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At least 1,495 records · Page 83

Experiment specific processing of residual acceleration data

To date, most Spacelab residual acceleration data collection projects have resulted in data bases that are overwhelming to the investigator of low-gravity experiments. This paper introduces a simple passive accelerometer system to measure low-frequency accelerations. Model responses for experiments using actual acceleration data are produced and correlations are made between experiment response and the accelerometer time history in order to test the idea that recorded acceleration data and experimental responses can be usefully correlated. Spacelab 3 accelerometer data are used as input to a variety of experiment models, and sensitivity limits are obtained for particular experiment classes. The modeling results are being used to create experiment-specific residual acceleration data processing schemes for interested investigators.

Rogers, Melissa J. B.↗

Single-Event Effect Testing of the Linear Technology LTC6103HMS8#PBF Current Sense Amplifier

The LTC6103HMS8#PBF (henceforth abbreviated as LTC6103) current sense amplifier from Linear Technology was tested for both destructive and non-destructive single-event effects (SEE) using the heavy-ion cyclotron accelerator beam at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) Berkeley Accelerator Effects (BASE) facility. During testing, the input voltages and output currents were monitored to detect single event latch-up (SEL) and single-event transients (SETs).

single-event effects (SEE)↗

Prototype SSR2 Tuner Procurement and Testing at IJCLab for PIP-II Project

IJCLab is involved in the PIP-II project on the design and development of accelerator components for the SSR2 (Single Spoke Resonator type 2) section of the superconducting linac. Five prototype tuners have been built and are being tested at IJCLab. After a short description of the tuner, this paper reports on the procurement strategy and the performance observed at both room and low temperatures in vertical cryostat test with SSR2 prototype cavities. This paper will also share results on accelerated lifetime tests performed in a dedicated nitrogen-cooled cryostat.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

RTDP: Streaming Readout Real-Time Development and Testing Platform

The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) has created and is currently working on various tools to facilitate streaming readout (SRO) for upcoming experiments. These include reconstruction frameworks with support for Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, distributed High Throughput Computing (HTC), and heterogeneous computing which all contribute significantly to swift data processing and analysis. Designing SRO systems that combine such components for new experiments would benefit from a platform that would combine both simulation and execution components for simulation, testing, and validation before large investments are made. The Real-Time Development Platform (RTDP) is being developed as part of an LDRD funded project at JLab. RTDP aims to establish a seamless connection between algorithms, facilitating the seamless processing of data from SRO to analysis, as well as enabling the execution of these algorithms in various configurations on compute and data centers. Individual software components simulating specific hardware can be replaced with actual hardware when it is available.

Gyurjyan, Vardan↗

Application of Dynamical System Scaling for Accelerated Fuel Qualification Efforts

There are considerable ongoing research and testing campaigns to qualify new fuel designs such as metallic fuels for advanced reactor designs and the Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) campaign for light water reactors (LWR). The typical research and development lifecycle needed to qualify a nuclear fuel design, under ideal conditions, can take up to 20-25 years which limits the ability for new fuels to make fast deployments into commercial, test, and research reactors. While there are several efforts to accelerate nuclear fuel qualification through advanced modeling coupled with state-of-the-art experiments, there is not yet a framework to methodically quantify and rank distortions occurring in experimental test specimens needed to validate nuclear fuel performance codes. This study uses the Dynamical System Scaling (DSS) methodology to quantify transient scaling distortions that occur over experiment and simulated transients. DSS analysis metrics provide a researcher with several tools and information embedded within test data to identify dominant phenomena, associated timescales, and quantify a transient?s overall dynamic distortion. This is demonstrated with separate analyses of the SETH-C and CHF-SERTTA thermal-hydraulic experiments in the TREAT facility at Idaho National Laboratory. The outcome of this work is a scaling and data analysis approach to account for the influence a scaled fuel test specimen?s geometric and temporal distortions have on its ability to be representative of the full-scale design.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Calibration of Airframe and Occupant Models for Two Full-Scale Rotorcraft Crash Tests

