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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Blue Canyon Dome Emplacement Artifacts

The Blue Canyon Dome (BCD) experiments are a series of intermediate scale subsurface chemical explosions designed to explore the geophysical relationship between scaled yields and formation damage. Phase 2 of this experiment involved explosions designed to evaluate the effect of damage, demonstrating the effect of geologic features and previous damage on the near field seismic signatures, not just in amplitude, but also in spectral content. Based on the emplacement effect on the seismic signature, the moment-based yield estimates showed error between 10s-1000s of percent. This report details an alternative approach to emplacement-based filtering techniques of the seismic signatures to improve yield estimates for explosions in damaged rock. The results will be used to develop an improved inverse yield model that leverages the information in the seismic signature for each source based on emplacement type.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2023

Blue Canyon Dome: Development of a Small-Scale Testbed for Monitoring Underground Explosions

This report documents the development of the Blue Canyon Dome (BCD) testbed, including test site selection, development, instrumentation, and logistical considerations. The BCD testbed was designed for small-scale explosive tests (~5 kg TNT equivalence maximum) for the purpose of comparing diagnostic signals from different types of explosives, the assumption being that different chemical explosives would generate different signatures on geophysical and other monitoring tools. The BCD testbed is located at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center near Socorro, New Mexico. Instrumentation includes an electrical resistivity tomography array, geophones, distributed acoustic sensing, gas samplers, distributed temperature sensing, pressure transducers, and high-speed cameras. This SAND report is a reference for BCD testbed development that can be cited in future publications.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2021

Microhole drilling technology utilizing a golden section search algorithm

A fundamental issue in microhole drilling is that delivering high weight-on-bit (WOB), high torque rotational horsepower to a conventional drill bit does not scale down to the hole sizes necessary to realize the envisioned cost savings An optimization algorithm called a golden section search (GSS) was used to systematically identify the preferred WOB for a given set of conditions. This research focused on implementing and evaluating two low WOB drilling technologies for microhole drilling: - Laser-assisted mechanical drill, which was tested in the laboratory - Lightly modified commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) percussive hammer, which was tested in a limited field test. Data were collected for microhole GSS using WOB optimization via simulation as well as at the Blue Canyon Dome Site in Socorro, NM. Information on the attached files and folders are as follows: - the .tdms files are LabView data files, which can be opened within Excel using a .tdms add-in or using a Matlab .tdms converter - the .tdms_index files are part of the .tdms file structure - sampling rate, column headers, and length data within the .tdms files follow SOP when utilizing Excel and/or Matlab as described above

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Measuring Gas Transport and Sorption in Large Intact Geologic Specimens via the Piezometric Method

Uptake of noble gases into heterogeneous geologic core samples was measured using a piezometric methodology. In addition to measuring accessible porosity—as with gas pycnometry—by monitoring the rate of pressure decay, this method can also be used to estimate the gas effective diffusivity in the sample. In contrast to previous applications of this method, where milligram quantities of fractured grains are characterized, here approximately kilogram core samples were left intact when tested. In doing so, a more representative sample of the heterogeneous field geology is provided. Additionally, alteration of the pore structure and connectivity during sample preparation is avoided. Furthermore, to scale the piezometric method from milligrams to kilograms, the system was designed to operate at medium vacuum (1 to 100 Pa) to restrict transport in pores less than approximately 60 µm to large Knudsen numbers. To test the system performance, two samples of interest were selected: a rhyolitic welded tuff from Blue Canyon Dome at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center and a zeolitized non-welded rhyolitic tuff from the Nevada National Security Site. Three noble gases were utilized in this test series; Argon and xenon as they are of direct interest to nuclear monitoring efforts and helium as it is a weakly adsorbing reference standard. Additionally, mercury intrusion porosimetry measurements were made on subsamples of the core to compare the observed porosity by the two methods and to discuss gas transport rates in the context of the measured pore distribution.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Characterization and response of three TNT equivalent materials in subsurface explosions

Energetic compositions utilized for inducing seismic responses are often referred to in terms of their TNT equivalent, a metric which is often misused because observations of interest are not often understood with respect to explosive characteristics. Here, in this investigation, we characterize three energetic compositions used to elicit seismic responses in a highly instrumented testbed to further our understanding of subsurface TNT equivalence. Three different energetic sources are prepared and studied for their fidelity to thermochemically predicted detonation behavior. We present effects of subsurface detonation on subsurface rock and seismic emission as a function of energetic source material within the testbed. Field experiments were conducted using a single thermochemical yield of 5 kg using diverse sources consisting of nitromethane, ammonal, and PBXN‐5 (an HMX based plastic bonded explosive) mixtures at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center in Socorro, New Mexico. Relative performance of energy density‐related detonation parameters, such as detonation velocity and pressure, affect the observed response in the subsurface. Most notable, equal thermochemical yields described in terms of TNT equivalence do not correlate to equal thermochemical effects in the subsurface.

Blue Canyon Dome↗