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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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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

A Local Incident Flux Response Expansion Transport Method for Coupling to the Diffusion Method in Cylindrical Geometry

A local incident flux response expansion transport method is developed to generate transport solutions for coupling to diffusion theory codes regardless of their solution method (e.g., fine mesh, nodal, response based, finite element, etc.) for reactor core calculations in both two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) cylindrical geometries. In this approach, a Monte Carlo method is first used to precompute the local transport solution (i.e., response function library) for each unique transport coarse node, in which diffusion theory is not valid due to strong transport effects. The response function library is then used to iteratively determine the albedo coefficients on the diffusion-transport interfaces, which are then used as the coupling parameters within the diffusion code. This interface coupling technique allows a seamless integration of the transport and diffusion methods. The new method retains the detailed heterogeneity of the transport nodes and naturally constructs any local solution within them by a simple superposition of local responses to all incoming fluxes from the contiguous coarse nodes. A new technique is also developed for coupling to fine-mesh diffusion methods/codes. The local transport method/module is tested in 2-D and 3-D pebble-bed reactor benchmark problems consisting of an inner reflector, an annular fuel region, and a controlled outer reflector. It is found that the results predicted by the transport module agree very well with the reference fluxes calculated directly by MCNP in both benchmark problems.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Bayesian-based response expansion and uncertainty quantification using sparse measurement sets

Systems subjected to dynamic loads often require monitoring of their vibrational response, but limitations on the total number and placement of the measurement sensors can hinder the data-collection process. Here, we present an indirect approach to estimate a system’s full-field dynamic response, including all uninstrumented locations, using response measurements from sensors sparsely located on the system. This approach relies on Bayesian inference that utilizes a system model to estimate the full-field response and quantify the uncertainty in these estimates. By casting the estimation problem in the frequency domain, this approach utilizes the modal frequency response functions as a natural, frequency-dependent weighting scheme for the system mode shapes to perform the expansion. This frequency-dependent weighting scheme enables an accurate expansion, even with highly correlated mode shapes that may arise from spatial aliasing due to the limited number of sensors, provided these correlated modes do not have natural frequencies that are closely spaced. Furthermore, the inherent regularization mechanism that arises in this Bayesian-based procedure enables the utilization of the full set of system mode shapes for the expansion, rather than any reduced subset. This approach can produce estimates when considering a single realization of the measured responses, and with some modification, it can also produce estimates for power spectral density matrices measured from many realizations of the responses from statistically stationary random processes. A simply supported beam provides an initial numerical validation, and a cylindrical test article excited by acoustic loads in a reverberation chamber provides experimental validation.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Negative Thermal Expansion, Response to Pressure and Phase Transitions in CaTiF 6

Strong volume negative thermal expansion over a wide temperature range typically only occurs in ReO 3 -type fluorides that retain an ideal cubic structure to very low temperatures, such as ScF 3 , CaZrF 6 , CaHfF 6 , and CaNbF 6 . In this work, CaTiF 6 was examined in an effort to expand this small family of materials. However, it undergoes a cubic ($Fm\overline{3}m$) to rhombohedral ($R\overline3$) transition on cooling to ~120 K, with a minimum volume coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) close to –42 ppm K –1 at 180 K and a CTE of about –32 ppm K –1 at room temperature. On compression at ambient temperature, the material remains cubic to ~0.25 GPa with K 0 = 29(1) GPa and K' 0 = –50(5). Cubic CaTiF 6 is elastically softer and shows more pronounced pressure induced softening, than both CaZrF 6 and CaNbF 6 . In sharp contrast to both CaZrF 6 and CaNbF 6 , CaTiF 6 undergoes a first-order pressure induced octahedral tilting transition to a rhombohedral phase ($R\overline3$) on compression above 0.25 GPa, which is closely related to that seen in ScF 3 . Just above the transition pressure, this phase is elastically very soft with a bulk modulus of only ~4 GPa as octahedral tilting associated with a reduction in the Ca–F–Ti angles provides a low energy pathway for volume reduction. This volume reduction mechanism leads to highly anisotropic elastic properties, with the rhombohedral phase displaying both a low bulk modulus and negative linear compressibility parallel to the crystallographic c -axis for pressures below ~2.5 GPa. At ~3 GPa, a further phase transition to a poorly ordered phase occurs.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

40 Ca transverse response function from coupled-cluster theory

Here, we present calculations of the 40 Ca transverse response function obtained from coupled-cluster theory used in conjunction with the Lorentz integral transform method. We employ nuclear forces derived at next-to-next-to leading order in chiral effective field theory with and without Δ degrees of freedom. We first benchmark this approach on the 4 He nucleus and compare both the transverse sum rule and the response function to earlier calculations based on different methods. As expected from the power counting of the chiral expansion of electromagnetic currents and from previous studies, our results retaining only one-body term underestimate the experimental data for 4 He by about 20%. However, when the method is applied to 40 Ca at the same order of the expansion, response functions do not lack strength and agree well with the world electron scattering data. We discuss various sources of theoretical uncertainties and comment on the comparison of our results with the available experiments.

