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At least 145 records · Page 8

Front-End Design for SiPM-Based Monolithic Neutron Double Scatter Imagers

Neutron double scatter imaging exploits the kinematics of neutron elastic scattering to enable emission imaging of neutron sources. Due to the relatively low coincidence detection efficiency of fast neutrons in organic scintillator arrays, imaging efficiency for double scatter cameras can also be low. One method to realize significant gains in neutron coincidence detection efficiency is to develop neutron double scatter detectors which employ monolithic blocks of organic scintillator, instrumented with photosensor arrays on multiple faces to enable 3D position and multi-interaction time pickoff. Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) have several advantageous characteristics for this approach, including high photon detection efficiency (PDE), good single photon time resolution (SPTR), high gain that translates to single photon counting capabilities, and ability to be tiled into large arrays with high packing fraction and photosensitive area fill factor. However, they also have a tradeoff in high uncorrelated and correlated noise rates (dark counts from thermionic emissions and optical photon crosstalk generated during avalanche) which may complicate event positioning algorithms. We have evaluated the noise characteristics and SPTR of Hamamatsu S13360-6075 SiPMs with low noise, fast electronic readout for integration into a monolithic neutron scatter camera prototype. The sensors and electronic readout were implemented in a small-scale prototype detector in order to estimate expected noise performance for a monolithic neutron scatter camera and perform proof-of-concept measurements for scintillation photon counting and three-dimensional event positioning.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Epoxy Sealant Self-leveling and Adhesion Test Report

The Hanford tank farms have 149 single shell tanks which were built between 1943 - 1964, and 28 double-shell tanks (DSTs) which were built between 1968 – 1986 (Tank Farms, 2020) which contain radioactive and chemical mixed waste. Many of the tanks have leaked, including DST AY-102 (Waste Tank Summary Report, 2023). As a result, methods of repairing or reinforcing double-shell storage tanks are being evaluated.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Surface Terminations of LaAlO 3 Perovskite Nanoparticles as Viewed by Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Nanocrystal surfaces generally undergo reconstructions that differentiate them from the bulk structures, often in nontrivial ways. Understanding these terminations is critical across diverse fields, from heterogeneous catalysis to the formation of topological states and the synthesis of semiconductor nanomaterials. Determining surface structures is currently an interdisciplinary task, most often involving high-resolution electron microscopy and surface electron diffraction. These methods, however, do not provide a global view of the ensemble of structures present in a sample. Here, we show how surface-sensitive solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) spectroscopy methods can bridge this gap. In this context, we investigated the surface structure of lanthanum aluminate (LaAlO 3 ) perovskite nanoparticles. Four distinct surface terminations have previously been observed for this material, but their relative abundances were unknown. Using an array of double- and triple-resonance SSNMR methods probing the relative proximities of surface 1 H, 27 Al, 17 O, and 139 La nuclei, we conclude the surface to be majority terminated (80%) by AlO x with substantial (20%) LaO x terminated regions.

Materials↗

Neutrinoless double-β decay: Combining quantum Monte Carlo and the nuclear shell model with the generalized contact formalism

Neutrinoless double beta decay searches can determine the Majorana nature of neutrinos, the absolute neutrino mass, and provide invaluable insights on the matter dominance of the universe. However, the uncertainty in the nuclear matrix elements that govern the decay limits the physics reach of these experiments. Here, we devise a novel framework based on the generalized contact formalism that combines the nuclear shell model and quantum Monte Carlo methods and compute the neutrinoless double-beta decay of nuclei used in the most advanced experiments, including 76 Ge, 130 Te, and 136 Xe. Our results cover all relevant terms, including the leading-order short-range operator recognized recently. We validate our method in light nuclei by comparing against accurate variational Monte Carlo results. On heavy systems we obtain reduced nuclear matrix elements compared with previous calculations due to additional correlations captured by quantum Monte Carlo and introduced within the generalized contact formalism, suggesting longer decay half-lives than previously considered. On the other hand, we find an enhancement of the nuclear matrix elements due to the new short-range operator.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Use of high throughput screening methods to study dual-functional crosslinkable latexes

