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At least 469 records · Page 26

Micromechanical Modeling of Woven Metal Matrix Composites

This report presents the results of an extensive micromechanical modeling effort for woven metal matrix composites. The model is employed to predict the mechanical response of 8-harness (8H) satin weave carbon/copper (C/Cu) composites. Experimental mechanical results for this novel high thermal conductivity material were recently reported by Bednarcyk et al. along with preliminary model results. The micromechanics model developed herein is based on an embedded approach. A micromechanics model for the local (micro-scale) behavior of the woven composite, the original method of cells (Aboudi), is embedded in a global (macro-scale) micromechanics model (the three-dimensional generalized method of cells (GMC-3D) (Aboudi). This approach allows representation of true repeating unit cells for woven metal matrix composites via GMC-3D, and representation of local effects, such as matrix plasticity, yarn porosity, and imperfect fiber-matrix bonding. In addition, the equations of GMC-3D were reformulated to significantly reduce the number of unknown quantities that characterize the deformation fields at the microlevel in order to make possible the analysis of actual microstructures of woven composites. The resulting micromechanical model (WCGMC) provides an intermediate level of geometric representation, versatility, and computational efficiency with respect to previous analytical and numerical models for woven composites, but surpasses all previous modeling work by allowing the mechanical response of a woven metal matrix composite, with an elastoplastic matrix, to be examined for the first time. WCGMC is employed to examine the effects of composite microstructure, porosity, residual stresses, and imperfect fiber-matrix bonding on the predicted mechanical response of 8H satin C/Cu. The previously reported experimental results are summarized, and the model predictions are compared to monotonic and cyclic tensile and shear test data. By considering appropriate levels of porosity, residual stresses, and imperfect fiber-matrix debonding, reasonably good qualitative and quantitative correlation is achieved between model and experiment.

Bednarcyk, Brett A.↗

Modeling the smoky troposphere of the southeast Atlantic: a comparison to ORACLES airborne observations from September of 2016

In the southeast Atlantic, well-defined smoke plumes from Africa advect over marine boundary layer cloud decks; both are most extensive around September, when most of the smoke resides in the free troposphere. A framework is put forth for evaluating the performance of a range of global and regional atmospheric composition models against observations made during the NASA ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) airborne mission in September 2016. A strength of the comparison is a focus on the spatial distribution of a wider range of aerosol composition and optical properties than has been done previously. The sparse airborne observations are aggregated into approximately 2° grid boxes and into three vertical layers: 3–6 km, the layer from cloud top to 3 km, and the cloud-topped marine boundary layer. Simulated aerosol extensive properties suggest that the flight-day observations are reasonably representative of the regional monthly average, with systematic deviations of 30 % or less. Evaluation against observations indicates that all models have strengths and weaknesses, and there is no single model that is superior to all the others in all metrics evaluated. Whereas all six models typically place the top of the smoke layer within 0–500 m of the airborne lidar observations, the models tend to place the smoke layer bottom 300–1400 m lower than the observations. A spatial pattern emerges, in which most models underestimate the mean of most smoke quantities (black carbon, extinction, carbon monoxide) on the diagonal corridor between 16° S, 6° E, and 10° S, 0° E, in the 3–6 km layer, and overestimate them further south, closer to the coast, where less aerosol is present. Model representations of the above-cloud aerosol optical depth differ more widely. Most models overestimate the organic aerosol mass concentrations relative to those of black carbon, and with less skill, indicating model uncertainties in secondary organic aerosol processes. Regional-mean free-tropospheric model ambient single scattering albedos vary widely, between 0.83 and 0.93 compared with in situ dry measurements centered at 0.86, despite minimal impact of humidification on particulate scattering. The modeled ratios of the particulate extinction to the sum of the black carbon and organic aerosol mass concentrations (a mass extinction efficiency proxy) are typically too low and vary too little spatially, with significant inter-model differences. Most models overestimate the carbonaceous mass within the offshore boundary layer. Overall, the diversity in the model biases suggests that different model processes are responsible. The wide range of model optical properties requires further scrutiny because of their importance for radiative effect estimates.

