission from NGC 1275

The detection of a bright Fe II 12567-A forbidden line from the central regions of NGC 1275 is reported. The intensity of the Fe II 12567-A forbidden line relative to that of the other emission lines indicates the presence of a high abundance of iron in the gas phase, while the narrow width of the feature implies an origin outside the active nucleus. While a power-law continuum from the nucleus or from the cooling flows could excite the Fe II forbidden line emission, neither offers a likely mechanism for processing the circumnuclear dust grains in NGC 1275. This is not the case for shocks, which can also produce the low-ionization features characteristic of many of the off-nucleus emission line regions of NGC 1275.

Rudy, Richard J.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Cascade model of gamma-ray bursts: Power-law and annihilation-line components

If, in a neutron star magnetosphere, an electron is accelerated to an energy of 10 to the 11th or 12th power eV by an electric field parallel to the magnetic field, motion of the electron along the curved field line leads to a cascade of gamma rays and electron-positron pairs. This process is believed to occur in radio pulsars and gamma ray burst sources. Results are presented from numerical simulations of the radiation and photon annihilation pair production processes, using a computer code previously developed for the study of radio pulsars. A range of values of initial energy of a primary electron was considered along with initial injection position, and magnetic dipole moment of the neutron star. The resulting spectra was found to exhibit complex forms that are typically power law over a substantial range of photon energy, and typically include a dip in the spectrum near the electron gyro-frequency at the injection point. The results of a number of models are compared with data for the 5 Mar., 1979 gamma ray burst. A good fit was found to the gamma ray part of the spectrum, including the equivalent width of the annihilation line.

Harding, A. K.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Searching for Muon to Electron Transition [Slides]

Summary : Searches for violations of fundamental symmetries and conservation laws - Powerful Probes of physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM); Charged Lepton Flavor violation : Mu to E conversion; 4-orders of magnitude improvements in BR; SD process can dominate the conversion process in ALP models; fa > O(100)TeV can be achieved, complementary role.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Ion Acceleration and the Development of a Power-law Energy Spectrum in Magnetic Reconnection

How charged particles are accelerated efficiently and form a power-law energy spectrum in magnetic reconnection is a problem that is not well understood. In a previous paper, it was shown that the electron Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (EKHI) in force-free magnetic reconnection generates fast-expanding vortices that can accelerate electrons in a few tens of ion gyroperiods (less than 1 ms in the solar corona) to form a power-law energy distribution. In this paper, we present a particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation study of ion acceleration in force-free magnetic reconnection in the presence of the EKHI-induced turbulence. We find that ions are not significantly accelerated by the EKHI-induced stochastic electric field until the magnetic vortices expand to sizes comparable to the ion gyroradius. The Alfvén waves generated by the EKHI couple with the magnetic vortices, leading to resonance between the ions inside the magnetic vortices and Alfvén waves and enhanced ion heating. The induced Alfvén wave resonance results in a broken power-law energy spectrum with a breakpoint at $\sim {m}_{i}{v}_{A}^{2}$, where v A is the Alfvén velocity. Here, we show that the process that forms the nonthermal tail is a second-order Fermi mechanism and the mean spectral index is α = (1 + 4 a 2 D/R) /2, where D is the spatial scale of the inductive electric field, R is that of vortices, and a = B g /B 0 , with ratio of guide field B g and asymptotic B 0 .

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1983

Acceleration of low-energy protons and alpha particles at interplanetary shock waves

The low-energy protons and alpha particles in the energy range 30 keV/charge to 150 keV/charge associated with three different interplanetary shock waves in the immediate preshock and postshock region are studied using data obtained by the ISEE 3. The spatial distributions in the preshock and postshock medium are presented, and the dependence of the phase space density at different energies on the distance from the shock and on the form of the distribution function of both species immediately at the shock is examined. It is found that in the preshock region the particles are flowing in the solar wind frame of reference away from the shock and in the postshock medium the distribution is more or less isotropic in this frame of reference. The distribution function in the postshock region can be represented by a power law in energy which has the same spectral exponent for both protons and alpha particles. It is concluded that the first-order Fermi acceleration process can consistently explain the data, although the spectra of diffuse bow shock associated particles are different from the spectra of the interplanetary shock-associated particles in the immediate vicinity of the shock. In addition, the mean free path of the low energy ions in the preshock medium is found to be considerably smaller than the mean free path determined by the turbulence of the background interplanetary medium.

Scholer, M.↗
NASA NTRS1986

On the origin of the infrared and X-ray continua of active galactic nuclei

The continuum spectra of radio-quiet active galactic nuclei, which are steeper in the near-IR and flatter in the X-ray regime, can be produced in a synchrotron self-Compton model with a broken power law electron distribution that is flat at low, and steep at large, Lorentz factor values. While the steeper part generates the IR spectrum via synchrotron process, both parts together produce the flatter X-ray spectrum via Compton scattering. The intersection of the two spectra corresponds to equipartition between the magnetic field and synchrotron photon energy densities, giving approximately the same luminosities in the synchrotron and Compton components. The photon spectra are self-consistently computed here, taking the effects of cooling, e(+)e(-) pair production, and higher order Compton scattering into account.

Zdziarski, A. A.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Stochastic acceleration of electrons in solar flares

The generation of lower-hybrid waves by cross-field currents is applied to reconnection processes proposed for solar flares. Recent observations on fragmentation of energy release and acceleration, and on hard X-ray (HXR) spectra are taken into account to develop a model for electron acceleration by resonant stochastic interactions with lower-hybrid turbulence. The continuity of the velocity distribution is solved including collisions and escape from the turbulence region. It describes acceleration as a diffusion process in velocity space. The result indicates two regimes that are determined by the energy of the accelerating electrons which may explain the double power-law often observed in HXR spectra. The model further predicts an anticorrelation between HXR flux and spectral index in agreement with observations.

Benz, A. O.↗
NASA NTRS1993

A multi-variance analysis in the time domain

Recently a new technique for characterizing the noise processes affecting oscillators was introduced. This technique minimizes the difference between the estimates of several different variances and their values as predicted by the standard power law model of noise. The method outlined makes two significant advancements: it uses exclusively time domain variances so that deterministic parameters such as linear frequency drift may be estimated, and it correctly fits the estimates using the chi-square distribution. These changes permit a more accurate fitting at long time intervals where there is the least information. This technique was applied to both simulated and real data with excellent results.

Walter, Todd↗