Herein, structure-formulation-property relationships for crosslinkable core-shell latexes were studied initially using high throughput screening methods and then using conventional experimental methods to determine optimum coating formulations. Two approaches that are used within coatings technology to improve sustainability are reduction in volatile organic compounds (VOC) and reduction in energy needed to cure coatings. Hybrid crosslinkable core-shell latexes have shown potential in meeting these challenges where film properties provided by particle coalescence are not sufficient and chemical crosslinking is needed. However, with numerous parameters involved such as latex particle architecture, nature and amount of crosslinker, and curing conditions, the screening of formulations via conventional coating testing methods becomes laborious and time-consuming. The results from high-throughput dye extraction and puncture testing were compared to data from conventional testing methods such as chemical resistance (MEK double rubs), pendulum hardness, and tensile testing to identify correlations. The dye extraction results have shown a strong correlation to solvent resistance and pendulum hardness data whereas toughness from puncture testing data correlated to tensile testing. Both high throughput dye extraction and puncture testing methods can be used for the accelerated screening of crosslinkable coating formulations to optimize curing parameters to achieve the best coating performance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A combined experimental and computational analysis of failure mechanisms in open-hole cross-ply laminates under flexural loading

In this work, integrated experimental tests and computational modeling are proposed to investigate the failure mechanisms of open-hole cross-ply carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminated composites. In particular, we propose two effective methods, which include width-tapered double cantilever beam (WTDCB) and fixed-ratio mixed-mode end load split (FRMMELS) tests, to obtain the experimental data more reliably. We then calibrate the traction-separation laws of cohesive zone model (CZM) used among laminas of the composites by leveraging these two methods. The experimental results of fracture energy, i.e. G Ic and G Tc , obtained from WTDCB and FRMMELS tests are generally insensitive to the crack length thus requiring no effort to accurately measure the crack tip. Moreover, FRMMELS sample contains a fixed mixed-mode ratio of G IIc /G Tc depending on the width taper ratio. Examining comparisons between experimental results of FRMMELS tests and failure surface of B–K failure criterion predicted from a curve fitting, good agreement between the predictions and experimental data has been found, indicating that FRMMELS tests are an effective method to determine mixed-mode fracture criterion. In addition, a coupled experimental-computational modeling of WTDCB, edge notched flexure, and FRMMELS tests are adopted to calibrate and validate the interfacial strengths. Finally, failure mechanisms of open-hole cross-ply CFRP laminates under flexural loading have been studied systematically using experimental and multi-scale computational analyses based on the developed CZM model. The initiation and propagation of delamination, the failure of laminated layers as well as load-displacement curves predicted from computational analyses are in good agreement with what we have observed experimentally.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Exploring the potential of using L-Band InSAR for the mapping of flooded vegetation in tropical wetlands

Wetlands play a critical role in global water and carbon cycles, yet monitoring their water extent remains difficult, particularly beneath dense vegetation. SAR-based techniques such as backscatter thresholding are limited by complex scattering mechanisms, while fully polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) data capable of detecting doublebounce scattering remain scarce. To address these challenges, this study evaluates the potential of Interferometric SAR (InSAR) for mapping water surfaces beneath vegetation, termed flooded vegetation, using the Atrato floodplain in Colombia as a case study. We develop an automated workflow combining InSAR fringe detection with local phase homogeneity analysis and random sampling of processing parameters to generate probabilistic flooded vegetation maps. Applied to ALOS PALSAR-1 L-band image pairs from 2007–2011, the workflow captures seasonal fluctuations in flooded extent ranging from 500 to 1,500 km2. Compared to other L-band SAR inundation products, the InSAR-based maps identify broader flooded areas, with ~70% agreement in pairwise comparisons. Around 84% of detections align with existing wetland inventories and seasonal changes correspond with regional hydrological indicators, including terrestrial water storage anomalies and water gauge measurements. PolSAR analysis shows that InSAR complements backscatter-based methods by detecting inundation in areas with weak double-bounce signals. These findings suggest that combining InSAR with backscatter-based methods can improve detection of flooded vegetation, which is especially relevant for the upcoming NISAR mission that will offer frequent global L-band observations.

Coastal inundation↗

Extracting Einstein from the loop-level double-copy

The naive double-copy of (multi) loop amplitudes involving massive matter coupled to gauge theories will generically produce amplitudes in a gravitational theory that contains additional contributions from propagating antisymmetric tensor and dilaton states even at tree-level. We present a graph-based approach that combines the method of maximal cuts with double-copy construction to offer a systematic framework to isolate the pure Einstein-Hilbert gravitational contributions through loop level. Indeed this allows for a bootstrap of pure-gravitational results from the double-copy of massive scalar-QCD. We apply this to construct the novel result of the D-dimensional one-loop five-point QFT integrand relevant in the classical limit to generating observables associated with the radiative effects of massive black-hole scattering via pure Einstein-Hilbert gravity.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Assessment of DFT functionals for a minimal nitrogenase [Fe(SH) 4 H]- model employing state-of-the-art ab initio methods