Two full-scale crash tests of an MD-500 helicopter were conducted in 2009 and 2010 at NASA Langley's Landing and Impact Research Facility in support of NASA s Subsonic Rotary Wing Crashworthiness Project. The first crash test was conducted to evaluate the performance of an externally mounted composite deployable energy absorber under combined impact conditions. In the second crash test, the energy absorber was removed to establish baseline loads that are regarded as severe but survivable. Accelerations and kinematic data collected from the crash tests were compared to a system integrated finite element model of the test article. Results from 19 accelerometers placed throughout the airframe were compared to finite element model responses. The model developed for the purposes of predicting acceleration responses from the first crash test was inadequate when evaluating more severe conditions seen in the second crash test. A newly developed model calibration approach that includes uncertainty estimation, parameter sensitivity, impact shape orthogonality, and numerical optimization was used to calibrate model results for the second full-scale crash test. This combination of heuristic and quantitative methods was used to identify modeling deficiencies, evaluate parameter importance, and propose required model changes. It is shown that the multi-dimensional calibration techniques presented here are particularly effective in identifying model adequacy. Acceleration results for the calibrated model were compared to test results and the original model results. There was a noticeable improvement in the pilot and co-pilot region, a slight improvement in the occupant model response, and an over-stiffening effect in the passenger region. This approach should be adopted early on, in combination with the building-block approaches that are customarily used, for model development and test planning guidance. Complete crash simulations with validated finite element models can be used to satisfy crash certification requirements, thereby reducing overall development costs.

Annett, Martin S.↗

Enhancing Oxygen Reduction Activity and Cr Tolerance of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathodes by a Multiphase Catalyst Coating

Intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs) are cost-effective and efficient energy conversion systems. Here, the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the degradation of cathodes are critical challenges to the commercialization of IT-SOFCs. Here, a highly efficient multiphase (MP) catalyst coating, consisting of Ba 1–x Co 0.7 Fe 0.2 Nb 0.1 O 3–δ (BCFN) and BaCO 3 , to enhance the ORR activity and durability of the state-of-the-art lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite (La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3–δ , LSCF) cathode is reported. The conformal MP catalyst-coated LSCF cathode shows a polarization resistance (R p ) of 0.048 Ω cm 2 at 650 °C, about one order of magnitude smaller than that of the bare LSCF. In an accelerated Cr-poisoning test, the degradation rate of the catalyst-coated LSCF electrode is 10 –3 Ω cm 2 h –1 (0.59% h –1 ) over 200 h, only one fifth of the degradation rate of the bare LSCF electrode at 750 °C. In addition, anode-supported single cells with the MP catalyst-coated LSCF cathode show a dramatically enhanced peak power density (1.4 W cm –2 vs 0.67 W cm –2 at 750 °C) and increased durability against Cr and H 2 O. Both experimental results and density functional theory-based calculations indicate that the BCFN phase improves the ORR activity while the BaCO 3 phase enhances the stability of the LSCF cathode.

solid oxide fuel cells↗

Multi-scale investigation on mechanical behavior and microstructural alteration of C-S-H in carbonated Alite paste

Carbonation treatment is a promising option to enhance recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) quality and eventually improve concrete performance. This study investigated the multi-scale mechanical properties of calcium silicate hydrates (C-S-H) in a mature alite paste subjected to accelerated carbonation treatment by testing macro compressive strength, microhardness and nanoindentation. The results show that, carbonation treatment resulted in a heterogeneous distribution of carbonation products in the alite sample. Reinforcement of C-S-H by the randomly precipitated calcite and vaterite crystals prevailed over the nano-structural and compositional alteration of C-S-H induced by carbonation, leading to an increase of nano-indentation modulus at the edge of the sample. Also, the microhardness at the edge zone was markedly higher than that at the core of the carbonated sample. The carbonated peripheral zone with improved nano-scale modulus and microhardness was likely serving as a “hard shell”, contributing to the improved macro compressive strength. The new insights into the multi-scale mechanical properties of carbonated C-S-H contribute to further understanding of the enhanced properties of RCA after carbonation treatment.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A critical review of irradiation-induced changes in reactor pressure vessel steels

