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At least 1,441 records · Page 80

Applicability of the ARCON96 Code to the Radiological Consequence Analysis of Releases from the Radioassay and Non-Destructive Testing (RANT) Facility

Establish technical justification to demonstrate that the horizontal diffusion parameter (σy) and vertical diffusion parameter (σz) that are embedded in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Atmospheric Relative CONcentrations (ARCON96) code are representative of the meteorological conditions at LANL. Compare the ARCON96 atmospheric diffusion factor ( X /Q) to the MACCS2-calculated X /Q for the determination of radiological consequences of ground releases from the Radioassay and Non-Destructive Testing (RANT) facility on the key receptors, the colocated worker (CW) and Maximally-Effected Offsite Individual (MEOI).

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗

Draft genome of the most devastating insect pest of coffee worldwide: the coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei

The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei, is the most economically important insect pest of coffee worldwide. We present an analysis of the draft genome of the coffee berry borer, the third genome for a Coleopteran species. The genome size is ca. 163 Mb with 19,222 predicted protein-coding genes. Analysis was focused on genes involved in primary digestion as well as gene families involved in detoxification of plant defense molecules and insecticides, such as carboxylesterases, cytochrome P450, gluthathione S-transferases, ATP-binding cassette transporters, and a gene that confers resistance to the insecticide dieldrin. A broad range of enzymes capable of degrading complex polysaccharides were identified. We also evaluated the pathogen defense system and found homologs to antimicrobial genes reported in the Drosophila genome. Ten cases of horizontal gene transfer were identified with evidence for expression, integration into the H. hampei genome, and phylogenetic evidence that the sequences are more closely related to bacterial rather than eukaryotic genes. We find the draft genome analysis broadly expands our knowledge on the biology of a devastating tropical insect pest and suggests new pest management strategies.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

The 1992 Seals Flow Code Development Workshop

A two-day meeting was conducted at the NASA Lewis Research Center on August 5 and 6, 1992, to inform the technical community of the progress of NASA Contract NAS3-26544. This contract was established in 1990 to develop industrial and CFD codes for the design and analysis of seals. Codes were demonstrated and disseminated to the user community for evaluation. The peer review panel which was formed in 1991 provided recommendations on this effort. The technical community presented results of their activities in the area of seals, with particular emphasis on brush seal systems.

Flow↗

Preliminary critical experiments validation of a lattice physic code LATC - 14415

Core and System Integrated Engine for design and analysis (COSINE) is an integrated nuclear engineering code package, which is being developed by State Nuclear Power Software Development Center (SNPSDC) in China. A lattice physics code named LATC is included in COSINE.LATC is a 2D, steady-state code for modeling PWR fuel. A WIMS-D 69 group micro library based on ENDF/B-VI is used and there are two transportation methods in LATC, such as two steps method (collision probability method for cell homogenization, discrete coordinate method for assembly homogenization) and one step method (MOC). The UO{sub 2} fuel assembly, which may contain guide tubes, burnable poisons such as Integral Fuel Burnable Absorbers (IFBA) / Wet Annular Burnable Absorbers (WABA)/ Pyrexes or control rods etc, can be calculated in LATC. LATC provides the required cross-section data for the core physics simulator analysis code in COSINE. In order to evaluate the quality of the LATC, a strategy of validation is researched and applied to the LATC. Firstly, a validation requirement analysis is performed, and the corresponding critical experiments are collected, and then a critical experimental matrix considering the variety of fuel enrichments, fuel pitch and water to uranium ratio is generated. Finally, a comparison of results between LATC using collision probability and discrete coordinate method and critical experiments are made to make sure that the code works well. According to the validation strategy discussed above, the preliminary validation is carried out and critical experiments are calculated according to the critical experimental matrix and results from LATC code are compared with reference results. The result shows that the calculated results agree well with critical experiments, and do not indicate any significant trends with respect to the various conditions considered. (authors)

42 ENGINEERING↗

Charged particle tracking through electrostatic wire meshes using the finite element method

Wire meshes are used across many disciplines to accelerate and focus charged particles, however, analytical solutions are non-exact and few codes exist which simulate the exact fields around a mesh with physical sizes. A tracking code based in Matlab-Simulink using field maps generated using finite element software has been developed which tracks electrons or ions through electrostatic wire meshes. The fields around such a geometry are presented as an analytical expression using several basic assumptions, however, it is apparent that computational calculations are required to obtain realistic values of electric potential and fields, particularly when multiple wire meshes are deployed. The tracking code is flexible in that any quantitatively describable particle distribution can be used for both electrons and ions as well as other benefits such as ease of export to other programs for analysis. The code is made freely available and physical examples are highlighted where this code could be beneficial for different applications.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Software Verification Toolkit (SVT): Survey on Available Software Verification Tools and Future Direction

