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At least 145 records · Page 8

Update on NNL TSL Evaluations and Validation [Slides]

12 new/revised TSL evaluations were contributed to ENDF/B-VIII.1. The thermal diffusion length $L$ is an integral property of a single material’s absorption and scattering cross sections (both differential and integral). No other neutron reactions or materials are involved. The MC21-calculated $L$ for water is consistent with the spread of experimental data and is sufficiently sensitive to different H-H 2 O TSL physics models to use the method as a TSL integral performance benchmark. Modern high-quality diffusion experiments at elevated $T$ would allow direct low-cost physics benchmarking of water TSLs when public elevated-$T$ critical benchmarks are limited. NNL is working with LLNL and RPI to develop experimental PNDA capability. An ICSBEP Fundamental Physics benchmark of the Nassar and Murphy PNDA experiment is being developed to provide an example of how to evaluate these type of benchmarks.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Annual Site Environmental Report for Calendar Year 2021 (Final Report)

The U.S. Department of Energy requires that all its site facilities develop an annual site environmental report to comply with DOE Order 231.1B Chg 1 and DOE Order 458.1 Admin Chg 4. This report provides a synopsis of calendar year 2021 information related to environmental management performance and compliance efforts at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. It summarizes site compliance with federal, state, and local environmental laws, regulations, policies, directives, permits, and Orders, and provides environmental management performance benchmarks and their status to the public, regulatory agencies, community officials, Native American tribes, and public interest groups.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Annual Site Environmental Report for Calendar Year 2022 (Final Report)

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), one of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science’s 10 national laboratories, provides innovative science and technology development in the areas of energy and the environment, fundamental and computational science, and national security. There are three DOE offices within the Richland area. Two are responsible for the Hanford Site, whereas the Pacific Northwest Site Office (PNSO) oversees PNNL. PNNL prepares this Annual Site Environmental Report to meet the requirements of DOE Order 231.1B, Environmental, Safety and Health Reporting, and DOE Order 458.1, Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment, assuring that the public is informed of any PNNL-Richland Campus or PNNL-Sequim Campus event that could adversely affect the health and safety of the public, site staff, or the environment. The report provides a synopsis of ongoing environmental management performance and compliance activities for operations that occur on the PNNL-Richland Campus in Richland, Washington, and at the PNNL-Sequim Campus near Sequim, Washington. It describes the location of and background for each facility; addresses compliance with applicable DOE, federal, state, and local regulations, and site-specific permits; documents environmental monitoring efforts and their status; presents potential radiation doses to staff and the public in the surrounding areas; and describes DOE-required data quality assurance methods used for data verification. The ASER summarizes site compliance with federal, state, and local environmental laws, regulations, policies, directives, permits, and Orders, and provides environmental management performance benchmarks and their status to the public, regulatory agencies, community officials, Native American tribes, and public interest groups.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

ORNL Contributions to the ENDF/B-VIII.1 Library [Slides]

For uranium and plutonium isotopes, evaluation work is converging to a stable configuration with an overall satisfactory benchmark performance (more information on the validation tests after CSEWG). Strontium evaluation was included in the repository library and successfully tested by processing codes relative to an alternative quantification of the external function. Cerium covariance matrices were updated to address review comments on the magnitude of the uncertainty. For future uncertainty quantification, theoretical observables should be properly decoupled from current measured guidelines. Tests to correctly include LP (from resonance parameters) fitted to measured energy-averaged data are in progress. Current ENDF files contains experimental LP data.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

ORNL FY2024 Nuclear Data Evaluation Contributions: Cu, La, N, and Ta [Slides]

63,65 Cu angular distributions resolved for ENDF/B-VIII.1, consistent with both differential data and integral benchmark performance. 139 La RRR and URR evaluations will be merged with the LANL high energy evaluation, and to be submitted to the future ENDF-B release (post-VIII.1). 14 N RRR evaluation is planned to produce n+ 14 N, p+ 14 C, and a+ 11 B contributions to be submitted to the future ENDF-B release (post-VIII.1). 181 Ta covariances repaired and reported as intended in an errata to ENDF/B-VIII.1.

