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At least 1,585 records · Page 88
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Shielding Analyses for SNS Accelerator Power Upgrade

The Proton Power Upgrade (PPU) project [1] at Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is aiming at increasing the neutron beam intensities at the First Target Station (FTS) and advancing accelerator capability to additionally power a future Second Target Station (STS) [2]. PPU will involve upgrading the SNS accelerator complex to double the currently available proton beam power from 1.4 to 2.8 MW, by increasing the proton beam energy from 1 GeV to 1.3 GeV and by increasing the proton beam current.PPU will enable new science capabilities enhancing the experiment throughput of the 19 existing FTS instruments, which are heavily oversubscribed. STS will include 22 additional neutron scattering instruments. Numerous neutronics analyses are performed to support PPU evaluating the FTS systems for higher beam power and for system upgrades. Part of the PPU scope is an extension of the Ring to Target Beam Transport (RTBT) line, a stub out of the accelerator tunnel for the future Ring to STS Transport (RTST) line[3]. As the RTST tunnel will not be built within the PPU project, the stub will be shielded by a plug, which is planned to be made from regular concrete.In order to provide radiation protection safety, analyses are required to design adequate plug thickness for the stub. The thickness of the stub is driven by the criterion that the area downstream of the plug is “unrestricted access area”, demanding the dose rate downstream the stub be below 0.25 mrem/h at 30 cm from the surface at normal operation and below 20 Rem/hr for accident cases. Additionally, analyses verifying the amount of soil for shielding the accelerator tunnel to the above stated requirements are performed.

Popova, Irina I.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Applying nonlinear diffusion acceleration to the neutron transport k-Eigenvalue problem with anisotropic scattering

High-order/low-order (or moment-based acceleration) algorithms have been used to significantly accelerate the solution to the neutron transport k-eigenvalue problem over the past several years. Recently, the nonlinear diffusion acceleration algorithm has been extended to solve fixed-source problems with anisotropic scattering sources. In this paper, we demonstrate that we can extend this algorithm to k-eigenvalue problems in which the scattering source is anisotropic and a significant acceleration can be achieved. Lastly, we demonstrate that the low-order, diffusion-like eigenvalue problem can be solved efficiently using a technique known as nonlinear elimination.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Field Emission in Superconducting Accelerators: Instrumented Measurements for Its Understanding and Mitigation

Several new accelerator projects are adopting superconducting accelerator technology. When accelerating cavities maintain high RF gradients, field emission, the emission of electrons from cavity walls, can occur and may impact operational cavity gradient, radiological environment via activated components, and reliability. In this talk, we will discuss instrumented measurements of field emission from the two 1.1 GeV superconducting continuous wave (CW) linacs in CEBAF. The goal is to improve the understanding of field emission sources originating from cryomodule production, installation and operation. Such basic knowledge is needed in guiding field emission control, mitigation, and reduction toward high gradient and reliable operation of superconducting accelerators.

Geng, Rongli↗
DOE OSTI2025

Twinac: initiation of a community-driven accelerator digital twin framework

We present the initiation of a community-driven framework for the integration of accelerator digital twins into control systems: Twinac. Few facilities have fully integrated accelerator digital twins like at Cornell’s CHESS. Many facilities have active research to employ surrogate models to aid in operational decisions like at Argonne’s ALS, MSU’s FRIB, SLAC’s LCLS-II, and Fermilab’s FAST/IOTA, PIP-II, and main complex. To lower the barrier to entry for all accelerator facilities to build and benefit from a digital twin of their own accelerators, we propose the following software framework. Twinac will provide the capability to compose one’s own digital twin using reusable components engineered at other facilities. With this model in place, Twinac will also support tools for (1) predictive maintenance systems; (2) discovery of correlated but uncontrolled environmental factors, like seasonal temperature variations causing performance changes on power supplies, magnets, etc.; and (3) prototyping and updating sophisticated optimization and controls algorithms. The Twinac framework will enable sharing and simplified deployment of modeled components and control algorithms at all facilities. With an inter-facility team to build and support the Twinac framework, it will be easy to publish and try out the latest advancements at one’s own facility.