Writing software is difficult. However, writing complex, well tested and designed, and functionally correct software is incredibly difficult. An entire field of study is devoted to the validation and verification of software to address this problem, and in this paper we analyze the landscape of currently available third party software. We have divided our analyses into three separate subsections with regards to software validation: formal methods, static analysis, and test generation. Formal verification is the most complex method in which to validate software correctness, but also the most thorough as it truly validates the mathematical validity of the source code. Static analysis generally is relegated to abstract syntax tree traversal techniques to find errors related to faulty software such as memory leaks or stack overflow issues. Automatic test generation is similar in implementation to static analysis, but pushes a bit further in verifying the boundedness of function inputs and outputs with regards to annotated or parsed criteria. The crux of this report is to analyze and describe the software tools that implement these techniques to validate and verify software. Pros and cons related to installation, utilization, and capabilities of the frameworks are described, and reproducible examples are provided with a focus on usability. The initial survey concluded that the most interesting tools of note are Z3, Isabelle/HOL, and TLA+ with regards to formal verification; and Infer, Frama-C, and SonarQube with regards to static analysis. With these tools in mind, a final conjecture is provided that describes future avenues of utilizing these tools for developing a verification framework to assist in validating existing software at Sandia National Laboratories.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

The imaging of extra-galactic low-energy gamma-ray sources prospects, techniques, and instrumentation

Improved understanding of the nature of active galaxies will require detailed observations of 10 to 20 sources, while understanding of their gamma ray luminosity function and its evolution will require the detection of approximately 100 sources. Instruments capable of detecting 100 active galaxies at low-energy, gamma ray energies are achievable. The angular resolution of an instrument, as well as its sensitivity, can limit the number of sources it can observe. An investigation of the angular resolution requirements for future low-energy gamma ray instruments is presented. It was found that the strictest requirements arise not from the need to resolve detectable sources, but from the need to control the level of direction-to-direction fluctuations in the diffuse background level. It was concluded that gamma-ray instruments capable of detecting 100 active galaxies must have sub-degree angular resolution. The use of the coded aperture imaging technique is proposed as a method of achieving accurate control of systematic errors and fine angular resolution without unduly increasing the time needed to conduct full sky surveys. An analysis of coded aperture imaging is presented for instruments that employ masks based on hexagonal uniformly redundant arrays. An instrument, the gamma-ray imaging payload, was built that employs these imaging techniques. The design and testing of the instrument is described in detail. Preliminary results from a balloon flight of the instruments are shown, demonstrating its imaging performance.

Finger, Mark Harold↗

Numerical Analysis of Novel Plate Type Heat Exchanger with Oval-Twisted Channels

The novel heat exchanger (HX) designs implementing geometrical and surface modification combinations are expected to perform better than traditional HX technologies. Applied enhancement techniques seek to achieve (1) higher overall heat transfer performance, (2) increased compactness, and (3) simplified or comparable manufacturability. One innovative enhancement technique is to generate swirling flow vortices induced by channel or tube twisting. The turbulence generated by the twisted cross-section greatly enhances the heat transfer rate with minimal increases in pressure drop. Plate-type HXs and Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers (PCHXs) are compact designs that achieve high heat transfer rates per unit volume by utilizing several small channels, which maximizes the heat transfer surface area between the hot and cold fluids. Currently, advanced manufacturing technologies enable the design and fabrication of compact-type units with complicated channel geometries to achieve the highest performance and meet the compactness criteria of innovative HX technology. The proposed HX design concept combines the compactness of plate-type HXs and twisted channels, which provide additional turbulence and flow swirl enhancement. The plate-type oval-twisted HX (PTOTHX) is a crossflow configuration, with 16 short channels on one side (for hot fluid) and 8 long channels on the perpendicular side (for cold fluid). The inlet plenums have flow guide vanes to redirect flow and produce uniformity across the various flow paths. The compact size and purportedly improved heat transfer performance of the PTOTHX investigated herein prove its viability in various applications. Some notable potential nuclear applications of the PTOTHX include reactor core, spent fuel cooling, and residual heat dissipation. To establish a reference case, circular channels (PTCHX) are also considered in the present study for comparison with (PTOTHX). This paper aims to outline the numerical analysis procedures for determining the viability of the PTOTHX by comparing its heat transfer performance with the PTCHX units. The computational study used STAR-CCM+, a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Sensitivity analysis and model selection studies are conducted to determine the appropriate mesh density and turbulence model to provide the reported results. Numerical analyses comparing the Nusselt number (Nu) of the PTOTHX design with a comparable HX unit, including a circular cross-section and no twisting (PTCHX), show an overall heat transfer performance increase of 29-55% for balanced flow and 29-59% for imbalanced flow. Oval-cross-sectional twisted channels induce swirling flow vortices, enhancing the working fluid's convective heat transfer capabilities.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