39 ≤ A ≤ 58↗
DOE OSTI2015

Tailored thermal expansion alloys

Current approaches to tailoring the thermal expansion coefficient of materials or finding materials with negative thermal expansion rely on careful manipulation of either the material's composition and/or the complex fabrication of composites. By contrast, we report a new principle that enables the precise control of macroscopic thermal expansion response of bulk materials via crystallographic texture manipulation and by taking advantage of anisotropic Coefficients of Thermal Expansion (CTE) in a large class of martensitically transforming materials. Through simple thermo-mechanical processing, it is possible to tailor the thermal expansion response of a single material––without manipulating its composition––over a wide range of positive and negative values. We demonstrate this principle by gradually tuning the macroscopic CTE in a model NiTiPd alloy between a positive (+14.90 × 10 -6 K -1 ) and a negative (-3.06 × 10 -6 K -1 ) value, simply by incrementally increasing tensile plastic deformation in the martensite phase. This surprising response is linked to the large positive, +51.33 × 10 -6 K -1 , and negative, -34.51 × 10 -6 K -1 , CTE anisotropy, at the lattice level, along the different crystal directions in martensite. Similar CTE anisotropy is also shown experimentally in CoNiGa and TiNb alloys. In a model TiNb alloy, giant macroscopic CTEs of +181 × 10 -6 K -1 and -142 × 10 -6 K -1 are measured. A connection between the CTE anisotropy and the martensitic transformation in these and other materials systems such as NiTi, pure uranium, and PbTiO 3 is later made. It is shown that negative or positive thermal expansion crystallographic directions are connected to the crystallographic relationship between the austenite and martensite lattices, and can easily be predicted using the lattice parameters of austenite and martensite phases. Our current observations and analyses suggest that the tunability of the macroscopic CTE through thermo-mechanical processing is universal in materials––both ceramic and metals––that undergo martensitic transformations

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

On-the-fly response function generation method for composite coarse mesh

The hybrid stochastic deterministic transport code COMET, based on the incident response expansion theory, is used to model reactor cores with high fidelity and formidable computational speed. COMET models a reactor core using a library of incident flux response expansion coefficients that are pre computed for all the unique lattice cells (e.g., fuel assemblies, reflector blocks, etc.) in the core. In order to further improve its computational efficiency in pre-calculating the response library a new response function generation method is developed to compute the response functions for the composite coarse meshes made of a smaller set of unique lattices on the fly within the COMET's deterministic transport core sweep. The efficiency is achieved by eliminating a number of unique lattices that can be made up from the reduced set of unique meshes on the fly. The numerical process consists of the following steps. First, the boundary condition on composite coarse mesh boundaries is projected onto the expansion basis to compute the incident flux moments on external surfaces of all the basic (reduced set of unique) coarse meshes. Secondly, the deterministic sweeping solver in COMET is used to converge on the outgoing/incoming flux expansion moments crossing interfaces between the basic coarse meshes. Thirdly, the response functions for the composite coarse meshes are constructed as a superposition on the fly. The new response function generation method was tested on 88 composite coarse meshes consisting of CANDU fuel bundles and moderator blocks. It was found that response functions generated by the new method agree very well with those generated by direct Monte Carlo calculations. The average and maximum relative differences in the surface-to-surface response coefficients computed by the two methods are 0.10% and 0.20%, respectively. Similarly, the average and maximum relative differences in the response fission densities are 0.13% and 0.43%, respectively. These discrepancies are within one standard deviation of the stochastic uncertainties. The new method is five times faster than the original direct Monte Carlo method. The size of the response function library for the new method is five times smaller than that for the original method, leading to significantly less requirement for the computer hard drive space and memory. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Controlling the Negative Thermal Expansion and Response to Pressure in ReO 3 -type Fluorides by the Deliberate Introduction of Excess Fluoride: Mg 1– x Zr 1+ x F 6+2 x , x = 0.15, 0.30, 0.40, and 0.50