Miceli, Tia [Fermilab]↗
DOE OSTI2025

Evaluating Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) frameworks for the Accelerator Control System

As particle accelerator control systems evolve in complexity and scale, the need for responsive, scalable, and cost-effective computational infrastructure becomes increasingly critical. Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) offers an alternative to traditional monolithic architecture by enabling event-driven execution, automatic scaling, and fine-grained resource utilization. This paper explores the applicability and performance of FaaS frameworks in the context of a modern particle accelerator control system, with the objective of evaluating their suitability for short lived and triggered workloads. In this paper, we evaluate prominent open-source FaaS platforms in executing functional logic, triggers, and diagnostics routines. Evaluation metrics consist of cold-start latency, scalability, performance, integration with other open-source tools like Kafka. Experimental workloads were designed to simulate real-world control tasks when implemented as stateless FaaS functions. These workloads were benchmarked under various invocation loads and network conditions. Self-hosted FaaS platforms, when deployed within accelerator networks, offer greater control over execution environment, better integration with legacy systems, and support for real-time guarantees when paired with message queues. Based on lessons learned and evaluation metrics, this paper describes reliability of the FaaS framework for the Accelerator Control Systems (ACS).

Jaikar, A. [Fermilab] (ORCID:0000000332046217)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Xopt and Badger: a machine learning ecosystem for real-time accelerator control and optimization

Machine learning (ML)-based black-box optimization algorithms have demonstrated significant improvements in accelerator optimization speed, often by orders of magnitude. However, deploying these algorithms in real-time facility control remains challenging due to the specialized expertise and infrastructure required. To bridge this gap, we introduce the Xopt ecosystem, a versatile suite of tools designed to make advanced ML-based optimization accessible to the broader accelerator community. This ecosystem includes Xopt, a modular Python framework that facilitates the integration of ML-based optimization algorithms with arbitrary control problems, and Badger, a graphical user interface built on top of Xopt, which enables seamless deployment of ML algorithms in real-time control systems. The Xopt ecosystem has been successfully applied towards solving challenging real-time control problems at leading international accelerator facilities, including SLAC, LBNL, Argonne, Fermilab, BNL, DESY, and ESRF, demonstrating its effectiveness in real-world optimization tasks. In this presentation, we provide an overview of Xopt’s capabilities and illustrate its impact through case studies from SLAC accelerator facilities including LCLS, LCLS-II, and FACET-II.

Roussel, Ryan [SLAC]↗
DOE OSTI2012

Plasma-based Accelerator with Magnetic Compression

Electron dephasing is a major gain-inhibiting effect in plasma-based accelerators. A novel method is proposed to overcome dephasing, in which the modulation of a modest (~$\mathcal{O}$(10 kG)), axial, uniform magnetic field in the acceleration channel leads to densification of the plasma through magnetic compression, enabling direct, time-resolved control of the plasma wave properties. The methodology is broadly applicable and can be optimized to improve the leading acceleration approaches, including plasma beat-wave, plasma wakefield, and laser wakefield acceleration. The advantages of magnetic compression compared to other proposed schemes to overcome dephasing are identified.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Beam manipulation techniques, nonlinear beam dynamics, and space charge effect in high energy high power accelerators

We had carried out a design of an ultimate storage ring with beam emittance less than 10 picometer for the feasibility of coherent light source at X-ray wavelength. The accelerator has an inherent small dynamic aperture. We study method to improve the dynamic aperture and collective instability for an ultimate storage ring. Beam measurement and accelerator modeling are an integral part of accelerator physics. We develop the independent component analysis (ICA) and the orbit response matrix method for improving accelerator reliability and performance. In collaboration with scientists in National Laboratories, we also carry out experimental and theoretical studies on beam dynamics. Our proposed research topics are relevant to nuclear and particle physics using high brightness particle and photon beams.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Magnetic Materials Characterization and Modeling for the Enhanced Design of Magnetic Shielding of Cryomodules in Particle Accelerators

