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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 1,261 records · Page 70
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Determination of neutron spectra within the energy of 1 keV to 1 MeV by means of reactor dosimetry

The standard procedure for neutron reactor dosimetry is based on neutron irradiation of a target and its post-irradiation analysis by Gamma and/or X-ray spectrometry. Nowadays, the neutron spectra can be easily characterized for thermal and fast energies (respectively 0.025 eV and >1 MeV). In this work we propose a new target and an innovating post-irradiation technique of analysis in order to detect the neutron spectra within the energy of 1 keV to 1 MeV. This article will present the calculations performed for the selection of a suitable nuclear reaction and isotope, the results predicted by simulations, the irradiation campaign that is proposed and the post-irradiation technique of analysis. (authors)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2018

Parametric Mechanism of Anomalous Microwave Power Absorption in Experiments on Electron Cyclotron Heating in Toroidal Magnetic Traps

The nonlinear stage of the parametric decay instability of an extraordinary wave is analyzed in the presence of a nonmonotonic density profile. The decay excites an electron Bernstein wave, which is localized in the vicinity of a local density maximum, and an ion Bernstein wave, which leaves a nonlinear interaction region and is absorbed by ions in the vicinity of the harmonics of the ion cyclotron frequency. The main mechanism of instability saturation is considered to be a cascade of decays of a primary daughter electron Bernstein wave, which leads to the excitation of localized secondary electron Bernstein waves and ion cyclotron (Bernstein) waves. The localization of electron Bernstein waves causes a significant decrease in the secondary- decay excitation threshold, which is thought to provide saturation of the primary instability at the lowest level. The saturation of the primary parametric decay instability of a pump wave and the anomalous absorption of the pump power are analytically estimated. A numerical simulation is performed using the parameters that are typical of the experiments on the electron cyclotron resonance heating of plasma at the second resonance harmonic in TCV tokamak.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Supplemental Thermal-Hydraulic Transient Analyses of BR2 in Support of Conversion to LEU Fuel

Belgian Reactor 2 (BR2) is a research and test reactor located in Mol, Belgium and is primarily used for radioisotope production and materials testing. The Materials Management and Minimization (M3) Reactor Conversion Program of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is supporting the conversion of the BR2 reactor from Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) fuel to Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) fuel. The RELAP5/Mod 3.3 code has been used to perform transient thermal-hydraulic safety analyses of the BR2 reactor to support reactor conversion. A RELAP5 model of BR2 has been validated against select transient BR2 reactor experiments performed in 1963 by showing agreement with measured cladding temperatures. Following the validation, the RELAP5 model was then updated to represent the current use of the reactor; taking into account core configuration, neutronic parameters, trip settings, component changes, etc. Simulations of the 1963 experiments were repeated with this updated model to re-evaluate the boiling risks associated with the currently allowed maximum heat flux limit of 470 W/cm 2 and temporary heat flux limit of 600 W/cm 2 . This document provides analysis of additional transient simulations that are required as part of a modern BR2 safety analysis report (SAR). The additional simulations included in this report are effect of pool temperature, reduced steady-state flow rate, in-pool loss of coolant accidents, and loss of external cooling. The simulations described in this document have been performed for both an HEU- and LEU-fueled core.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

A PURE HYDRODYNAMIC INSTABILITY IN SHEAR FLOWS AND ITS APPLICATION TO ASTROPHYSICAL ACCRETION DISKS

We provide a possible resolution for the century-old problem of hydrodynamic shear flows, which are apparently stable in linear analysis but shown to be turbulent in astrophysically observed data and experiments. This mismatch is noticed in a variety of systems, from laboratory to astrophysical flows. There are so many uncountable attempts made so far to resolve this mismatch, beginning with the early work of Kelvin, Rayleigh, and Reynolds toward the end of the nineteenth century. Here we show that the presence of stochastic noise, whose inevitable presence should not be neglected in the stability analysis of shear flows, leads to pure hydrodynamic linear instability therein. This explains the origin of turbulence, which has been observed/interpreted in astrophysical accretion disks, laboratory experiments, and direct numerical simulations. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first solution to the long-standing problem of hydrodynamic instability of Rayleigh-stable flows.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Redwing: A MOOSE application for coupling MPACT and BISON

