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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 361 records · Page 20

Commissioning a time-gated camera for fast neutron beamline spatial-energy characterization at LANSCE-WNR spallation source

An energy-resolved fast neutron beam imaging diagnostic has been successfully commissioned at the Weapons Neutron Research (WNR) spallation source within the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) facility. This diagnostic replaces the existing analog phosphor image plates, which integrate across all neutron energies, as well as other particles, with a near-real-time energy-sensitive imaging capability. The system uses a fast plastic scintillator coupled with an intensified CCD camera. Specifically, the Teledyne Pi-MAX4 camera is coupled with either a 4 mm thick Eljen (EJ) 204 or 228 plastic scintillator. These scintillators are most sensitive to the fast neutrons (0.8-800 MeV) directly from the spallation source rather than low energy background radiation. Experimentally, these plastic scintillators were shown to have sufficiently fast decay to differentiate the bright gamma flash from the spallation neutrons. The spatial resolution is dominated by neutron beam divergence, with minimal additional contributions from scatter and light divergence. The system successfully resolved changes in neutron beam characteristics caused by intentional proton steering variations. Additionally, simulations of scintillator light yield as a function of thickness conducted using PHITS (with Scinful-QMD package) found that increasing scintillator thickness from 4 mm to 6 or 8 mm could potentially increase brightness ~ 3x. This may be explored if there is a need to reduce image acquisition time from several minutes to under one minute.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

FLAMES─Fast, Low-Storage, Accurate, and Memory-Efficient Adaptive Sampling─Approach to Resolve Spatially Dependent Dynamics of Molecular Liquids

Many critical phenomena in soft matter occur at large length scales, necessitating the resolution of their structure and dynamics at low wavenumbers. However, resolving wavenumber-dependent dynamics computationally via molecular dynamics simulations presents significant challenges, as these phenomena span several orders of magnitude in both time and length scales, resulting in high computational costs and memory demands. Here, this work highlights the computational and memory challenges associated with analyzing molecular trajectories in reciprocal space and demonstrates a method to address them. We introduce FLAMESFast, Low-storage, Accurate, and Memory-Efficient adaptive Sampling, which is a direct method for calculation of structure factors, allowing us to select only the required number of wavevectors for binning. We also use wavenumber-dependent time steps to extract dynamics. Our FLAMES approach effectively mitigates computational and memory/storage bottlenecks. We demonstrate the method using simulations of a model system, liquid octane, at various temperatures. Comparisons with experimental data and real space computation show that the FLAMES technique achieves high accuracy in resolving temperature- and spatially dependent dynamics while being significantly more computationally efficient and requiring less memory and storage than methods based on a uniform wavevector grid and fixed temporal spacing.

Chen, Guang [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Ar↗

Predicted performance of a tangential viewing hard x-ray camera for the DIII-D high field side lower hybrid current drive experiment

High field side launch of lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) has improved accessibility and penetration over low field side launch on DIII-D. Simulations predict single pass absorption under a wide range of plasma conditions. Hard x-ray (HXR) measurement of LHCD generated fast electron bremsstrahlung (50–250 keV) will validate wave propagation and absorption. Emissivity profiles are recovered from one-dimensional inversion of HXR brightness to determine LH damping location, fast electron slowing down time, and some indication of the fast electron energy. The camera will be implemented by populating 32 tangential sightlines of the existing Gamma Ray Imager with Kromek SPEARTM Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors sensitive to 10–1000 keV photons with 10 keV energy resolution. Expected count rates allow for <0.5 ms time resolution. Pulses are processed using 50 ns shaping time Cremat CR-200 Gaussian shaping modules and are digitized by 25 MHz D-TACQ ACQ216 digitizers. The performance of the HXR camera is evaluated by comparing predicted fast electron density profiles and inverted synthetic brightnesses obtained from the ray-tracing/Fokker–Planck codes GENRAY/CQL3D. Inversions closely matched predicted fast electron profiles for a range of experimental parameters.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Perturbed Ion Temperature and Toroidal Flow Profile Measurements in Rotating Neoclassical Tearing Mode Magnetic Islands

The perturbed ion temperature and toroidal flow were measured in rotating Neoclassical Tearing Modes (NTM) in a tokamak for the first time. These toroidally and radially resolved profiles were obtained by impurity ion spectroscopy in a 2,1 NTM in DIII-D. In agreement with drift-kinetic simulations, the electron temperature profile is flat, while the ion temperature gradient is restored across the magnetic island O-point in the presence of fast ions; the perturbed flow has minima in the O-points and maxima at the X-points. Furthermore, these measurements provide the first confirmation of the theoretically expected ion temperature and flow response to a magnetic island needed to predict the NTM on set threshold scaling for ITER and other future tokamaks.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