Particle accelerators produce beams of high-energy particles, which are used for both fundamental and applied scientific research and are critical to the development of accelerator driven sub-critical reactor systems. An effective magnetic shield is very important to achieve higher quality factor (Qo) of the cryomodule of a particle accelerator. The allowed value of field inside the cavity due to all external fields (particularly the Earth’s magnetic field) is ~15 mG or less. The goal of this PhD dissertation is to comprehensively study the magnetic properties of commonly used magnetic shielding materials at both cryogenic and room temperatures. This knowledge can be used for the enhanced design of magnetic shields of cryomodes (CM) in particle accelerators. To this end, we first studied the temperature dependent magnetization behavior (M-H curves) of Amumetal and A4K under different annealing and deformation conditions. This characterized the effect of stress or deformation induced during the manufacturing processes and subsequent restoration of high permeability with appropriate heat treatment. Next, an energy based stochastic model for temperature dependent anhysteretic magnetization behavior of ferromagnetic materials was proposed and benchmarked against experimental data. We show that this model is able to simulate and explain the magnetic behavior of as rolled, deformed and annealed amumetal and A4K over a large range of temperatures. The experimental results for permeability are then used in a finite element model (FEM) in COMSOL to evaluate the shielding effectiveness of multiple shield designs at room temperature as well as cryogenic temperature. This work could serve as a guideline for future design, development and fabrication of magnetic shields of CMs.

Sah, Sanjay↗
DOE OSTI2019

Development of a Novel Accelerator for Neutron Transport Solution Using the Galerkin Spectral Element Methods (Final Report)

This report summarizes the results of a three-year research project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) to develop and implement advanced acceleration schemes for the DOE NEAMS neutronics code PROTEUSSN. The project team included the University of Massachusetts Lowell, The Ohio State University, University of Michigan, and Argonne National Laboratory. The PROTEUS code is a high-fidelity capable deterministic neutron transport code based on unstructured finite element meshes, which solves the steady-state and transient neutron transport problem using the 2nd-order discrete ordinate method (SN2ND), the method of characteristics (MOC), and the advanced nodal transport method (NODAL). The DSA scheme has been implemented in PROTEUS to speed up SN transport calculations. The existing DSA scheme employs a consistent finite element formulation on the same fine mesh structure as the SN solution While the use of consistent discretizations makes the DSA method effective, it does not necessarily make it efficient because the numerical solution of a discretized elliptic diffusion problem itself can be costly, particularly when the problem size becomes large. We developed a new discontinuous Galerkin (DG) discretization of the diffusion equation, called DG-DSA, which can effectively and efficiently accelerate the SN transport iterations. As compared with the previous work, the novelty of our method is that the diffusion equation is solved on a coarse-mesh grid using the DG methods, and the DG diffusion discretization incorporates local hp adaptation, i.e., local adaptation of mesh size and/or polynomial degree, based on local total cross section (or optical thickness). Therefore, the resulting number of degrees of freedom (DOF) of the DG discretization is much less than the conventional consistent DSA discretizations, and thus DG-DSA can achieve significant improvement in computational efficiency. We implemented this scheme in PROTEUS-SN. In addition, we developed a new stabilization scheme named linear prolongation CMFD (lpCMFD). A novel feature of this scheme is that the conventional flat flux ratio–based scaling approach is replaced with a linear interpolation of the scalar flux differences at the coarse-mesh cell edges between the neutron transport and CMFD calculations. Fourier convergence analysis and numerical results show that lpCMFD is unconditionally stable and more effective than other CMFD based on acceleration schemes such as pCMFD, odCMFD. We also developed a new nonlinear diffusion acceleration scheme for solving neutron transport equations. This scheme, called LR-NDA, employs a local refinement approach on the framework of CMFD by solving a local boundary value problem of the scalar flux on the coarse-mesh structure to replace the piecewise constant scalar flux obtained by CMFD. The refined flux is then used to update the scalar flux in the neutron transport source iteration. It has been demonstrated that that LR-NDA is much more effective and stable than CMFD for a wide range of optical thicknesses. LR-NDA is a local adaptive method, which means LR-NDA does not necessarily require local refinement for all the coarse-mesh cells on the problem domain, i.e., it can be used only for relatively optically thick regions where the standard CMFD scheme would encounter the convergence problem.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Laser-driven collisionless shock accelerated ion beams (Final Report)