139-La↗

Optimizations of a Rectilinear Cooling Channel for a Future Muon Collider

Muon colliders require significant beam cooling to achieve the luminosity needed for high-energy physics experiments. Ionization cooling has emerged as a promising solution. This study optimizes a rectilinear muon cooling channel using a multi-objective optimization framework that integrates beam dynamics simulations. We present novel optimizations of final 6D emittance versus total system length as well as those confirming the theoretical trade-offs between transverse and longitudinal emittance. Our results optimizing all stages of the system simultaneously surpass performance benchmarks reported in the literature, demonstrating possible ways to improve the efficiency of such a cooling system.

Zhang, Aubrey [U. Chicago (main)]↗

Optimizations of a Rectilinear Cooling Channel for a Future Muon Collider

Muon colliders require significant beam cooling to achieve the luminosity needed for high-energy physics experiments. Ionization cooling has emerged as a promising solution. This study optimizes a rectilinear muon cooling channel using a multi-objective optimization framework that integrates beam dynamics simulations. We present novel optimizations of final 6D emittance versus total system length as well as those confirming the theoretical trade-offs between transverse and longitudinal emittance. Our results optimizing all stages of the system simultaneously surpass performance benchmarks reported in the literature, demonstrating possible ways to improve the efficiency of such a cooling system.

Zhang, Aubrey [U. Chicago (main)]↗

Maximum ADPE Approach for a High Rate CCSDS Return Link Processing System

The earth observing system data and operations system (EDOS) multi-mission data processing and distribution system for the earth observing system is considered. The EDOS was based on the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) protocols. The development included the challenge of developing and demonstrating a 150 Mbps CCSDS return link processing capability for the support of the first EDOS delivery. The approach used general-purpose automated data processing equipment (ADPE) and minimized the use of customized hardware. The way in which the system was developed is described. The principle design decisions and the performance benchmark results are presented.

Krimchansky, Alexander↗

Heterogeneous Distributed Computing for Computational Aerosciences

The research supported under this award focuses on heterogeneous distributed computing for high-performance applications, with particular emphasis on computational aerosciences. The overall goal of this project was to and investigate issues in, and develop solutions to, efficient execution of computational aeroscience codes in heterogeneous concurrent computing environments. In particular, we worked in the context of the PVM[1] system and, subsequent to detailed conversion efforts and performance benchmarking, devising novel techniques to increase the efficacy of heterogeneous networked environments for computational aerosciences. Our work has been based upon the NAS Parallel Benchmark suite, but has also recently expanded in scope to include the NAS I/O benchmarks as specified in the NHT-1 document. In this report we summarize our research accomplishments under the auspices of the grant.

Sunderam, Vaidy S.↗

Construction and Utilization of a Beowulf Computing Cluster: A User's Perspective

Lockheed Martin Space Operations - Stennis Programs (LMSO) at the John C Stennis Space Center (NASA/SSC) has designed and built a Beowulf computer cluster which is owned by NASA/SSC and operated by LMSO. The design and construction of the cluster are detailed in this paper. The cluster is currently used for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The CFD codes in use and their applications are discussed. Examples of some of the work are also presented. Performance benchmark studies have been conducted for the CFD codes being run on the cluster. The results of two of the studies are presented and discussed. The cluster is not currently being utilized to its full potential; therefore, plans are underway to add more capabilities. These include the addition of structural, thermal, fluid, and acoustic Finite Element Analysis codes as well as real-time data acquisition and processing during test operations at NASA/SSC. These plans are discussed as well.