Cubic ReO 3 -type fluorides often display negative or very low thermal expansion. However, they also typically undergo phase transitions upon cooling and/or modest compression, which are undesirable from the perspective of potential applications. Density measurements and total scattering data for Mg 1– x Zr 1+ x F 6+2 x , x = 0.15, 0.30, 0.40, and 0.50, indicate that the introduction of excess fluoride into cubic MgZrF 6 is accompanied by the population of interstitial fluoride sites and the conversion of corner to edge shared coordination polyhedra. Unlike MgZrF 6 , no phase transitions are seen upon cooling these materials to 10 K, and the first high pressure phase transition in these compositions occurs at pressures much higher than that previously reported for MgZrF 6 (0.37 GPa). The introduction of excess fluoride also provides for control of thermal expansion. Overall, for all of the compositions studied, negative thermal expansion is seen at the lowest temperature examined, and positive thermal expansion is observed at the highest temperature. The temperature at which zero thermal expansion occurs varies from ~150 K for x = 0.50 to ~500 K for x = 0.00. High pressure diffraction also indicates that increasing the amount of excess fluoride elastically stiffens the cubic ReO 3 related structure and reduces the extent of pressure induced softening.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS2014

Investigating the Response and Expansion of Plasma Plumes in a Mesosonic Plasma Using the Situational Awareness Sensor Suite for the ISS (SASSI)

To study the complex interactions between the space environment surrounding the International Space Station (ISS) and the ISS space vehicle, we are exploring a specialized suite of plasma sensors, manipulated by the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) to probe the near‐ISS mesosonic plasma ionosphere moving past the ISS. It is proposed that SASSI consists of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's (MSFC's) Thermal Ion Capped Hemispherical Spectrometer (TICHS), Thermal Electron Capped Hemispherical Spectrometer (TECHS), Charge Analyzer Responsive to Local Oscillations (CARLO), the Collimated PhotoElectron Gun (CPEG), and the University of Michigan Advanced Langmuir Probe (ALP). There are multiple expected applications for SASSI. Here, we will discuss the study of fundamental plasma physics questions associated with how an emitted plasma plume (such as from the ISS Plasma Contactor Unit (PCU)) responds and expands in a mesosonic magnetoplasma as well as emit and collect current. The ISS PCU Xe plasma plume drifts through the ionosphere and across the Earth's magnetic field, resulting in complex dynamics. This is of practical and theoretical interest pertaining to contamination concerns (e.g. energetic ion scattering) and the ability to collect and emit current between the spacecraft and the ambient plasma ionosphere. This impacts, for example, predictions of electrodynamic tether current performance using plasma contactors as well as decisions about placing high‐energy electric propulsion thrusters on ISS. We will discuss the required measurements and connection to proposed instruments for this study.

Gilchrist, Brian E.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Maize, sorghum, and pearl millet have highly contrasting species strategies to adapt to water stress and climate change-like conditions

This study compared maize, sorghum and pearl-millet, leading C 4 cereals, for the transpiration rate (TR) response to increasing atmospheric and soil water stress. The TR response to transiently increasing VPD (0.9–4.1kPa) and the transpiration and leaf area expansion response to progressive soil drying were measured in controlled conditions at early vegetative stage in 10–16 genotypes of each species grown in moderate or high vapor pressure deficit (VPD) conditions. Maize grown under moderate VPD conditions restricted TR under high VPD, but not sorghum and pearl millet. By contrast, when grown under high VPD, all species increased TR upon increasing VPD, suggesting a loss of TR responsiveness. Sorghum and pearl-millet grown under high VPD reduced leaf area, but not maize. Upon progressive soil drying, maize reduced transpiration at higher soil moisture than sorghum and pearl millet, especially under high VPD, and leaf area expansion declined at similar or lower soil moisture than transpiration in maize and sorghum. It is concluded that maize conserves water by restricting transpiration upon increasing VPD and under higher soil moisture than sorghum and millet, giving maize significantly higher TE, whereas sorghum and pearl millet rely mostly on reduced leaf area and somewhat on transpiration restriction.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Contraction and Expansion of Stimuli-Responsive DNA Bonds in Flexible Colloidal Crystals

DNA surface ligands can be used as programmable “bonds” to control the arrangement of nanoparticles into crystalline superlattices. Here, we study the intrinsic responsiveness of these DNA bonds to changes in local dielectric constant (ε r ) as a new approach to dynamically modulate superlattice structure. Remarkably, ethanol (EtOH) addition can be used to controllably tune DNA bond length from 16 to 3 nm and to increase bond stability by >40 °C, while retaining long-range order and crystal habit. Interestingly, we find that these structural changes, which involve the expansion and contraction of crystals by up to 75% in volume, occur in a cooperative fashion once a critical percentage of EtOH is reached. These results provide a facile and robust approach to create stimuli-responsive lattices, to access high volume fractions, and to improve thermal stability.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