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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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Experiment code is successfully being distributed to grid jobs with the CernVM FileSystem (CVMFS). End user code (such as for physics analysis) has not been using CVMFS.
Code to map X-ray reflectivity data from real space to reciprocal space. The code is written as a Jupyter notebook. Example data are included as a separate file (example_data.csv). These data were collected on a Panalytical XRD system. As a first step, run all cells in the notebook. Opportunities are identified for users to make their own choices for choosing the boundaries of the region of interest to estimate background. A simple algorithm is used to estimate background from the outer regions of the data collection region, interpolating the result inside the region of interest. The background is removed and then the data mapped to Qx-Qz (reciprocal space) coordinates. The results are written as NumPy binary and Matlab formatted files.
Shift is a new hybrid Monte Carlo/deterministic radiation transport code being developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. At its current stage of development, Shift includes a fully-functional parallel Monte Carlo capability for simulating eigenvalue and fixed-source multigroup transport problems. This paper focuses on recent efforts to verify Shift s Monte Carlo component using the two-dimensional and three-dimensional C5G7 NEA benchmark problems. Comparisons were made between the benchmark eigenvalues and those output by the Shift code. In addition, mesh-based scalar flux tally results generated by Shift were compared to those obtained using MCNP5 on an identical model and tally grid. The Shift-generated eigenvalues were within three standard deviations of the benchmark and MCNP5 values in all cases. The flux tallies generated by Shift were found to be in very good agreement with those from MCNP
Three methods for calculating continuous-energy eigenvalue sensitivity coefficients were developed and implemented into the SHIFT Monte Carlo code within the Scale code package. The methods were used for several simple test problems and were evaluated in terms of speed, accuracy, efficiency, and memory requirements. A promising new method for calculating eigenvalue sensitivity coefficients, known as the CLUTCH method, was developed and produced accurate sensitivity coefficients with figures of merit that were several orders of magnitude larger than those from existing methods.
Many safeguards measurement systems used at nuclear facilities, both domestically and internationally, rely on He-3 detectors and well established mathematical equations to interpret coincidence and multiplicity-type measurements for verifying quantities of special nuclear material. Due to resource shortages alternatives to these existing He-3 based systems are being sought. Work is also underway to broaden the capabilities of these types of measurement systems in order to improve current multiplicity analysis techniques. As a part of a Material Protection, Accounting, and Control Technology (MPACT) project within the U.S. Department of Energy's Fuel Cycle Technology Program we are designing a fast-neutron multiplicity counter with organic liquid scintillators to quantify important quantities such as plutonium mass. We are also examining the potential benefits of using fast-neutron detectors for multiplicity analysis of advanced fuels in comparison with He-3 detectors and testing the performance of such designs. The designs are being developed and optimized using the MCNPX-PoliMi transport code to study detector response. In the full paper, we will discuss validation measurements used to justify the use of the MCNPX-PoliMi code paired with the MPPost multiplicity routine to design a fast neutron multiplicity counter with liquid scintillators. This multiplicity counter will be designed with the end goal of safeguarding advanced nuclear fuels. With improved timing qualities associated with liquid scintillation detectors, we can design a system that is less limited by nuclear materials of high activities. Initial testing of the designed system with nuclear fuels will take place at Idaho National Laboratory in a later stage of this collaboration.
Core modeling of the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at INL is currently undergoing a significant update through the Core Modeling Update Project1. The intent of the project is to bring ATR core modeling in line with today’s standard of computational efficiency and verification and validation practices. The HELIOS-2 lattice physics code2 is the lead code of several reactor physics codes to be dedicated to modernize ATR core analysis. This presentation is concerned with an independent verification of the HELIOS-2 spectral representation including the slowing down and thermalization algorithm and its data dependency. Here, we will describe and demonstrate a recently developed simple cross section generation algorithm based entirely on analytical multigroup parameters for both the slowing down and thermal spectrum. The new capability features fine group detail to assess the flux and multiplication factor dependencies on cross section data sets using the fundamental infinite medium as an example.
Programming for a data processor to execute a data processing application is provided using microcode source code. The microcode source code is assembled to produce microcode that includes digital microcode instructions with which to signal the data processor to execute the data processing application.
A technique is described that presents how to perform 2-dimensional nuclear excursion simulations of GODIVA-IV and CALIBAN using the coupled neutronic-hydrodynamic method as part of the MRKJ code to study metal criticality excursions. The 2-D thermoelastic equations were incorporated into the MRKJ code to extend the physics and modeling effort into 2-D (cylindrical) geometry. By making some simplifying modeling assumptions, results were obtained for controlled prompt-critical excursions of GODIVA-IV and CALIBAN. These results will be compared later to legacy data and future measurements that are to be made with both critical assemblies as part of a joint collaboration between CEA/Valduc and US DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory to improve computational tools to study metal criticality accidents.
A plurality of columns for a check matrix that implements a distance d linear error correcting code are populated by providing a set of vectors from which to populate the columns, and applying to the set of vectors a filter operation that reduces the set by eliminating therefrom all vectors that would, if used to populate the columns, prevent the check matrix from satisfying a column-wise linear independence requirement associated with check matrices of distance d linear codes. One of the vectors from the reduced set may then be selected to populate one of the columns. The filtering and selecting repeats iteratively until either all of the columns are populated or the number of currently unpopulated columns exceeds the number of vectors in the reduced set. Columns for the check matrix may be processed to reduce the amount of logic needed to implement the check matrix in circuit logic.