System architectures for telerobotic research

Several activities are performed related to the definition and creation of telerobotic systems. The effort and investment required to create architectures for these complex systems can be enormous; however, the magnitude of process can be reduced if structured design techniques are applied. A number of informal methodologies supporting certain aspects of the design process are available. More recently, prototypes of integrated tools supporting all phases of system design from requirements analysis to code generation and hardware layout have begun to appear. Activities related to system architecture of telerobots are described, including current activities which are designed to provide a methodology for the comparison and quantitative analysis of alternative system architectures.

Harrison, F. Wallace↗

Aerodynamic characteristics of airfoils with ice accretions

Results of a wind tunnel test to evaluate the performance of an airfoil with simulated rime ice are presented with theoretical comparisons. A NACA 65A413 airfoil was tested in the OSU 6 x 22 inch Transonic Airfoil Wind Tunnel at a Reynolds number near three million and Mach numbers from 0.20 to 0.80. The model was tested in four configurations to determine the aero-dynamic effects of the roughness and shape of a rime ice accretion. The simulated rime ice shape was obtained analytically using a time-stepping dry ice accretion computer code. Lift, drag, moment coefficients, and pressure distributions for the clean and simulated rime ice cases are reported. The measured degradation in airfoil performance is compared to an analytical method which uses existing airfoil analysis computer codes with empirical corrections for the surface roughness. A discussion of the empirical surface roughness correction and uses of other airfoil computer methods is included.

Bragg, M. B.↗

Postbuckling behavior of selected curved stiffened graphite-epoxy panels loaded in axial compression

Results of an experimental and analytical study of the postbuckling behavior of selected curved stiffened graphite-epoxy panels loaded in axial compression are presented. The postbuckling response and failure characteristics of the panels are described. Each panel had four equally-spaced I-shaped stiffeners and 16-ply quasi-isotropic skins. Panels with three different stiffener spacings were tested. Failure of all panels initiated in a skin-stiffener interface region. Analytical results from a nonlinear general shell finite element analysis computer code correlate well with typical postbuckling test results up to failure. The analytical modeling detail necessary to predict accurately the response of the panel is described. Measured initial geometric imperfections were included in the postbuckling analysis.

Knight, N. F., Jr.↗

F-16XL-2 Supersonic Laminar Flow Control Flight Test Experiment

The F-16XL-2 Supersonic Laminar Flow Control Flight Test Experiment was part of the NASA High-Speed Research Program. The goal of the experiment was to demonstrate extensive laminar flow, to validate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes and design methodology, and to establish laminar flow control design criteria. Topics include the flight test hardware and design, airplane modification, the pressure and suction distributions achieved, the laminar flow achieved, and the data analysis and code correlation.

Anders, Scott G.↗

limiting rods selection in large break LOCA analysis with the RELAP5-3D code

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing a new rulemaking on emergency core system/loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) performance analysis. In the proposed rulemaking, designated as 10 CFR 50.46(c), the US NRC put forward an equivalent cladding oxidation criterion as a function of cladding pre-transient hydrogen content. The proposed rulemaking imposes more restrictive and burnup-dependent cladding embrittlement criteria; consequently more fuel rods need to be analyzed under LOCA conditions to maintain the safety margin, compared to the current practice in which only one hot rod needs to be analyzed. New analysis methods are required to provide a thorough characterization of the reactor core in order to identify the locations of the limiting rods under LOCA conditions. In this work, the best-estimate plus uncertainty analysis capability for large break LOCA with the new cladding embrittlement criteria using the RELAP5-3D code is established and demonstrated with a reduced set of uncertainty parameters. With the new analysis method, the limiting transient case and the limiting rods can be easily identified in response to the proposed new rulemaking. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Innovative design of composite structures: The use of curvilinear fiber format in structural design of composites

