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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
NASA NTRS1980

Solution sensitivity and accuracy study of NASTRAN for large dynamic problems involving structural damping

Large dynamic problems involving NASTRAN SOLUTION 8 (i.e., the steady state dynamic response option wherein all response quantities vary as e sub i omega t, where omega is the driving frequency and t is time) are considered. Using a submerged steel plate with a viscoelastic layer layer as the bench mark sample, the solution sensitivity and solution accuracy are checked. The solution sensitivity is examined by running the same finite element model on different computers, different versions of NASTRAN, and different precision levels. The solution accuracy is evaluated for these same runs by comparing the NASTRAN results with the exact solution of the same problem.

Kalinowski, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Near Infrared Emission of Highly Electronically Excited CO: A Sensitive Probe to Study the Interstellar Medium??

Among the various spectroscopic features of the second most abundant molecule in the space, CO, "the triplet - triplet transitions involving the lowest triplet state a(sup 3)II and the higher-lying a(sup 1)3 SIGMA (sup +), d(sup 3) (DELTA), e (sup 3) SIGMA (sup -) states spanning near-UV to mid-IR spectral range" have so far not been explored in astrophysical observations. The energies of these transitions are highly sensitive to the surroundings in which CO exists, i.e. gas-phase, polar or non-polar condensed phase. It is proposed here that these triplet-triplet emission/absorption bands can be used as a sensitive probe to investigate the local environments of CO, whether in the planetary atmosphere, stellar atmosphere or interstellar medium.

Gudipati, Murthy S.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Novel Instrumentation for Advanced Quantum Chromodynamics Studies with Flavor Sensitivity

The true nature of ordinary matter has always fascinated humankind, whose imagination has been pointed to the right direction since the 5th century BC with the first known atomic theory by Leucippus and Democritus. They described the matter as formed by small, invisible, indivisible, and eternal particles: the atoms. A long investigation followed them, including contributions from several of history?s greatest philosophers and scientists. The progress led to the understanding that atoms have an internal structure consisting of a central nucleus composed of protons and neutrons, surrounded by a cloud of electrons. About 50 years ago, scientists discovered that nucleons also have an internal structure. Through the Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) experiments, on which a lepton is scattered off a nucleon, it was possible to access the distribution of partons inside the nucleon along the longitudinal direction defined by the hard-scale probe. It was a crucial step in developing Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), currently the best theory describing the subatomic matter. Ultimately, DIS was recognized as a limited tool to investigate the nucleon structure because it is mainly sensitive to observables at the probe?s energy scale. In recent decades, theoretical developments have allowed defining soft-scale observables by measuring more complex processes. Reactions such as Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS) with single or di-hadron production, can provide information about the momentum of parton inside the nucleon. In particular, polarized SIDIS allows access to the Transverse-Momentum-Dependent (TMD) parton distributions describing the correlations of the quark and gluon degrees of freedom in transverse momentum and spin. This study can provide three-dimensional imaging of nucleon structure and inner dynamics, as long as the hadronic component in the final state can be measured. Identifying the species of the produced particles provides information on the quark flavor and assumes a crucial role in this context. The thesis describes the work carried out by the author in preparing novel instrumentation for particle identification in the final state of DIS experiments, to support modern analysis of the parton dynamics within the basic confined object (nucleon) with flavor sensitivity. The work has been focused on the CLAS12 spectrometer in operation at Jefferson Laboratory (JLab), Newport News, VA, USA, and the ePIC experiment in preparation for the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Long Island, NY, USA. CLAS12 is a fixed-target experiment using a 12 GeV beam of polarized electrons scattering off polarized nuclear targets. In 2018 and 2022, two Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detector modules were installed to improve the ?±/K± separation in the high-momentum region (3÷8 GeV/c) of the experiment. The author contributed to the assembly, installation, and com- missioning of the second RICH module, to the efficiency studies of the first module, and to the first SIDIS analysis with high-momentum kaons identified by the RICH. These studies led to the observation of the first spin asymmetry with high-momentum kaons from the CLAS12 experiment, and an initial assessment of the systematic error associated with the hadron identification. ePIC will be the first experiment at the future EIC, the new collider designed to expand the frontiers of QCD. The author was involved in the development of the dual-radiator Ring Imaging Cherenkov (dRICH). This detector will interpolate the measurements of the Cherenkov angles of photons produced by relativistic particles crossing two different radiators to identify charged hadrons. The author contributed to the studies conducted with the dRICH prototype, developing the reconstruction and analysis software and simulations, characterizing the aerogel radiator samples, and being responsible for the tracking system used during the beam tests. The performance obtained by the prototype has been progressively improved and the results are now comparable with the expectation derived from the simulation and satisfy the requirements of the experiment. In Chapter 1, the SIDIS theory is briefly introduced, outlying the connection with the experimental measurement. Chapter 2 includes the description of the CLAS12 RICH, its assembly and installation, and the efficiency study. In Chapter 3, the analysis of the Beam-Spin Asymmetry associated with SIDIS kaons is described. Chapter 4 describes the contribution to the dRICH for EIC, starting from a description of the ePIC experiment and focusing on the studies performed for the dRICH prototype. The conclusions of this work are summarized at the end.