Fuel performance and whole core neutron transport programs are often used to analyze fuel behavior as it is depleted in a reactor. For fuel performance programs, internal models provide the local intra-pin power density, fast neutron flux, burnup, and fission rate density, which are needed for a fuel performance analysis. The fuel performance internal models have a number of limitations. These include effects on the intra-pin power distribution by nearby assembly elements, such as water channels and control rods, and the further limitation of applicability to a specified fuel type such as low enriched UO2. In addition, whole core neutron transport codes need an accurate intra-pin temperature distribution in order to calculate neutron cross sections. Fuel performance simulations are able to model the intra-pin fuel displacement as the fuel expands and densifies. These displacements must be accurately modeled in order to capture the eventual mechanical contact of the fuel and the clad; the correct radial gap width is needed for an accurate calculation of the temperature distribution of the fuel rod. Redwing is a MOOSE-based application that enables coupling between MPACT and BISON for transport and fuel performance coupling. MPACT is a 3D neutron transport and reactor core simulator based on the method of characteristics (MOC). The development of MPACT began at the University of Michigan (UM) and now is under the joint development of ORNL and UM as part of the DOE CASL Simulation Hub. MPACT is able to model the effects of local assembly elements and is able calculate intra-pin quantities such as the local power density on a volumetric mesh for any fuel type. BISON is a fuel performance application of Multi-physics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE), which is under development at Idaho National Laboratory. BISON is able to solve the nonlinearly coupled mechanical deformation and heat transfer finite element equations that model a fuel element as it is depleted in a nuclear reactor. Redwing couples BISON and MPACT in a single application. Redwing maps and transfers the individual intra-pin quantities such as fission rate density, power density, and fast neutron flux from the MPACT volumetric mesh to the individual BISON finite element meshes. For a two-way coupling Redwing maps and transfers the individual pin temperature field and axially dependent coolant densities from the BISON mesh to the MPACT volumetric mesh. Details of the mapping are given. Redwing advances the simulation with the MPACT solution for each depletion time step and then advances the multiple BISON simulations for fuel performance calculations. Sub-cycle advancement can be applied to the individual BISON simulations and allows multiple time steps to be applied to the fuel performance simulations. Currently, only loose coupling where data from a previous time step is applied to the current time step is performed.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2015

TTF3 power coupler thermal analysis for LCLS-II CW operation

The TESLA 9-cell SRF cavity design has been adopted for use in the LCLS-II SRF Linac. Its TTF3 coaxial fundamental power coupler (FPC), optimized for pulsed operation in European XFEL and ILC, requires modest changes to make it suitable for LCLS-II continuous-wave (CW) operation. For LCLS-II it must handle up to 7 kW of power, fully reflected, with the maximum temperature around 450 K, the coupler bake temperature. In order to improve TTF3 FPC cooling, an increased copper plating thickness will be used on the inner conductor of the ‘warm’ section of the coupler. Also, the antenna will be shortened to achieve higher cavity Qext values. Fully 3D FPC thermal analysis has been performed using the SLAC-developed parallel finite element code suite ACE3P, which includes electromagnetic codes and an integrated electromagnetic, thermal and mechanical multi-physics code. In this paper, we present TTF3 FPC thermal analysis simulation results obtained using ACE3P as well as a comparison with measurement results.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Utilizing the SACADA system to collect simulator training data to inform human reliability analyses - 169

Lack of appropriate human performance data for the development of human reliability analysis (HRA) methods has been identified as a key issue contributing to the method-to-method variability among the HRA methods. The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) worked with domain experts to develop the Scenario Authoring, Characterization, and Debriefing Application (SACADA) system to collect nuclear power plants' licensed operator simulator training and examination data to inform HRA. In the past two decades, significant improvements in understanding and modelling human performance in HRA have affected the perspectives of the types of data to be collected for HRA. A significant change is that human performance is strongly dependent on the context of the tasks to be performed. To incorporate this understanding, the SACADA data taxonomy collects the context and actual performance information of the training objective elements (TOEs) in nuclear plant operator simulator training. This provides a framework consistent with HRA to use context to estimate human error probabilities. It is recognized that measuring crew performance is equally important as improving operator training. SACADA is designed to support the nuclear trainers in capturing this important information that is used to identify training weaknesses and drive continuous improvement. This paper discusses the SACADA taxonomy, the SACADA system's functions, and the supporting software design to enable the SACADA system to be practically implemented in the nuclear power plants' operator simulator training program to collect data for tracking operator performance and HRA analysis. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

ANTARES: a new IRSN computational chain for safety analysis

Since some years, the IRSN has developed a new project to simulate accurately the interaction between neutronic and thermal hydraulic phenomena. This project called ANTARES (Advanced Neutronics and Thermal-hydraulic for the Analysis of Reactor Safety) couples the thermal hydraulic code CATHARE-3 with the 3D neutronic nodal code PARCS. The purpose of this project is to take the advantage of the complementary of these 2 codes, by the knowledge of the 3D core power distribution in CATHARE-3 (computed by PARCS) and improving the thermal hydraulic boundaries conditions in PARCS. In this way, the IRSN diversifies and enlarges its available tools to perform safety analysis with improved accuracy. The current technique usually adopted in France for the safety demonstrations for Reactivity Insertion Accident (RIA) is the so-called 'conservative' approach, which consists of reducing all the feedback (Doppler and moderator effects) and in modifying some physical quantities in such a way to increase a power peak. For this reason, these facilities ('penalties') have been implemented in ANTARES. In this paper we will give two examples of accidental transients that can be simulated with ANTARES: a Main Steam Line Break (MSLB) and an inadvertent boron dilution event. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2015