EMP-Resilient Electric Grid Transformer Analysis

The response of a high - voltage (HV) transformer to fast rise time voltages, such as that from a electromagnetic pulse (EMP) can result in interruption of power distribution and possibly system failure. To help identify these potential occurrences, it is necessary to develop a transformer model that not only captures the input/output response of the transformer but also the internal behavior. The model constructed should cover the frequency band of interest while capturing the internal physical and electrical characteristics. This broad-band, high-fidelity model would enable the prediction of unwanted effects through simulation. A proposed modeling scheme for a HV transformer is described in Part 1 of this report. Part 2 of this report details assessments of internal voltage and electrical field holdoff testing of transformer insulation dielectric breakdown, including comparison of low frequency (DC/60 Hz) holdoff to rise times characteristic of lightning (1 s) and EMP E1 transients (10 - 30 ns). This initial project is a path toward establishing electrical grid transformer failure criteria for EMP voltage transients. We developed modeling methods and measured breakdown electrical field statistical distributions for direct current, 60 Hz, lightning and EMP characteristic voltage rise times. Methods of nanosecond-scale capacitive discharge unit high voltage source development, suggestions for derating of 60 Hz insulation maximum electrical fields for EMP nanosecond pulse voltage withstand rating, and potential methods for increasing transformer resilience to such fast rise time pulses are described.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Fast flavor instability in hypermassive neutron star disk outflows

Here, we examine the effect of neutrino flavor transformation by the fast flavor instability (FFI) on long-term mass ejection from accretion disks formed after neutron star mergers. Neutrino emission and absorption in the disk set the composition of the disk ejecta, which subsequently undergoes r-process nucleosynthesis upon expansion and cooling. Here we perform 28 time-dependent, axisymmetric, viscous-hydrodynamic simulations of accretion disks around hypermassive neutron stars (HMNSs) of variable lifetime, using a 3-species neutrino leakage scheme for emission and an annular-lightbulb scheme for absorption. We include neutrino flavor transformation due the FFI in a parametric way, by modifying the absorbed neutrino fluxes and temperatures, allowing for flavor mixing at various levels of flavor equilibration, and also in a way that aims to respect the lepton-number preserving symmetry of the neutrino self-interaction Hamiltonian. We find that for a promptly-formed black hole (BH), the FFI lowers the average electron fraction of the disk outflow due to a decrease in neutrino absorption, driven primarily by a drop in electron neutrino/antineutrino flux upon flavor mixing. For a long-lived HMNS, the disk emits more heavy lepton neutrinos and reabsorbs more electron neutrinos than for a BH, with a smaller drop in flux compensated by a higher neutrino temperature upon flavor mixing. The resulting outflow has a broader electron fraction distribution, a more proton-rich peak, and undergoes stronger radiative driving. Disks with intermediate HMNS lifetimes show results that fall in between these two limits. In most cases, the impact of the FFI on the outflow is moderate, with changes in mass ejection, average velocity, and average electron fraction of order ~10%, and changes in the lanthanide/actinide mass fraction of up to a factor ~2.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Micropolar Elastoplasticity Using a Fast Fourier Transform‐Based Solver

ABSTRACT This work presents a micromechanical spectral formulation for obtaining the full‐field and homogenized response of elastoplastic micropolar composites. A closed‐form radial‐return mapping is derived from thermodynamics‐based micropolar elastoplastic constitutive equations to determine the increment of plastic strain necessary to return the generalized stress state to the yield surface, and the algorithm implementation is verified using the method of numerically manufactured solutions. Then, size‐dependent material response and micro‐plasticity are shown as features that may be efficiently simulated in this micropolar elastoplastic framework. The computational efficiency of the formulation enables the generation of large datasets in reasonable computing times.