A large body of work has been conducted to investigate the embrittlement and degradation of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels. This includes experiments on alloys with different compositions, performed in research and test reactors and ion accelerators that span various temperatures, fluxes, and fluences. In this paper, we perform a critical review of the published experimental data and compile experimentally reported values for dislocation loop size/density, precipitate size/density and yield stress into an easily downloadable format that can be used by both experimentalists and modelers. This thorough experimental review is complemented by a brief review of simulation efforts at atomistic and mesoscopic length scales. Finally, this paper highlights key aspects of the behavior of RPV steels under irradiation, identifies gaps or discrepancies in current understanding, and identifies priority future research directions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Degradation behavior of CIGS solar Cells: A parametric analysis

A parametric study of the effect of bulk and interface properties on device characteristics as a function of heat and light stress under open-circuit and short-circuit conditions is developed for Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se) 2 solar cells using SCAPS-1D simulator. The variables and interdependencies modeled include: (1) conduction band offset (CBO) between buffer and absorber; (2) buffer ionized donor density; (3) CIGS shallow acceptor density; (4) CIGS deep acceptor density; (5) CIGS shallow donor density; (6) ionized acceptor concentration in the ordered vacancy compound (OVC) CIGS/buffer interface; and (7) back contact work-function. An increase in absorber shallow acceptor or a decrease in shallow donor density results in an increase in net carrier density and open-circuit voltage (V OC ). Further, a decrease in V OC is observed with an increase in the deep acceptors or neutral midgap defects in the CIGS due to higher charge carrier recombination. A change of CBO from spike to cliff condition is a dominant mechanism of decreasing VOC with an interface defect density of 10 12 cm -2 . The minimum depletion width is found to be specifically sensitive to CBO and interface defect density. An inflection in the capacitance–voltage curves (in reverse bias) is observed with simultaneous increase in bulk deep acceptor density and shallow donor density near the back contact.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Establishing a versatile toolkit of flux enhanced strains and cell extracts for pathway prototyping

Building and optimizing biosynthetic pathways in engineered cells holds promise to address societal needs in energy, materials, and medicine, but it is often time-consuming. Cell-free synthetic biology has emerged as a powerful tool to accelerate design-build-test-learn cycles for pathway engineering with increased tolerance to toxic compounds. However, most cell-free pathway prototyping to date has been performed in extracts from wildtype cells which often do not have sufficient flux towards the pathways of interest, which can be enhanced by engineering. Here, in this study, to address this gap, we create a set of engineered Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains rewired via CRISPR-dCas9 to achieve high-flux toward key metabolic precursors; namely, acetyl-CoA, shikimate, triose-phosphate, oxaloacetate, α-ketoglutarate, and glucose-6-phosphate. Cell-free extracts generated from these strains are used for targeted enzyme screening in vitro. As model systems, we assess in vivo and in vitro production of triacetic acid lactone from acetyl-CoA and muconic acid from the shikimate pathway. The need for these platforms is exemplified by the fact that muconic acid cannot be detected in wildtype extracts provided with the same biosynthetic enzymes. We also perform metabolomic comparison to understand biochemical differences between the cellular and cell-free muconic acid synthesis systems (E. coli and S. cerevisiae cells and cell extracts with and without metabolic rewiring). While any given pathway has different interfaces with metabolism, we anticipate that this set of pre-optimized, flux enhanced cell extracts will enable prototyping efforts for new biosynthetic pathways and the discovery of biochemical functions of enzymes.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Engineering modular enzyme assembly: synthetic interface strategies for natural products biosynthesis applications