The island coalescence problem: Scaling of reconnection in extended fluid models including higher-order moments

As modeling of collisionless magnetic reconnection in most space plasmas with realistic parameters is beyond the capability of today's simulations, due to the separation between global and kinetic length scales, it is important to establish scaling relations in model problems so as to extrapolate to realistic scales. Recently, large scale particle-in-cell simulations of island coalescence have shown that the time averaged reconnection rate decreases with system size, while fluid systems at such large scales in the Hall regime have not been studied. Here, we perform the complementary resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD), Hall MHD, and two fluid simulations using a ten-moment model with the same geometry. In contrast to the standard Harris sheet reconnection problem, Hall MHD is insufficient to capture the physics of the reconnection region. Additionally, motivated by the results of a recent set of hybrid simulations which show the importance of ion kinetics in this geometry, we evaluate the efficacy of the ten-moment model in reproducing such results.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Theoretical Study of Doped and Co-doped Gallium Nitride with (Cr, Ni): an LDA-SIC and Monte Carlo Study

Using a composition of first-principle density functional theory (DFT) calculations and Monte Carlo simulation with the calculation within the self-interaction-correction local-density approximation, the electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of doped and co-doped GaN (Ga{sub 1−x}Cr{sub x}N, Ga{sub 1−x}Ni{sub x}N) and GaN (Ga{sub 1−2x}Cr{sub x}Ni{sub x}N) (x = 0.03 and 0.06), respectively, have been investigated. Our results have proven that the half-metallic ferromagnetic state still persists of co-doped GaN. In comparing the total energies, ab initio calculations certify the magnetic-state stability of the ferromagnetic phase compared with the spin-glass state. The exchange interactions obtained from the ab initio calculations were used as input parameters in a classical Ising model by Monte Carlo simulation to confirm the half-metallic ferromagnetic states with high Neel temperature.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Design and modelling of the photonic crystal fano structure for all optical switching applications

In this paper, the optical Fano switch based on the 2D slab photonic crystal is analyzed. Switching characteristics are improved by manipulating the Q factors of cavities. Modified device with enhanced Fano resonance has lower energy consumption than other previous optical switches. Results show that, the switching contrast is enhanced while the quality factor has remained in its highest value. Therefore, the typical important trade off between switching contrast and quality factor has vanished in the modified structure. The switching contrast is improved from 7 to 34 db in constant Δλ{sub peak−peak} of 0.3 nm in the modified structure which leads to decreasing the energy consumption of the device. In the previous devices, the maximum reported contrast is about 20 db for Δλ{sub peak−peak} of 0.6 nm. A coupled mode theory for analyzing the structure is developed. The results of finite difference time domain numerical simulation are in good agreement with the theoretical coupled mode theory. Results show that the switching contrast of the modified Fano switch is enhanced two times, consequently the loss is suppressed and the bandwidth is improved.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Low-temperature magnetization dynamics of magnetic molecular solids in a swept field

The swept-field experiments on magnetic molecular solids such as Fe{sub 8} are studied using Monte Carlo simulations, and a kinetic equation developed to understand collective magnetization phenomena in such solids, where the collective aspects arise from dipole–dipole interactions between different molecules. Because of these interactions, the classic Landau–Zener–Stückelberg theory proves inadequate, as does another widely used model constructed by Kayanuma. It is found that the simulations provide a quantitatively accurate account of the experiments. The kinetic equation provides a similarly accurate account except at very low sweep velocities, where it fails modestly. This failure is attributed to the neglect of short-range correlations between the dipolar magnetic fields seen by the molecular spins. The simulations and the kinetic equation both provide a good understanding of the distribution of these dipolar fields, although analytic expressions for the final magnetization remain elusive.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Study of the all orders multiplicative renormalizability of a local confining quark action in the Landau gauge

The inverse of the Faddeev–Popov operator plays a pivotal role within the Gribov–Zwanziger approach to the quantization of Euclidean Yang–Mills theories in Landau gauge. Following a recent proposal (Capri et al., 2014), we show that the inverse of the Faddeev–Popov operator can be consistently coupled to quark fields. Such a coupling gives rise to a local action while reproducing the behaviour of the quark propagator observed in lattice numerical simulations in the non-perturbative infrared region. By using the algebraic renormalization framework, we prove that the aforementioned local action is multiplicatively renormalizable to all orders.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Physical formulation and numerical algorithm for simulating N immiscible incompressible fluids involving general order parameters