42 ENGINEERING↗

High mass and halo resolution from fast low resolution simulations

Generating mocks for future sky surveys requires large volumes and high resolutions, which is computationally expensive even for fast simulations. Here we try to develop numerical schemes to calibrate various halo and matter statistics in fast low resolution simulations compared to high resolution N-body and hydrodynamic simulations. For the halos, we improve the initial condition resolution and develop a halo finder "relaxed-FoF", where we allow different linking lengths for different halo mass and velocity dispersions. We show that our relaxed-FoF halo finder improves the common statistics, such as halo bias, halo mass function, halo auto power spectrum, cross correlation coefficient with the reference halo catalog, and halo-matter cross power spectrum. We also calibrate small-scale velocities of small halos to improve the power spectrum in redshift space. For the matter statistics, we incorporate the potential gradient descent (PGD) method into fast simulations to improve the matter distribution at nonlinear scales. By building a lightcone output, we show that the PGD method significantly improves the weak lensing convergence tomographic power spectrum. With these improvements FastPM is comparable to the high resolution full N-body simulation of the same mass resolution, with two orders of magnitude fewer time steps. These techniques can be used to improve the halo and matter statistics of FastPM simulations for mock catalogs of future surveys such as DESI and LSST.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Development and Applications of an eReaxFF Force Field for Graphitic Anodes of Lithium-Ion Batteries

Graphene is one of the most promising materials for lithium-ion battery anodes due to its superior electronic conductivity, high surface area for lithium intercalation, fast ionic diffusivity and enhanced specific capacity. A reliable description of many battery processes requires an explicit description of electrochemical interactions involving electrons. A detailed atomistic modeling of electronic conduction and non-zero voltage simulations of graphitic materials require the inclusion of an explicit electronic degree of freedom. To enable large length- and time-scale simulations of electron conduction in graphitic anodes, we developed an eReaxFF force field concept describing graphitic materials with an explicit electron. The newly developed force field, verified against quantum chemistry-based data describing, amongst others, electron affinities and equation of states, reproduces the qualitative behavior of electron conductivity in pristine and imperfect graphitic materials at different applied temperatures and voltages. In addition, excess electron localization near a defect site estimated from eReaxFF simulations agree quite well with the corresponding density functional theory calculations. Here, our eReaxFF simulations show the initiation of lithium-metal-plating driven by electron transfer from the graphene surface to the exposed lithium ions demonstrating the method’s potential for studying lithium-graphene interactions with explicit electrons and explain many unresolved electrode and electrode-electrolyte interface processes.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

A fast Monte Carlo cell-by-cell simulation for radiobiological effects in targeted radionuclide therapy using pre-calculated single-particle track standard DNA damage data

Introduction: We developed a new method that drastically speeds up radiobiological Monte Carlo radiation-track-structure (MC-RTS) calculations on a cell-by-cell basis. Methods: The technique is based on random sampling and superposition of single-particle track (SPT) standard DNA damage (SDD) files from a “pre-calculated” data library, constructed using the RTS code TOPAS-nBio, with “time stamps” manually added to incorporate dose-rate effects. This time-stamped SDD file can then be input into MEDRAS, a mechanistic kinetic model that calculates various radiation-induced biological endpoints, such as DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), misrepairs and chromosomal aberrations, and cell death. As a benchmark validation of the approach, we calculated the predicted energy-dependent DSB yield and the ratio of direct-to-total DNA damage, both of which agreed with published in vitro experimental data. We subsequently applied the method to perform a superfast cell-by-cell simulation of an experimental in vitro system consisting of neuroendocrine tumor cells uniformly incubated with 177 Lu. Results and discussion: The results for residual DSBs, both at 24 and 48 h post-irradiation, are in line with the published literature values. Our work serves as a proof-of-concept demonstration of the feasibility of a cost-effective “in silico clonogenic cell survival assay” for the computational design and development of radiopharmaceuticals and novel radiotherapy treatments more generally.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Efficient Treatment of Large Active Spaces through Multi-GPU Parallel Implementation of Direct Configuration Interaction

In this study, we have extended our graphical processing unit (GPU)-accelerated direct configuration interaction program to multiple devices, reducing iteration times for configuration spaces of 165 million determinants to only 3 s using NVIDIA P100 GPUs. Similar improvements in the one- and two-particle reduced density matrix formation allow for fast analytical energy gradients and electronic properties. Our parallel algorithm enables the calculation of arbitrarily large configuration spaces (limited only by available system memory), with iteration times of 13 min for an active space of 18 electrons in 18 orbitals (2.4 billion determinants) using six consumer grade NVIDIA 1080Ti GPUs. These advances enable routine molecular dynamics simulations, geometry optimizations, and absorption spectrum calculations for molecules with large configuration spaces, a task that has heretofore required massive computational effort. In this work, we demonstrate the utility of our program by generating the absorption spectrum for diphenyl acetylene at the floating occupation molecular orbital complete active space configuration interaction level of theory. Lastly, several active spaces were investigated to assess the dependence of spectral features on orbital space dimension.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Dynamics and energy coupling of gas puff Z-pinches on a fast linear transformer driver