We have designed a [Fe(SH)4H]- model with the fifth proton binding either to Fe or S. We show that the energy difference between these two isomers (ΔE) is hard to estimate with quantum-mechanical (QM) methods. For example, different density functional theory (DFT) methods give ΔE estimates that vary by almost 140 kJ/mol, mainly depending on the amount of exact Hartree–Fock included (0%–54%). The model is so small that it can be treated by many high-level QM methods, including coupled-cluster (CC) and multiconfigurational perturbation theory approaches. With extrapolated CC series (up to fully connected coupled-cluster calculations with singles, doubles, and triples) and semistochastic heat-bath configuration interaction methods, we obtain results that seem to be converged to full configuration interaction results within 5 kJ/mol. Our best result for ΔE is 101 kJ/mol. With this reference, we show that M06 and B3LYP-D3 give the best results among 35 DFT methods tested for this system. Brueckner doubles coupled cluster with perturbaitve triples seems to be the most accurate coupled-cluster approach with approximate triples. CCSD(T) with Kohn–Sham orbitals gives results within 4–11 kJ/mol of the extrapolated CC results, depending on the DFT method. Single-reference CC calculations seem to be reasonably accurate (giving an error of ~5 kJ/mol compared to multireference methods), even if the D1 diagnostic is quite high (0.25) for one of the two isomers.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Ab initio studies of the double–Gamow-Teller transition and its correlation with neutrinoless double- β decay

Here, we use chiral interactions and several ab initio methods to compute the nuclear matrix elements (NMEs) for ground-state-to-ground-state double Gamow-Teller transitions in a range of isotopes and explore the correlation of these NMEs with those for neutrinoless double beta decay produced by the exchange of a light Majorana neutrino. When all the NMEs of both isospin-conserving and isospin-changing transitions from the ab initio calculations are considered, the correlation is strong. For the experimentally relevant isospin-changing transitions by themselves, however, the correlation is weaker and may not be helpful for reducing the uncertainty in the NMEs for neutrinoless double beta decay.

20 ≤ A ≤ 38↗

Global bases for nonplanar loop integrands, generalized unitarity, and the double copy to all loop orders

We introduce a constructive method for defining a global loop-integrand basis for scattering amplitudes, encompassing both planar and nonplanar contributions. Our approach utilizes a graph-based framework to establish a well-defined, non-redundant basis of integrands. This basis, constructed from a chosen set of non-redundant graphs together with a selection of irreducible scalar products, provides clear insights into various physical properties of scattering amplitudes and proves useful in multiple contexts, such as on-shell Ward identities and manifesting gauge-choice independence. A key advantage of our integrand basis is its ability to streamline the generalized unitarity method. Specifically, we can directly read off the coefficients of basis elements without resorting to ansätze or solving linear equations. This novel approach allows us to lift generalized unitarity cuts — expressed as products of tree amplitudes — to loop-level integrands, facilitating the use of the tree-level double copy to generate complete gravitational integrands at any loop order. This method circumvents the difficulties in identifying complete higher-loop-order gauge-theory integrands that adhere to the color-kinematics duality. Additionally, our cut-based organization is well-suited for expansion in hard or soft limits, aiding in the exploration of ultraviolet or classical limits of scattering amplitudes.

Effective Field Theories↗

Rank-reduced coupled-cluster. III. Tensor hypercontraction of the doubles amplitudes

In this work, we develop a quartic-scaling implementation of coupled-cluster singles and doubles (CCSD) based on low-rank tensor hypercontraction (THC) factorizations of both the electron repulsion integrals (ERIs) and the doubles amplitudes. This extends our rank-reduced (RR) coupled-cluster method to incorporate higher-order tensor factorizations. The THC factorization of the doubles amplitudes accounts for most of the gain in computational efficiency as it is sufficient, in conjunction with a Cholesky decomposition of the ERIs, to reduce the computational complexity of most contributions to the CCSD amplitude equations. Further THC factorization of the ERIs reduces the complexity of certain terms arising from nested commutators between the doubles excitation operator and the two-electron operator. We implement this new algorithm using graphical processing units and demonstrate that it enables CCSD calculations for molecules with 250 atoms and 2500 basis functions using a single computer node. Furthermore, we show that the new method computes correlation energies with comparable accuracy to the underlying RR-CCSD method.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Real-time equation-of-motion CC cumulant and CC Green’s function simulations of photoemission spectra of water and water dimer