The major goal of the project was to study laser-driven collisionless shock ion acceleration.This acceleration mechanism has been demonstrated using CO 2 lasers, but the current state of the art CO 2 lasers cannot access peak normalized vector potentials of much greater than $a_0$ ~ 2. Therefore the favorable scalings of ion energies with $a_0$ observed using numerical modeling cannot be tested experimentally with these systems. Therefore this project is to develop an experimental platform to investigate laser-driven shock ion acceleration using 1.053 µm lasers, which can access extremely relativistic conditions, $a_0$ > 20. A near-critical cluster jet target was developed for studying this regime and the target was characterized under a number of conditions. This included a cooled cluster regime where a knife edge was used to achieve front-side scale lengths of < 60 µm. The experimental Tcubed facility was used to perform experiments and successfully measured accelerated protons in a narrow divergence beam. Particle-in-cell simulations have been performed to show shocks capable of ion acceleration can be produced. In contrast to the "ideal'' target scalelength profile described by Fiuza et al., where the electrons are strongly heated in a localized region near peak density, we show electron heating within the underdense region is rapid enough to enable collisionless shock formation. This is potentially good news for future experiments since it relaxes the strict, and difficult to assemble target requirements.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Exploring Acceleration Schemes for Nonlinear Heat Equations in Fusion Reactor Modeling

Plasma modeling inside a tokamak reactor poses a challenging and often times computationally expensive endeavor. The process of running these simulations has the potential to increase the predictive capabilities of these models. Here we investigate the effect particular acceleration schemes, mainly Anderson Acceleration, have on a nonlinear transport equation solver, Tango, developed by Parker et al. We show that Anderson acceleration offers a method for decreasing the computational cost through a test problem developed by Shestakov et al, which shows promise towards utilizing Anderson Acceleration in complex transport simulations

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Report on activities for grant "High Energy Density Science Applications of Laser Wakefield Accelerators"

The overall aim of this proposal was to make use of the unique properties of laser wakefield accelerated electrons and associated secondary photon sources for High Energy Density Science studies. In the reduced 1 year funding schedule for this project, four new students were trained in the physics of laser wakefield acceleration, including attending a winter school on plasma accelerators and participation in experiments on large scale laser-plasma experimental facilities. Investigations of the X-rays produced by laser wakefield acceleration for HEDP applications and trapping mechanisms were investigated experimentally and theoretically and submitted for publication.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Robustness of Asymptotic Optimal Accelerated Test Plans to Small-Sample Settings

Accelerated testing is a form of testing commonly employed in industry, especially at Sandia National Laboratories, in order to extract information about product lifetime behavior that cannot be acquired under normal operating conditions due to the extensive durations of the intended life- times. As of the writing of this report, there is no known guideline for the design of accelerated tests at the laboratories and yet there is an entire field in the statistical literature on the optimal design of accelerated tests covering a wide range of limitations and constraints available for reference. A potential roadblock to incorporating this knowledge is the common difficulty at Sandia of having severely limited data available for such testing. Nearly all of the methodology presented in the statistical literature is based on asymptotic or large-sample theory and so may not be appropriate for the testing conditions present at Sandia. This report investigates optimal accelerated test plans derived based on small-sample or exact methodology for both a basic test setting as well as a more realistic setting and compares the resulting test plans to those derived based on the large- sample methodology from the literature. It is shown that the large-sample test plans are actually quite robust to the presence of limited data and are generally more flexible than the small-sample test plans.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