Gas puff Z-pinch experiments with annular Ar and Ne gas shells have been conducted on the Compact Experimental System for Z-pinch and Ablation Research (CESZAR) linear transformer driver (LTD) with 500 kA current and 160 ns rise time. Here, we present results from the first systematic gas puff Z-pinch experiments using a fast (≤ 200 ns) LTD as a driver, in which we show that 7% of the stored energy in the capacitors is coupled to plasma kinetic energy as estimated via self-emission and laser schlieren images. 0D and 1D simulations—which do not allow instability growth and thus reach greater maximum average velocities—using initial conditions inferred from experimental implosion trajectories predict coupling in excess of 10% of the stored energy. Additionally, the Ar and Ne implosions were comparably massed and thus achieved similar maximum kinetic energies, though the Ne pinches were more stable and the x-ray pulses were longer and produced higher yield: 2–5 ns and 0.21–0.52 J (0.15–0.37 J/cm) of Ar K-shell and 12–25 ns and 2.2–3.9 J (1.6–2.6 J/cm) of Ne K-shell, respectively. The difference in stability is most likely attributed to variations in initial conditions such as density distribution and gas breakdown initiation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Implementing Ordinary Differential Equation Solvers in Rust Programming Language for Modeling Vehicle Powertrain Systems: Preprint

Efficient and accurate ordinary differential equation (ODE) solvers are necessary for powertrain and vehicle dynamics modeling. However, current commercial ODE solvers can be financially prohibitive, leading to a need for accessible, effective, open-source ODE solvers designed for powertrain modeling. Rust is a compiled programming language that has the potential to be used for fast and easy-to-use powertrain models, given its exceptional computational performance, robust package ecosystem, and short time required for modelers to become proficient. However, of the three commonly used (>3,000 downloads) packages in Rust with ODE solver capabilities, only one has more than four numerical methods implemented, and none are designed specifically for modeling physical systems. Therefore, the goal of the Differential Equation System Solver (DESS) was to implement accurate ODE solvers in Rust designed for the component-based problems often seen in powertrain modeling. DESS is a text-based software package that provides a flexible framework for building and solving systems of ODEs. This allows DESS to be included as a dependency for automotive powertrain models that require a variety of solvers and solver configurations. Seven explicit ODE solver methods have been implemented in DESS: Euler’s, Heun’s, midpoint, Ralston’s, classic Runge-Kutta, Bogacki-Shampine, and Cash-Karp. These represent five fixed-step methods and two adaptive-step methods. This paper shows that the solver implementations increase accuracy and computational efficiency compared to Euler's method when modeling a system of three thermal masses in Rust. DESS also includes features designed for modeling component-based physical systems. Users can define relationships between nodes in their system, which the package then translates into a system of equations, leading to simpler and more intuitive code. In the case of a three-thermal-mass system, the user can specify node thermal properties (e.g., thermal capacitance), how nodes are interconnected, and thermal conductance between nodes rather than providing a system of equations. The core contribution from this work is an open-source, text-based Rust package with ODE solvers for automotive powertrain modeling to support cost-free, fast, and accurate simulation.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Spontaneous skyrmion conformal lattice and transverse motion during dc and ac compression

Abstract We use atomistic-based simulations to investigate the behavior of ferromagnetic skyrmions being continuously compressed against a rigid wall under dc and ac drives. The compressed skyrmions can be annihilated close to the wall and form a conformal crystal with both a size and a density gradient, making it distinct from conformal crystals observed previously for superconducting vortices and colloidal particles. For both dc and ac driving, the skyrmions can move transverse to the compression direction due to a combination of density and size gradients. Forces in the compression direction are converted by the Magnus force into transverse motion. Under ac driving, the amount of skyrmion annihilation is reduced and we find a skyrmion Magnus ratchet pump. We also observe shear banding in which skyrmions near the wall move up to twice as fast as skyrmions further from the wall. When we vary the magnitude of the applied drive, we find a critical current above which the skyrmions are completely annihilated during a time scale that depends on the magnitude of the drive. By varying the magnetic parameters, we find that the transverse motion is strongly dependent on the skyrmion size. Smaller skyrmions are more rigid, which interferes with the size gradient and destroys the transverse motion. We also confirm the role of the size gradient by comparing our atomistic simulations with a particle-based model, where we find that the transverse motion is only transient. Our results are relevant for applications where skyrmions encounter repulsive magnetic walls, domain walls, or interfaces.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Updates to Nek5000: RANS wall functions, NRC support, and documentation