Vallarino, Simone↗
NASA NTRS1999

Plastid sedimentation kinetics in roots of wild-type and starch-deficient mutants of Arabidopsis

Sedimentation and movement of plastids in columella cells of the root cap were measured in seedlings of wild-type, a reduced starch mutant, and a starchless mutant of Arabidopsis. To assay for sedimentation, we used both linear measurements and the change of angle from the cell center as indices in vertical and reoriented plants with the aid of computer-assisted image analysis. Seedlings were fixed at short periods after reorientation, and plastid sedimentation correlated with starch content in the three strains of Arabidopsis. Amyloplasts of wild-type seedlings showed the greatest sedimentation, whereas plastids of the starchless mutant showed no significant sedimentation in the vertically grown and reoriented seedlings. Because previous research has shown that a full complement of starch is needed for full gravitropic sensitivity, this study correlates increased sensitivity with plastid sedimentation. However, although plastid sedimentation contributed to gravisensitivity, it was not required, because the gravitropic starchless mutant had plastids that did not sediment. This is the first study, to our knowledge, to measure plastid sedimentation in Arabidopsis roots after reorientation of seedlings. Taken together, the results of this study are consistent with the classic plastid-based and protoplast-based models of graviperception and suggest that multiple systems of perception exist in plant cells.

NASA Discipline Plant Biology↗
NASA NTRS2012

Retrieval of Aerosol Optical Depth Above Clouds from OMI Observations: Sensitivity Analysis, Case Studies

A large fraction of the atmospheric aerosol load reaching the free troposphere is frequently located above low clouds. Most commonly observed aerosols above clouds are carbonaceous particles generally associated with biomass burning and boreal forest fires, and mineral aerosols originated in arid and semi-arid regions and transported across large distances, often above clouds. Because these aerosols absorb solar radiation, their role in the radiative transfer balance of the earth atmosphere system is especially important. The generally negative (cooling) top of the atmosphere direct effect of absorbing aerosols, may turn into warming when the light-absorbing particles are located above clouds. The actual effect depends on the aerosol load and the single scattering albedo, and on the geometric cloud fraction. In spite of its potential significance, the role of aerosols above clouds is not adequately accounted for in the assessment of aerosol radiative forcing effects due to the lack of measurements. In this paper we discuss the basis of a simple technique that uses near-UV observations to simultaneously derive the optical depth of both the aerosol layer and the underlying cloud for overcast conditions. The two-parameter retrieval method described here makes use of the UV aerosol index and reflectance measurements at 388 nm. A detailed sensitivity analysis indicates that the measured radiances depend mainly on the aerosol absorption exponent and aerosol-cloud separation. The technique was applied to above-cloud aerosol events over the Southern Atlantic Ocean yielding realistic results as indicated by indirect evaluation methods. An error analysis indicates that for typical overcast cloudy conditions and aerosol loads, the aerosol optical depth can be retrieved with an accuracy of approximately 54% whereas the cloud optical depth can be derived within 17% of the true value.

Torres, O.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Microbeam studies of the sensitivity of structures within living cells

Determining the biological effects of low doses of radiation with high linear energy transfer (LET) is complicated by the stochastic nature of charged-particle interactions. Populations of cells exposed to very low radiation doses contain a few cells which have been hit by a charged particle, while the majority of the cells receive no radiation damage. At somewhat higher doses, a few cells receive two or more events. Because the effects of damage produced by separate events can interact in the cell, we have had to make assumptions about the nature of these interactions in order to interpret the results of the experiments. Many of those assumptions can be tested if we can be sure of the number of charged-particle events which occur in individual cells, and correlate this number with the biological effect. We have developed a special irradiation facility at Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) to control the actual number of charged particle tracks that pass through cell nuclei. The beam from a 2 MeV tandem accelerator is collimated to approximately 5 microns. Cells, grown in special dishes with 1.5 microns thick plastic bottoms, are positioned so that the desired portion of the cell aligns with the collimator. A shutter in the beam line is opened and closed after the desired number of particle tracks has been counted. This approach can be used to investigate the effects of the interaction between irradiated and unirradiated cells in an organized system, as well as to study the effects of spatial and temporal distribution of radiation damage within single cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS).