Yohei Shinozuka↗

Results on the energy dependence of cosmic ray charge composition

Measurements using a balloon-borne ionization spectrometer on the differential energy spectra of the heavy nuclei of the galactic cosmic radiation are reported. The spectra of individual elements up to oxygen and groups of nuclei up through iron were measured up to almost 100 GeV/nucleon. The energy spectrum of the secondary nuclei, B+N, is steeper than that of the primary nuclei, C+O, by gamma = 0.21 + or - .09 in agreement with other authors. The spectral shapes found are reasonably well represented by single power laws between 2 and 60 GeV/nucleon. Data are consistent with the decrease in the secondary to primary ratio found by others above 20 GeV/nucleon, but it shows no evidence for any sudden change in this ratio within counting statistics. The most dramatic finding is that the spectrum of the iron nuclei is flatter than that of the carbon and oxygen nuclei by 0.57 + or - 0.14 of a power. The experimental techniques for charge and energy determination are presented and corrections due to nuclear disintegration and losses of energy out the bottom of the spectrometer are discussed.

Balasubrahmanyan, V. K.↗

Permeate fluxes from desalination of brines and produced waters: A reactive transport modeling study

The increasing interest in the use of membrane systems to desalinate inland brackish water, agricultural drainage, and industrially produced wastewater demands improved means of predicting desalination system performance under variable feedwater compositions. The interaction among water flow, solute transport, and chemical composition in these systems impacts permeate flux evolution. Here, an established multicomponent reactive transport simulator that accounts for these coupled processes is applied to compute osmotic pressure and permeate fluxes in reverse osmosis (RO) systems. The model is first validated by predicting permeate fluxes for a set of benchtop crossflow experiments subject to a range of feed flow rates and compositions, under fouling and non-fouling conditions. Results compare favorably with measured data that show that solutions with similar total dissolved solids concentrations but different compositions result in different permeate fluxes. The model is then applied to predict permeate fluxes from the desalination of produced waters using a commercial spiral wound RO module. For NaCl-dominant brines, at total dissolved salt concentrations (TDS) below about 70 g/L, permeate fluxes are inversely proportional to water mole fraction as the latter is a reasonable approximation of water activity (i.e. ideal mixing). In the case of Ca–Cl-, Na–CO3- and Na–SO4-dominant brines below about 70 g/L TDS, this relationship does not hold as well and tends to overpredict osmotic pressure and thus underpredict permeate fluxes. However, the opposite becomes true at higher TDS values for typical produced waters. The scaling potential of these waters is also computed by allowing the precipitation of minerals above their saturation limit on the RO membrane. This work demonstrates how reactive transport models developed for the analysis of waters from geological systems can be extended to improve process design, optimization, and control in desalination systems from produced waters and beyond.

Molins, Sergi↗

Spatial Variability of Trace Gases During DISCOVER-AQ: Planning for Geostationary Observations of Atmospheric Composition

Results from an in-depth analysis of trace gas variability in MD indicated that the variability in this region was large enough to be observable by a TEMPO-like instrument. The variability observed in MD is relatively similar to the other three campaigns with a few exceptions: CO variability in CA was much higher than in the other regions; HCHO variability in CA and CO was much lower; MD showed the lowest variability in NO2All model simulations do a reasonable job simulating O3 variability. For CO, the CACO simulations largely under over estimate the variability in the observations. The variability in HCHO is underestimated for every campaign. NO2 variability is slightly overestimated in MD, more so in CO. The TX simulation underestimates the variability in each trace gas. This is most likely due to missing emissions sources (C. Loughner, manuscript in preparation).Future Work: Where reasonable, we will use these model outputs to further explore the resolvability from space of these key trace gases using analyses of tropospheric column amounts relative to satellite precision requirements, similar to Follette-Cook et al. (2015).

trace gas↗

Separation of crack extension modes in orthotropic delamination models

In the analysis of an interface crack between dissimilar elastic materials, the mode of crack extension is typically not unique, due to oscillatory behavior of near-tip stresses and displacements. This behavior currently limits the applicability of interfacial fracture mechanics as a means to predict composite delamination. The Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT) is a method used to extract mode 1 and mode 2 energy release rates from numerical fracture solutions. The mode of crack extension extracted from an oscillatory solution using the VCCT is not unique due to the dependence of mode on the virtual crack extension length, Delta. In this work, a method is presented for using the VCCT to extract Delta-independent crack extension modes for the case of an interface crack between two in-plane orthotropic materials. The method does not involve altering the analysis to eliminate its oscillatory behavior. Instead, it is argued that physically reasonable, Delta-independent modes of crack extension can be extracted from oscillatory solutions. Knowledge of near-tip fields is used to determine the explicit Delta dependence of energy release rate parameters. Energy release rates are then defined that are separated from the oscillatory dependence on Delta. A modified VCCT using these energy release rate definitions is applied to results from finite element analyses, showing that Delta-independent modes of crack extension result. The modified technique has potential as a consistent method for extracting crack extension modes from numerical solutions. The Delta-independent modes extracted using this technique can also serve as guides for testing the convergence of finite element models. Direct applications of this work include the analysis of planar composite delamination problems, where plies or debonded laminates are modeled as in-plane orthotropic materials.