As a key part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation program (NEAMS), the next generation of tools for nuclear reactor design are being developed. A primary metric for success of this program is the adoption of those tools by industry stakeholders. To help meet this metric for Nek5000, development efforts this year have focused on the expansion of the available Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulence models to include wall function models, continued support of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in simulating a hydrogen mitigation benchmark experiment, and expansion of the Nek5000 documentation to enhance the code’s usability. The implementation of wall functions is intended to significantly decrease time to-solution for a wide range of problems and it has been identified as an important feature by stakeholders across the nuclear community. The initial implementation of standard and pressure corrected wall functions has been tested in Nek5000 on the classical problems of channel flow and a backward facing step. It has also been tested on a 2D molten salt fast reactor core and a T-junction. The recommended formulation of choosing y + = 30 as a boundary value combined with a Neumann-Neumann formulation of the boundary condition for k and τ produces the most consistent results compared to a wall resolved approach. The collaboration with the NRC is a continuing exercise that has been ongoing for multiple years. This year we have concluded investigations into appropriate inlet conditions, showing that fully developed turbulent conditions are adequate for the full PANDA domain. We have also concluded simulations for an unobstructed jet and are now refocusing to the original obstructed jet case. The expansion of the code documentation has also been an ongoing effort over the past few years to address feedback from the various stakeholders. The documentation now more fully covers many of the available features and closes identified SQA gaps. Finally we report on three training sessions that were offered over the past year in an effort to expand the Nek5000 user base.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

A Framework for International Collaboration on ITER Using Large-Scale Data Transfer to Enable Near-Real-Time Analysis

The global nature of the ITER project along with its projected ~ petabyte per day data generation presents a unique challenge, but also an opportunity for the fusion community to rethink, optimize, and enhance our scientific discovery process. Recognizing this, collaborative research with computational scientists was undertaken over the past several years to create a framework for large-scale data movement across wide-area networks (WANs), to enable global near-real time analysis of fusion data. This would broaden the available computational resources for analysis/simulation, and increase the number of researchers actively participating in experiments. An official demonstration of this framework for fast, large data transfer and real-time analysis was carried out between the KSTAR tokamak in Daejeon, Korea and PPPL in Princeton, USA. Streaming large data transfer, with near real-time movie creation and analysis of the KSTAR Electron Cyclotron Emission imaging (ECEI) data, was performed using the I/O framework ADIOS, and comparisons made at PPPL with simulation results from the XGC1 code. These demonstrations were made possible utilizing an optimized network configuration at PPPL, which achieved over 8.8 Gbps (88% utilization) in throughput tests from NFRI to PPPL. This demonstration showed the feasibility for large-scale data analysis of KSTAR data, and provides a nascent framework to enable use of globally distributed computational and personnel resources in pursuit of scientific knowledge from the ITER experiment.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Validation of neutron emission and neutron energy spectrum calculations on a Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak with directional relativistic spectrum simulator

The recently developed directional relativistic spectrum simulator (DRESS) code has been validated for the first time against numerical calculations and experimental measurements performed on the Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak . In this validation, the neutron emissivities and rates computed by DRESS are benchmarked against TRANSP/NUBEAM predictions while the neutron energy spectra provided by DRESS taking as input TRANSP/NUBEAM and ASCOT/BBNBI in Gyro-Orbit mode fast ion distributions are validated against proton pulse height spectra measured by the neutron flux monitor. Finally, excellent agreement was found between DRESS and TRANSP/NUBEAM predictions of local and total neutron emission.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Reconstruction of signal amplitudes in the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter in the presence of overlapping proton-proton interactions

A template fitting technique for reconstructing the amplitude of signals produced by the lead tungstate crystals of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter is described. This novel approach is designed to suppress the contribution to the signal of the increased number of out-of-time interactions per beam crossing following the reduction of the accelerator bunch spacing from 50 to 25 ns at the start of Run 2 of the LHC. Execution of the algorithm is sufficiently fast for it to be employed in the CMS high-level trigger. It is also used in the offline event reconstruction. Results obtained from simulations and from Run 2 collision data (2015–2018) demonstrate a substantial improvement in the energy resolution of the calorimeter over a range of energies extending from a few GeV to several tens of GeV.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