We present a family of physical formulations, and a numerical algorithm, based on a class of general order parameters for simulating the motion of a mixture of N (N⩾2) immiscible incompressible fluids with given densities, dynamic viscosities, and pairwise surface tensions. The N-phase formulations stem from a phase field model we developed in a recent work based on the conservations of mass/momentum, and the second law of thermodynamics. The introduction of general order parameters leads to an extremely strongly-coupled system of (N−1) phase field equations. On the other hand, the general form enables one to compute the N-phase mixing energy density coefficients in an explicit fashion in terms of the pairwise surface tensions. We show that the increased complexity in the form of the phase field equations associated with general order parameters in actuality does not cause essential computational difficulties. Our numerical algorithm reformulates the (N−1) strongly-coupled phase field equations for general order parameters into 2(N−1) Helmholtz-type equations that are completely de-coupled from one another. This leads to a computational complexity comparable to that for the simplified phase field equations associated with certain special choice of the order parameters. We demonstrate the capabilities of the method developed herein using several test problems involving multiple fluid phases and large contrasts in densities and viscosities among the multitude of fluids. In particular, by comparing simulation results with the Langmuir–de Gennes theory of floating liquid lenses we show that the method using general order parameters produces physically accurate results for multiple fluid phases.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Numerical simulations and experimental measurements of steel and ice impacts on concrete for acoustic interrogation of delaminations in bridge decks

Delaminations in bridge decks typically result from corrosion of the top mat of reinforcing steel, which leads to a localized separation of the concrete cover from the underlying concrete. Because delaminations cannot be detected using visual inspection, rapid, large-area interrogation methods are desired to characterize bridge decks without disruption to traffic, without the subjectivity inherent in existing methods, and with increased inspector safety. To this end, disposable impactors such as water droplets or ice chips can be dropped using automatic dispensers onto concrete surfaces to excite mechanical vibrations while acoustic responses can be recorded using air-coupled microphones. In this work, numerical simulations are used to characterize the flexural response of a model concrete bridge deck subject to both steel and ice impactors, and the results are compared with similar experiments performed in the laboratory on a partially delaminated concrete bridge deck slab. The simulations offer greater understanding of the kinetics of impacts and the responses of materials.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Modelling current-induced magnetization switching in Heusler alloy Co{sub 2}FeAl-based spin-valve nanopillar

We investigated the current-induced magnetization switching in a Heusler alloy Co{sub 2}FeAl-based spin-valve nanopillar by using micromagnetic simulations. We demonstrated that the elimination of the intermediate state is originally resulted from the decease of effective magnetic anisotropy constant. The magnetization switching can be achieved at a small current density of 1.0 × 10{sup 4} A/cm{sup 2} by increasing the demagnetization factors of x and y axes. Based on our simulation, we found magnetic anisotropy and demagnetization energies have different contributions to the magnetization switching.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Experimental dynamical characterization of five autonomous chaotic oscillators with tunable series resistance

In this paper, an experimental characterization of the dynamical properties of five autonomous chaotic oscillators, based on bipolar-junction transistors and obtained de-novo through a genetic algorithm in a previous study, is presented. In these circuits, a variable resistor connected in series to the DC voltage source acts as control parameter, for a range of which the largest Lyapunov exponent, correlation dimension, approximate entropy, and amplitude variance asymmetry are calculated, alongside bifurcation diagrams and spectrograms. Numerical simulations are compared to experimental measurements. The oscillators can generate a considerable variety of regular and chaotic sine-like and spike-like signals.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

A multi-species exchange model for fully fluctuating polymer field theory simulations

Field-theoretic models have been used extensively to study the phase behavior of inhomogeneous polymer melts and solutions, both in self-consistent mean-field calculations and in numerical simulations of the full theory capturing composition fluctuations. The models commonly used can be grouped into two categories, namely, species models and exchange models. Species models involve integrations of functionals that explicitly depend on fields originating both from species density operators and their conjugate chemical potential fields. In contrast, exchange models retain only linear combinations of the chemical potential fields. In the two-component case, development of exchange models has been instrumental in enabling stable complex Langevin (CL) simulations of the full complex-valued theory. No comparable stable CL approach has yet been established for field theories of the species type. Here, we introduce an extension of the exchange model to an arbitrary number of components, namely, the multi-species exchange (MSE) model, which greatly expands the classes of soft material systems that can be accessed by the complex Langevin simulation technique. We demonstrate the stability and accuracy of the MSE-CL sampling approach using numerical simulations of triblock and tetrablock terpolymer melts, and tetrablock quaterpolymer melts. This method should enable studies of a wide range of fluctuation phenomena in multiblock/multi-species polymer blends and composites.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