The influence is investigated of a curvilinear fiber format on load carrying capacity of a layered fiber reinforced plate with a centrally located hole. A curvilinear fiber format is descriptive of layers in a laminate having fibers which are aligned with the principal stress directions in those layers. Laminates of five curvilinear fiber format designs and four straightline fiber format designs are considered. A quasi-isotropic laminate having a straightline fiber format is used to define a baseline design for comparison with the other laminate designs. Four different plate geometries are considered and differentiated by two values of hole diameter/plate width equal to 1/6 and 1/3, and two values of plate length/plate width equal to 2 and 1. With the plates under uniaxial tensile loading on two opposing edges, alignment of fibers in the curvilinear layers with the principal stress directions is determined analytically by an iteration procedure. In-plane tensile load capacity is computed for all of the laminate designs using a finite element analysis method. A maximum strain failure criterion and the Tsai-Wu failure criterion are applied to determine failure loads and failure modes. Resistance to buckling of the laminate designs to uniaxial compressive loading is analyzed using the commercial code Engineering Analysis Language. Results indicate that the curvilinear fiber format laminates have higher in-plane tensile load capacity and comparable buckling resistance relative to the straightline fiber format laminates.

Charette, R. F.↗

Quantitative Analysis of Color Differences within High Contrast, Low Power Reversible Electrophoretic Displays

Here, quantitative color analysis is performed on videos of high contrast, low power reversible electrophoretic deposition (EPD)-based displays operated under different applied voltages. This analysis is coded in an open-source software, relies on a color differentiation metric, ΔE * 00 , derived from digital video, and provides an intuitive relationship between the operating conditions of the devices and their performance. Time-dependent ΔE * 00 color analysis reveals color relaxation behavior, recoverability for different voltage sequences, and operating conditions that can lead to optimal performance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Conjugate Heat Transfer Analysis in Pressurized Helium Gas Cooling Channels

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is working with NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes (NMR) on their efforts to produce Mo-99 from the irradiation of Mo-100 targets. The NMR target consists of an Inconel window that allows the electron beam to penetrate and irradiate a stack of Mo-100 disks. The irradiation process generates large amounts of heat and is cooled using pressurized helium gas flowing at 400 g/s. LANL provides both numerical analysis support and experimental support. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and conjugate heat transfer (CHT) analysis are performed on the NMR target to analyze the helium flow and volumetric heating through the NMR system. In this iteration of numerical analysis, we update the Mo-100 disk thickness to 0.74 mm and the gap between the Inconel window and the first disk to 0.69 mm. Estimates of the heat flux from the electron beams from Monte Carlo N-Particle code (MCNP) analysis were combined with CFD to perform the CHT analysis. The pressure drop through the targets, force applied on the first disk, beam window and target disk temperatures are some of the quantities estimated using the simulations. The pressure drop through the target was estimated as 0.198 MPa, while the force due to venturi effects across the first disk was estimated to be 100 N. The results show maximum window temperatures over 600 °C and peak disk temperatures over 1600 °C. Past work has shown that beyond 650-700 °C, the Inconel window becomes susceptible to yield and rupture. The increased temperature in these results reduces the margin of error possible on beam spot size. The disk temperatures showed a sinusoidal distribution with the 6 th – 8 th disk from each window exhibiting highest disk temperatures. The peak temperature of the stainless steel housing was close to 316 °C and that of the laminations and spacers was approximately 582 °C.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Risk-Informed Mechanistic Source Term Calculation (Final CRADA Report)

As part of an FY18 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) award, a CRADA agreement was established between Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) and Oklo. The CRADA focused on the following three tasks to assist Oklo with the regulatory licensing of their innovative nuclear reactor design: • Task 1 – Coupling and Demonstration Analysis using The Nek5000, Diablo, and OpenMC Codes: Establishing a coupling between the neutronic, structural, and thermohydraulic analysis codes and utilizing the code package for a high-fidelity demonstration analysis of radial core expansion due to temperature changes and its impact on core reactivity. • Task 2 – Mechanistic Source Term Analysis: Performing a realistic evaluation of the potential release of radionuclides to the environment during postulated transient event sequences. • Task 3 – Data in Support of Metal Fuel Qualification: An assessment of past postirradiation examination data of metal fuel utilized in the Argonne EBR-II reactor to assist in the potential qualification of the fuel typer for regulatory licensing. The details regarding each analysis and the associated conclusions were provided to Oklo in three separate project reports. Due to the utilization of proprietary and export controlled information, the current summary report was created, which provides an uncontrolled overview of each of the three tasks.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