Newly developed coupled-cluster (CC) methods enable simulations of ionization potentials and spectral functions of molecular systems in a wide range of energy scales ranging from core-binding to valence. This paper discusses the results obtained with the real-time equation-of-motion CC cumulant (RT-EOM-CC) approach and CC Green’s function (CCGF) approaches in applications to the water and water dimer molecules. Here, we compare the ionization potentials obtained with these methods for the valence region with the results obtained with the coupled-cluster with singles, doubles, and perturbative triples formulation as a difference of energies for N and N – 1 electron systems. All methods show good agreement with each other. They also agree well with the experiment with errors usually below 0.1 eV for the ionization potentials. We also analyze unique features of the spectral functions, associated with the position of satellite peaks, obtained with the RT-EOM-CC and CCGF methods employing single and double excitations, as a function of the monomer OH bond length and the proton transfer coordinate in the dimer. Finally, we analyze the impact of the basis set effects on the quality of calculated ionization potentials and find that the basis set effects are less pronounced for the augmented-type sets.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Reconstruction of fast neutron direction in segmented organic detectors using deep learning

A method for reconstructing the direction of a fast neutron source using a segmented organic scintillator-based detector and deep learning model is proposed and analyzed. Here, the model is based on recurrent neural network, which can be trained by a sequence of data obtained from an event recorded in the detector and suitably pre-processed. The performance of deep learning-based model is compared with the conventional double-scatter detection algorithm in reconstructing the direction of a fast neutron source. With the deep learning model, the uncertainty in source direction of 0.301 rad is achieved with 100 neutron detection events in a segmented cubic organic scintillator detector with a side length of 46 mm. To reconstruct the source direction with the same angular resolution as the double-scatter algorithm, the deep learning method requires 75% fewer events. Application of this method could augment the operation of segmented detectors operated in the neutron scatter camera configuration for applications such as special nuclear material detection.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

In vitro recombination method

The present invention relates, e.g., to in vitro method, using isolated protein reagents, for joining two double stranded (ds) DNA molecules of interest, wherein the distal region of the first DNA molecule and the proximal region of the second DNA molecule share a region of sequence identity, comprising contacting the two DNA molecules in a reaction mixture with (a) a non-processive 5′ exonuclease; (b) a single stranded DNA binding protein (SSB) which accelerates nucleic acid annealing; (c) a non strand-displacing DNA polymerase; and (d) a ligase, under conditions effective to join the two DNA molecules to form an intact double stranded DNA molecule, in which a single copy of the region of sequence identity is retained. The method allows the joining of a number of DNA fragments, in a predetermined order and orientation, without the use of restriction enzymes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

In vitro recombination method

The present invention relates, e.g., to in vitro method, using isolated protein reagents, for joining two double stranded (ds) DNA molecules of interest, wherein the distal region of the first DNA molecule and the proximal region of the second DNA molecule share a region of sequence identity, comprising contacting the two DNA molecules in a reaction mixture with (a) a non-processive 5′ exonuclease; (b) a single stranded DNA binding protein (SSB) which accelerates nucleic acid annealing; (c) a non strand-displacing DNA polymerase; and (d) a ligase, under conditions effective to join the two DNA molecules to form an intact double stranded DNA molecule, in which a single copy of the region of sequence identity is retained. The method allows the joining of a number of DNA fragments, in a predetermined order and orientation, without the use of restriction enzymes.

Young, Lei↗

A hybrid approach to excited-state-specific variational Monte Carlo and doubly excited states

We extend our hybrid linear-method/accelerated-descent variational Monte Carlo optimization approach to excited states and investigate its efficacy in double excitations. In addition to showing a superior statistical efficiency when compared to the linear method, our tests on small molecules show good energetic agreement with benchmark methods. We also demonstrate the ability to treat double excitations in systems that are too large for a full treatment by using selected configuration interaction methods via an application to 4-aminobenzonitrile. Finally, we investigate the stability of state-specific variance optimization against collapse to other states’ variance minima and find that symmetry, Ansatz quality, and sample size all have roles to play in achieving stability.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

$O(N)$ ab initio calculation scheme for large-scale moiré structures

Here we present a two-step method specifically tailored for band structure calculation of the small-angle moiré-pattern materials which contain tens of thousands of atoms in a unit cell. In the first step, the self-consistent field calculation for the ground state is performed with the O(N) Krylov subspace method implemented in openmx. Second, the crystal momentum-dependent Bloch Hamiltonian and overlap matrix are constructed from the results obtained in the first step and only a small number of eigenvalues near the Fermi energy are solved with shift-invert and Lanczos techniques. By systematically tuning two key parameters, the cutoff radius for electron hopping interaction and the dimension of the Krylov subspace, we obtained the band structures for both rigid and corrugated twisted bilayer graphene structures down to the first magic angle (θ = 1.08°) with high enough accuracy at affordable costs. The band structures are in good agreement with those from tight-binding models, continuum models, plane-wave pseudopotential based ab initio calculations, and experimental observations. This method is also shown to be efficient in twisted double-bilayer graphene and bilayer WSe 2 . We think this two-step method can play a crucial role in other twisted two-dimensional materials, especially those with much more complex band structure and where the effective model is hard to construct.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