Woods, Judy L.↗

The Interaction Between an Insoluble Particle and an Advancing Solid/Liquid Interface: Micro-Gravity Experiments and Theoretical Developments

The interaction of an insoluble particle with an advancing solid/liquid interface (SLI) has been a subject of investigation for the past four decades. While the original interest stemmed from geology applications (e.g., frost heaving in soil), researchers soon realized that the complex science associated with such an interaction is relevant to many other scientific fields encompassing metal matrix composites (MMCs), high temperature superconductors, inclusion management in steel, growth of monotectics, and preservation of biological cells. During solidification of a liquid containing an insoluble particle, three distinct interaction phenomena have been experimentally observed: instantaneous engulfment of the particle, continuous pushing, and particle pushing followed by engulfment. It was also observed that for given experimental conditions and particle size there is a critical solidification velocity, V(sub cr), above which a particle is engulfed. During solidification of MMCs pushing leads to particle agglomeration at the grain boundaries and this has detrimental effects on mechanical properties of the casting. Consequently, the process must be designed for instantaneous engulfment to occur. This implies the development of accurate theoretical models to predict V(sub cr), and perform benchmark experiments to test the validity of such models. Although considerable progress has been made in understanding the pushing/engulfment phenomenon (PEP), its quantification in terms of the material and processing parameters remains a focus of research. Since natural convection currents occurring during terrestrial solidification experiments complicate the study of PEP, execution of experiments on the International Space Station (ISS) has been approved and funded by NASA. Extensive terrestrial (1g) experiments and preliminary micro-gravity (mu g) experiments on two space shuttle missions have been conducted in preparation for future experiments on the ISS. The investigated systems included metal-ceramic particles (pure aluminum - zirconia particles) and transparent organic - non-reactive particles (succinonitrile - polystyrene and biphenyl - glass). This paper will discuss the experimental results obtained in both lg and pg conditions and the influence of the natural convection on V(sub cr). A summary of past mathematical models and our recent theoretical developments will also be presented to explain the experimentally observed particle/SLI interaction.

Catalina, Adrian V.↗

Discharge Chamber Primary Electron Modeling Activities in Three-Dimensions

Designing discharge chambers for ion thrusters involves many geometric configuration decisions. Various decisions will impact discharge chamber performance with respect to propellant utilization efficiency, ion production costs, and grid lifetime. These hardware design decisions can benefit from the assistance of computational modeling. Computational modeling for discharge chambers has been limited to two-dimensional codes that leveraged symmetry for interpretation into three-dimensional analysis. This paper presents model development activities towards a three-dimensional discharge chamber simulation to aid discharge chamber design decisions. Specifically, of the many geometric configuration decisions toward attainment of a worthy discharge chamber, this paper focuses on addressing magnetic circuit considerations with a three-dimensional discharge chamber simulation as a tool. With this tool, candidate discharge chamber magnetic circuit designs can be analyzed computationally to gain insight into factors that may influence discharge chamber performance such as: primary electron loss width in magnetic cusps, cathode tip position with respect to the low magnetic field volume, definition of a low magnetic field region, and maintenance of a low magnetic field region across the grid span. Corroborating experimental data will be obtained from mockup hardware tests. Initially, simulated candidate magnetic circuit designs will resemble previous successful thruster designs. To provide opportunity to improve beyond previous performance benchmarks, off-design modifications will be simulated and experimentally tested.

Steuber, Thomas J.↗

Project Golden Gate: towards real-time Java in space missions

This paper describes the problem domain and our experimentation with the first commercial implementation of the Real Time Specification for Java. The two main issues explored in this report are: (1) the effect of RTSJ's non-heap memory on the programming model, and (2) performance benchmarking of RTSJ/Linux relative to C++/VxWorks.

lander↗

A classification and evaluation of data movement technologies for the delivery of highly voluminous scientific data products

In this paper, we present a preliminary study of several different electronic data movement technologies. We detail our approach to classifying the technologies included in our study and present the preliminary results of some initial performance benchmarking. Our studies suggest that highly parallel TCP/IP streaming technologies, such as GridFTP and bbFTP, outperform commercial and open-source UDP-bursting technologies in several of the key data movement dimensions that we studied.