We present details on a graphical interface for the open source software program Optical Propagation Code, or OPC. This interface, written in Java, allows a user with no knowledge of OPC to create an optical system, with lenses, mirrors, apertures, etc. and the appropriate drifts between them. The Java code creates the appropriate Perl script that serves as the input for OPC. The mode profile is then output at each optical element. The display can be either an intensity profile along the x axis, or as an isometric 3D plot which can be tilted and rotated. These profiles can be saved. Examples of the input and output will be presented.
A plurality of columns for a check matrix that implements a distance d linear error correcting code are populated by providing a set of vectors from which to populate the columns, and applying to the set of vectors a filter operation that reduces the set by eliminating therefrom all vectors that would, if used to populate the columns, prevent the check matrix from satisfying a column-wise linear independence requirement associated with check matrices of distance d linear codes. One of the vectors from the reduced set may then be selected to populate one of the columns. The filtering and selecting repeats iteratively until either all of the columns are populated or the number of currently unpopulated columns exceeds the number of vectors in the reduced set. Columns for the check matrix may be processed to reduce the amount of logic needed to implement the check matrix in circuit logic.
A presentation giving a current status of the various tasks for the MELCOR code development is provided, including some recently corrected code issues.
In nuclear security applications, coded-aperture imagers provide the opportu- nity for a wealth of information regarding the attributes of both the radioac- tive and non-radioactive components of the objects being imaged. However, for optimum benefit to the community, spatial attributes need to be deter- mined in a quantitative and statistically meaningful manner. To address the deficiency of quantifiable errors in coded-aperture imaging, we present uncer- tainty matrices containing covariance terms between image pixels for MURA mask patterns. We calculated these correlated uncertainties as functions of variation in mask rank, mask pattern over-sampling, and whether or not anti- mask data are included. Utilizing simulated point source data, we found that correlations (and inverse correlations) arose when two or more image pixels were summed. Furthermore, we found that the presence of correlations (and their inverses) was heightened by the process of over-sampling, while correla- tions were suppressed by the inclusion of anti-mask data and with increased mask rank. As an application of this result, we explore how statistics-based alarming in nuclear security is impacted.
The Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) metallic fuels currently being tested have higher zirconium and plutonium concentrations than those tested in the past in EBR reactors. Current metal fuel performance codes have limitations and deficiencies in predicting AFC fuel performance, particularly in the modeling of constituent distribution. No fully validated code exists due to sparse data and unknown modeling parameters. Our primary objective is to develop an initial analysis tool by incorporating state-of-the-art knowledge, constitutive models and properties of AFC metal fuels into the MOOSE/BISON (1) framework in order to analyze AFC metallic fuel tests.
A plurality of columns for a check matrix that implements a distance d linear error correcting code are populated by providing a set of vectors from which to populate the columns, and applying to the set of vectors a filter operation that reduces the set by eliminating therefrom all vectors that would, if used to populate the columns, prevent the check matrix from satisfying a column-wise linear independence requirement associated with check matrices of distance d linear codes. One of the vectors from the reduced set may then be selected to populate one of the columns. The filtering and selecting repeats iteratively until either all of the columns are populated or the number of currently unpopulated columns exceeds the number of vectors in the reduced set. Columns for the check matrix may be processed to reduce the amount of logic needed to implement the check matrix in circuit logic.
The FESTR code solves the radiation transport equation to model LTE and NLTE plasmas. Motivation, implementation, examples, and future work regarding the code are presented in a series of slides.
Electron lenses are a mature technique for beam manipulation in colliders and storage rings. In an electron lens, a pulsed, magnetically confined electron beam with a given current-density profile interacts with the circulating beam to obtain the desired effect. Electron lenses were used in the Fermilab Tevatron collider for beam-beam compensation, for abort-gap clearing, and for halo scraping. They will be used in RHIC at BNL for head-on beam-beam compensation, and their application to the Large Hadron Collider for halo control is under development. At Fermilab, electron lenses will be implemented as lattice elements for nonlinear integrable optics. The design of electron lenses requires tools to calculate the kicks and wakefields experienced by the circulating beam. We use the Warp particle-in-cell code to study generation, transport, and evolution of the electron beam. For the first time, a fully 3-dimensional code is used for this purpose.
GPAC is a code that integrates open source libraries for element formulations, linear algebra, and I/O with two main LLNL-written components: (i) a set of standard finite, discrete, and discontinuous displacement element physics solvers for resolving Darcy fluid flow, explicit mechanics, implicit mechanics, fault rupture and earthquake nucleation, and fluid-mediated fracturing, including resolution of physcial behaviors both implicity and explicity, and (ii) a MPI-based parallelization implementation for use on generic HPC distributed memory architectures. The resultant code can be used alone for linearly elastic problems; ploblems involving hydraulic fracturing, where the mesh topology is dynamically changed; fault rupture modeling and seismic risk assessment; and general granular materials behavior. The key application domain is for low-rate stimulation and fracture control in subsurface reservoirs (e.g., enhanced geothermal sites and unconventional shale gas stimulation). GPAC also has interfaces to call external libraries for , e.g., material models and equations of state; however, LLNL-developed EOS and material models will not be part of the current release. CPAC's secondary applications include modeling fault evolution for predicting the statistical distribution of earthquake events and to capture granular materials behavior under different load paths.