Non-NASA Center↗
DOE OSTI2016

Extending “Deep Blue” aerosol retrieval coverage to cases of absorbing aerosols above clouds: Sensitivity analysis and first case studies

Cases of absorbing aerosols above clouds (AAC), such as smoke or mineral dust, are omitted from most routinely-processed space-based aerosol optical depth (AOD) data products, including those from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). This study presents a sensitivity analysis and preliminary algorithm to retrieve above-cloud AOD and liquid cloud optical depth (COD) for AAC cases from MODIS or similar

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Effects of quench rate and natural ageing on the age hardening behaviour of aluminium alloy AA6060

Quench sensitivity in Al–Mg–Si alloys has been largely attributed to the solute loss at the heterogeneous nucleation sites, primarily dispersoids, during slow cooling after extrusion. As such, the number density of dispersoids, the solute type and concentration are considered to be the key variables for the quench sensitivity. In this study, quench sensitivity and the influence of natural ageing in a lean Al–Mg–Si alloy, AA6060, which contains few dispersoids, have been investigated by hardness measurement, thermal analysis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS). It is shown that the quench sensitivity in this alloy is associated with the degree of supersaturation of vacancies after cooling. Due to vacancy annihilation and clustering during natural ageing, the quench sensitivity is more pronounced after a short natural ageing time (30 min) compared to a longer natural ageing time (24 h). Therefore, prolonged natural ageing not only leads to an increase in hardness, but can also have a positive effect on the quench sensitivity of lean Al–Mg–Si alloys. - Highlights: • Significant quench sensitivity observed in AA6060 alloy after 30 min natural ageing • Prolonged natural ageing increased hardness and reduced QS. • Low dispersoid density leads to insignificant QS from non-hardening precipitates. • Vacancy supersaturation identified as a contributor to QS.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Nano-crystalline thin and nano-particulate thick TiO{sub 2} layer: Cost effective sequential deposition and study on dye sensitized solar cell characteristics

Highlights: • Thin TiO{sub 2} layer is deposited on conducting substrate using sol–gel based dip coating. • TiO{sub 2} nano-particles are synthesized using hydrothermal route. • Thick TiO{sub 2} particulate layer is deposited on prepared thin layer. • Dye sensitized solar cells are made using thin and thick layer based photo-anode. • Introduction of thin layer in particulate photo-anode improves the cell efficiency. - Abstract: A compact thin TiO{sub 2} passivation layer is introduced between the mesoporous TiO{sub 2} nano-particulate layer and the conducting glass substrate to prepare photo-anode for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). In order to understand the effect of passivation layer, other two DSSCs are also developed separately using TiO{sub 2} nano-particulate and compact thin film based photo-anodes. Nano-particles are prepared using hydrothermal synthesis route and the compact passivation layer is prepared by simply dip coating the precursor sol prepared through wet chemical route. The TiO{sub 2} compact layer and the nano-particles are characterised in terms of their micro-structural features and phase formation behavior. It is found that introduction of a compact TiO{sub 2} layer in between the mesoporous TiO{sub 2} nano-particulate layer and the conducting substrate improves the solar to electric conversion efficiency of the fabricated cell. The dense thin passivation layer is supposed to enhance the photo-excited electron transfer and prevent the recombination of photo-excited electrons.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Gamma response study of radiation sensitive MOSFETs for their use as gamma radiation sensor

Continuous monitoring of gamma dose is important in various fields like radiation therapy, space-related research, nuclear energy programs and high energy physics experiment facilities. The present work is focused on utilization of radiation-sensitive Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) to monitor gamma radiation doses. Static characterization of these detectors was performed to check their expected current-voltage relationship. Threshold voltage and transconductance per unit gate to source voltage (K factor) were calculated from the experimental data. The detector was exposed to gamma radiation in both, with and without gate bias voltage conditions, and change in threshold voltage was monitored at different gamma doses. The experimental data was fitted to obtain equation for dependence of threshold voltage on gamma dose. More than ten times increase in sensitivity was observed in biased condition (+3 V) compared to the unbiased case.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Initial study of notch sensitivity of Grade 91 using mechanisms motivated crystal plasticity finite element method

This report describes the development of a crystal plasticity finite element method (CPFEM) model for the multiaxial creep rupture of Grade 91 steel. The report demonstrates that core blocks in heat pipe reactor designs will see significantly different stress states than those typically found in conventional advanced reactor components where structures can often be represented as thin-walled pressure vessels. Current design practice uses effective stress measures calibrated to biaxial creep test data to account for the effect of stress multiaxiality on rupture life. Because these models rely on biaxial data they may not be accurate for the truly 3D, triaxial states found in heat pipe microreactor core blocks. A physically-based model, like the CPFEM model developed here, may be able to more accurately represent creep rupture under triaxial stresses when compared to conventional, empirical methods. This report describes the development, implementation, and validation of such a model and then applies the model to predict the effect of stress triaxiality on rupture in Grade 91 steel. The model results are used to assess the effective stress measures currently used in high temperature design codes and makes specific recommendations on improving these effective stresses to better account for the effect of 3D stress states on rupture in Grade 91. The validation and then implementation of these recommendations in design codes and standards could lead to safer, more effective heat pipe microreactor core block designs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