An Accelerated Approach for Computationally Efficient Evaluation of Deflagration Time During Abnormal Thermal Events

The challenges of modeling abnormal thermal events for explosives of interest to LLNL can be simplified by an accelerated approach to calculate Prout-Tompkins (P-T) parameters describing autocatalytic deflagration. Rather than depending on detailed modeling in multiphysics codes that include chemical reactivity (e.g. ALE3D), the accelerated approach can calculate P-T parameters based solely on experimental time of deflagration measurements for the explosive of interest. We compare deflagration time for five explosives with previously known P-T parameters at conditions typical of abnormal thermal events and demonstrate that the accelerated approach produces deflagration predictions with a maximum error of 3% and an average error of 1.7%. While the accelerated approach may not be applicable to all experimental conditions, it holds promise of rapid derivation of P-T parameters for accurate modeling of abnormal thermal events of interest to LLNL.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Accelerator Physics at NSLS-II: Research Accomplishments in 2019

NSLS-II Accelerator Physics group provides scientific support for user operations, as well as for improvements and developments of the accelerator systems. In parallel to the facility support, the accelerator physicists are working on studies of topical scientific problems: development of novel lattices; studies of collective effects and beaminduced heating; advanced computations including machine learning; ultrafast electron diffraction and microscopy (LDRD). The group also made important contributions to the electron-ion collider project at BNL and to the APS upgrade project (MOUs). Research accomplishments of the NSLS-II Accelerator Physics group achieved in 2019, are summarized in this report.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Gandolinium poison solubility testing for the downstream impacts from accelerated basin de-inventory

The Accelerated Basin De-inventory (ABD) Program at the Savannah River Site (SRS) is designed to accelerate the de-inventory of L-Basin and accelerate the Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Disposition mission. Spent fuel will be dissolved in H-Canyon without recovery of uranium. The dissolver solutions will be temporarily stored, pH-adjusted to excess hydroxide (which will facilitate precipitation of metal oxides/hydroxides), transferred to the Concentration, Storage, and Transfer Facility (CSTF), and subsequently immobilized in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) during planned sludge batch campaigns. ABD accelerates basin closure, significantly reduces programmatic risk, and greatly reduces the lifecycle budget requirements for the site by eliminating the need for a SNF drying and packaging capability. The ABD approach represents a significant change to the clean-up approach for the SRS. However, the increased fissile loading in sludge batches, due to the dissolver solutions, requires investigation to ensure fissile limits are efficiently and safely managed; higher fissile loadings in the glass are projected to be two to three times higher than the current fissile concentration limit of 897 g/m 3 and will be addressed in a future report.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Taxonomy for Classification and Comparison of Dataflows for GNN Accelerators

Recently, Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have received a lot of interest because of their success in learning representations from graph structured data. However, GNNs exhibit different compute and memory characteristics compared to traditional Deep Neural Networks (DNNs). Graph convolutions require feature aggregations from neighboring nodes (known as the aggregation phase), which leads to highly irregular data accesses. GNNs also have a very regular compute phase that can be broken down to matrix multiplications (known as the combination phase). All recently proposed GNN accelerators utilize different dataflows and microarchitecture optimizations for these two phases. Different communication strategies between the two phases have been also used. However, as more custom GNN accelerators are proposed, the harder it is to qualitatively classify them and quantitatively contrast them. In this work, we present a taxonomy to describe several diverse dataflows for running GNN inference on accelerators. This provides a structured way to describe and compare the design-space of GNN accelerators.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