technologies↗

Psychophysiological Sensing and State Classification for Attention Management in Commercial Aviation

Attention-related human performance limiting states (AHPLS) can cause pilots to lose airplane state awareness (ASA), and their detection is important to improving commercial aviation safety. The Commercial Aviation Safety Team found that the majority of recent international commercial aviation accidents attributable to loss of control inflight involved flight crew loss of airplane state awareness, and that distraction of various forms was involved in all of them. Research on AHPLS, including channelized attention, diverted attention, startle / surprise, and confirmation bias, has been recommended in a Safety Enhancement (SE) entitled "Training for Attention Management." To accomplish the detection of such cognitive and psychophysiological states, a broad suite of sensors has been implemented to simultaneously measure their physiological markers during high fidelity flight simulation human subject studies. Pilot participants were asked to perform benchmark tasks and experimental flight scenarios designed to induce AHPLS. Pattern classification was employed to distinguish the AHPLS induced by the benchmark tasks. Unimodal classification using pre-processed electroencephalography (EEG) signals as input features to extreme gradient boosting, random forest and deep neural network multiclass classifiers was implemented. Multi-modal classification using galvanic skin response (GSR) in addition to the same EEG signals and using the same types of classifiers produced increased accuracy with respect to the unimodal case (90 percent vs. 86 percent), although only via the deep neural network classifier. These initial results are a first step toward the goal of demonstrating simultaneous real time classification of multiple states using multiple sensing modalities in high-fidelity flight simulators. This detection is intended to support and inform training methods under development to mitigate the loss of ASA and thus reduce accidents and incidents.

Harrivel, Angela R.↗

Three-dimensional in Situ Observations of Polycrystalline Microstructure Evolution During Directional Solidification of Transparent Alloys Aboard the ISS and Quantitative Comparison with Numerical Modeling

Cellular/dendritic microstructures formed during solidification have a crucial influence on the mechanical properties of a wide range of structural alloys. By minimizing the amount of gravity-induced convection in the liquid, directional solidification experiments using transparent organic alloys conducted in the DECLIC-DSI onboard the International Space Station have provided unique 3D in situ observations of the spatiotemporal evolution of the solid-liquid interface during the formation of cellular and dendritic microstructures under purely diffusive growth conditions in polycrystalline samples containing several grains with a small misorientation with respect to the temperature gradient. Those observations have made it possible to perform benchmark quantitative comparisons with the predictions of state-of-the-art phase-field simulations of microstructure formation in 3D on experimentally relevant length and time scales. This talk will report quantitative comparisons between microgravity experiments and phase-field simulations in succinonitrile-camphor alloys of two different compositions that shed new light on the role of subgrain boundaries in the spatiotemporal evolution of the primary cellular spacing and the selection of dendritic array structures.

Kaihua Ji↗

Three-Dimensional In Situ Observations of Polycrystalline Microstructure Evolution During Directional Solidification of Transparent Alloys Aboard the ISS and Quantitative Comparison with Numerical Modeling

Cellular/dendritic microstructures formed during solidification have a crucial influence on the mechanical properties of a wide range of structural alloys. By minimizing the amount of gravity-induced convection in the liquid, directional solidification experiments using transparent organic alloys conducted in the DECLIC-DSI onboard the International Space Station have provided unique 3D in situ observations of the spatiotemporal evolution of the solid-liquid interface during the formation of cellular and dendritic microstructures under purely diffusive growth conditions. Those observations have made it possible to perform benchmark quantitative comparisons with the predictions of state-of-the-art phase-field simulations of microstructure formation in 3D on experimentally relevant length and time scales. This talk will report quantitative comparisons between microgravity experiments and phase-field simulations in succinonitrile-camphor alloys of two different compositions, which shed new light on the selection of dendritic array structures, and on roles of macroscopic curvatures and subgrain boundaries between grains with a small misorientation with respect to the temperature gradient in the spatiotemporal evolution of the primary cellular spacing.

Kaihua Ji↗