Beuth, Jack L.↗

Noncontact Determination of Antisymmetric Plate Wave Velocity in Ceramic Matrix Composites

High-temperature materials are of increasing importance in the development of more efficient engines and components for the aeronautics industry. In particular, ceramic matrix composite (CMC) and metal matrix composite (MMC) structures are under active development for these applications. The acousto-ultrasonic (AU) method has been shown to be useful for assessing mechanical properties in composite structures. In particular, plate wave analysis can characterize composites in terms of their stiffness moduli. It is desirable to monitor changes in mechanical properties that occur during thermomechanical testing and to monitor the health of components whose geometry or position make them hard to reach with conventional ultrasonic probes. In such applications, it would be useful to apply AU without coupling directly to the test surface. For a number of years, lasers have been under investigation as remote ultrasonic input sources and ultrasound detectors. The use of an ultrasonic transducer coupled through an air gap has also been under study. So far at the NASA Lewis Research Center, we have been more successful in using lasers as ultrasonic sources than as output devices. On the other hand, we have been more successful in using an air-coupled piezoelectric transducer as an output device than as an input device. For this reason, we studied the laser in/air-coupled-transducer out combination-using a pulsed NdYAG laser as the ultrasonic source and an air-coupled-transducer as the detector. The present work is focused on one of the AU parameters of interest, the ultrasonic velocity of the antisymmetric plate-wave mode. This easily identified antisymmetric pulse can be used to determine shear and flexure modulus. It was chosen for this initial work because the pulse arrival times are likely to be the most precise. The following schematic illustrates our experimental arrangement for using laser in/air-transducer out on SiC/SiC composite tensile specimens. The NdYAG pulse was directed downward by a 90 infrared prism to the top of the specimen, but at the edge of one end. An energy sensor measured a single pulse at 13 millijoules (mJ) before it passed through the prism, which attenuated 15 percent of its energy. It also provided an output trigger for the waveform time-delay synthesizer.

Kautz, Harold E.↗

Cirrus radiative characteristics and the radiative impact of small particles

An understanding of the way radiation interacts with clouds is vital for understanding the sensitivity of the earth's climate to both natural and anthropogenic changes in the atmosphere. Cirrus clouds are thought to be an important modulator of climate sensitivity. The feedback effect of cirrus on climate can be positive or negative depending upon the microphysics and scattering properties of the cloud. These properties of cirrus clouds are not well understood partly because of their thin tenuous nature and partly because of their microphysical properties. The high altitude and cold temperatures within these clouds along with their transparency greatly increase the difficulty in which accurate measurements can be obtained and interpreted both by aircraft and remote sensing. Therefore, the understanding of the interaction of radiation in cirrus clouds is crucial to determining the ways in which these clouds interact with climate forcings. The sensitivity of the radiative budgets of cirrus cloudiness to their microphysical composition and the environments in which they occur is examined. Especially important is the impact of small particles on the radiative properties of cirrus. Remote sensing estimates of the effective crystal size of cirrus and in situ measurements show large differences up to 100 microns. Thus it becomes important to identify the sources of these differences. For this reason, simulations of actual FIRE cases are compared with the in situ radiative observations and inferences are made concerning the cause of the discrepancies.

Stackhouse, Paul W., Jr.↗

Monte Carlo Simulation of Nanoparticle Encapsulation in Flames

Gas-phase combustion (flame) synthesis has been an essential industrial process for producing large quantities of powder materials such as carbon black, titanium dioxide, and silicon dioxide. Flames typically produce simple oxides, with carbon black being the noted exception because the oxides of carbon are gaseous and are easily separated from the particulate matter that is formed during fuel pyrolysis. Furthermore, the powders produced in flames are usually agglomerated, nanometer-sized particles (nanoparticles). This composition and morphology is acceptable for many applications. However, the present interest in nanoparticles for advanced materials application has led to efforts to employ flames for the synthesis of unagglomerated nanoparticles (2 to 100 nm) of metals and non-oxide ceramics. Sodium-halide chemistry has proven to be viable for producing metals and non-oxide ceramics in flames. Materials that have been produced to date include Si (Calcote and Felder, 1993), TiN, TiB2, TiC, TiSi2, SiC, B4C (Glassman et al, 1993) Al, W, Ti, TiB2, AlN, and W-Ti and Al-AlN composites (DuFaux and Axelbaum, 1995, Axelbaum et al 1996,1997). Many more materials are possible. The main challenge that faces application of flame synthesis for advanced materials is overcoming formation of agglomerates in flames (Brezinsky, 1997). The high temperatures and high number densities in the flame environment favor the formation of agglomerates. Agglomerates must be avoided for many reasons. For example, when nanopowders are consolidated, agglomerates have a deleterious effect on compaction density, leading to voids in the final part. Efforts to avoid agglomeration in flames without substantially reducing particle number density and, consequently, production rate, have had limited success. Another critical challenge that faces all synthesis routes for nanopowders is ensuring that the powders are high purity and that the process is scaleable. Though the containerless, high temperature environment of a flame is excellent for producing high-purity simple compounds, ultrafine metals and non-oxide ceramic powders are inherently reactive in the presence of oxygen and/or moisture. Thus, the handling of these powders after synthesis poses a challenging problem. Impurities acquired during handling of nanoparticles have plagued the advancement of nanostructured materials technology.