Covering: 2020 to 2025Natural products remain indispensable sources of therapeutic and bioactive compounds, yet traditional discovery strategies are constrained by compound rediscovery. Modular biosynthetic enzymes, such as type I polyketide synthases (PKSs) and type A non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs), offer promising platforms for combinatorial biosynthesis owing to their programmable architectures. However, practical implementation is frequently limited by inter-modular incompatibility and domain-specific interactions. This review highlights recent advances in modular enzyme assembly enabled by synthetic interfaces-including cognate docking domains, synthetic coiled-coils, SpyTag/SpyCatcher, and split inteins-which function as orthogonal, standardized connectors to facilitate post-translational complex formation. These interfaces support rational investigations into substrate specificity, module compatibility, and pathway derivatization as well as general enzyme clustering applications beyond PKS and NRPS systems. Synthetic interfaces can be integrated with computational tools to support a more systematic and scalable framework for modular enzyme engineering by providing predictive insights into domain compatibility and interface design. These approaches within iterative design-build-test-learn workflows can accelerate the programmable assembly of biosynthetic systems and expand the accessible chemical space for natural products.

Kim, Gahyeon↗

Uncertainty quantification of material parameters in modeling coupled metal and high explosive experiments

Experiments involving the coupling of metal and high explosives (HE) are of notable defense-related interest, and we seek to refine the uncertainty quantification associated with models of such experiments. In particular, our focus is on how uncertainty related to the metal constitutive model challenges our ability to infer high explosive model parameters when analyzing focused science experiments. We consider three focused experiments involving an HE accelerating metal: small plate tests with tantalum/LX-14 and tantalum/LX-17 pairings as well as a tantalum/LX-17 cylinder test. For all three models, we perform sensitivity analysis to ascertain the influence of metal strength on the coupled experimental response. Moreover, we calibrate each model in a Bayesian setting and study the quantification of metal strength on the inference of the HE parameters. Based on our results, we offer guidance for future metal/HE experiments.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Projection Analysis for ATR Irradiation of the AFC-FAST Experiment

Analyses of the Advanced Fuels Campaign Fission Accelerated Steady-state Test (AFC-FAST) in the Advanced Test Reactor are presented. A detailed methodology was employed to better account for uncertainties in the planned power and duration of sequential reactor loading cycles. By performing coupled depletion analyses at multiple power levels and durations, the differences in experiment heating outputs can be found. The effects of these uncertainties upon multiple experiment configurations were assessed in an effort to streamline the process of planning for and documenting future irradiations. In conclusion, the data generated from this work have been used to help inform assumptions on subsequent projections to perform only a nominal case depletion.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

The Application of Coordination to Magnetic Measurement Automation: An SSW System Example

Magnetic measurements are an integral part of the development cycle of accelerator magnets, a part which provides necessary feedback to drive design and manufacturing improvements and corrections. Automation of these measurements allows for reduction of human errors and reproducibility of measurements. Realization of automation via coordination that is separated at the architectural level from the functional code provides flexibility in defining measurement procedures and substantial extensibility. The described Single Stretched Wire (SSW) system herein is an implementation of such a solution with the use of a component-based framework designed to build a family of measurement systems.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Accelerated Deterministic Phonon Transport With Consistent Material Temperature and Intensities

Abstract We present a method for deterministically solving the frequency and temperature dependent phonon radiative transport (PRT) equation in the single-mode relaxation time (SMRT) approximation in the self-adjoint angular flux (SAAF) form. To handle the nonlinear coupling between the phonon intensities and the material temperature, we apply a linearization approach that is similar to one in thermal radiative transport. This procedure leads to the PRT equation with pseudo-scattering. The method presented includes acceleration of both the inner pseudo-scattering source iterations and outer temperature iteration with a gray diffusion synthetic acceleration (DSA) and Anderson acceleration, respectively. We use the finite-element method to discretize the PRT equation in space and the method of discrete ordinates (SN) for angular discretization. The proposed method is verified by a gray method of manufactured solutions problem and demonstrated on a problem using temperature and direction dependent multigroup data from lithium aluminate (LiAlO2). The iterative performance of the acceleration method in each test is then compared to the unaccelerated method.

Engineering↗