Sun, Z.↗

Electrostatic Properties of Polymers Subjected to Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Treatment; Correlation of Experimental Results with Atomistic Modeling

this study, PE, PTFE, PS and PMMA were exposed to a He+O2, APGD and pre and post treatment surface chemistries were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and contact angle measurements. Semi-empirical and ab-initio calculations were performed to correlate the experimental results with sonic plausible molecular and electronic structure features of the oxidation process. For the PE and PS, significant surface oxidation showing C-O, C=O, and O-C=O bonding, and a decrease in the surface contact angles was observed. For the PTFE and PM MA, little change in the surface composition was observed. The molecular modeling calculations were performed on single and multiple oligomers and showed regardless of oxidation mechanism, e.g. -OH, =O or a combination thereof, experimentally observed levels of surface oxidation were unlikely to lead to a significant change in the electronic structure of PE and PS, and that the increased hydrophilic properties are the primary reason for the observed changes in its electrostatic behavior. Calculations for PTFE and PMMA argue strongly against significant oxidation of those materials, as confirmed by the XPS results.

Trigwell, S.↗

Elemental GCR Observations during the 2009-2010 Solar Minimum Period

Using observations from the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) onboard the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), we present new measurements of the galactic cosmic ray (GCR) elemental composition and energy spectra for the species B through Ni in the energy range approx. 50-550 MeV/nucleon during the record setting 2009-2010 solar minimum period. These data are compared with our observations from the 1997-1998 solar minimum period, when solar modulation in the heliosphere was somewhat higher. For these species, we find that the intensities during the 2009-2010 solar minimum were approx. 20% higher than those in the previous solar minimum, and in fact were the highest GCR intensities recorded during the space age. Relative abundances for these species during the two solar minimum periods differed by small but statistically significant amounts, which are attributed to the combination of spectral shape differences between primary and secondary GCRs in the interstellar medium and differences between the levels of solar modulation in the two solar minima. We also present the secondary-to-primary ratios B/C and (Sc+Ti+V)/Fe for both solar minimum periods, and demonstrate that these ratios are reasonably well fit by a simple "leaky-box" galactic transport model that is combined with a spherically symmetric solar modulation model.

Solar Modulation↗

BIOME: An Ecosystem Remote Sensor Based on Imaging Interferometry

Until recent times, optical remote sensing of ecosystem properties from space has been limited to broad band multispectral scanners such as Landsat and AVHRR. While these sensor data can be used to derive important information about ecosystem parameters, they are very limited for measuring key biogeochemical cycling parameters such as the chemical content of plant canopies. Such parameters, for example the lignin and nitrogen contents, are potentially amenable to measurements by very high spectral resolution instruments using a spectroscopic approach. Airborne sensors based on grating imaging spectrometers gave the first promise of such potential but the recent decision not to deploy the space version has left the community without many alternatives. In the past few years, advancements in high performance deep well digital sensor arrays coupled with a patented design for a two-beam interferometer has produced an entirely new design for acquiring imaging spectroscopic data at the signal to noise levels necessary for quantitatively estimating chemical composition (1000:1 at 2 microns). This design has been assembled as a laboratory instrument and the principles demonstrated for acquiring remote scenes. An airborne instrument is in production and spaceborne sensors being proposed. The instrument is extremely promising because of its low cost, lower power requirements, very low weight, simplicity (no moving parts), and high performance. For these reasons, we have called it the first instrument optimized for ecosystem studies as part of a Biological Imaging and Observation Mission to Earth (BIOME).

Peterson, David L.↗

Lower Hybrid Frequency Range Waves Generated by Ion Polarization Drift Due to Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves: Analysis of an Event Observed by the Van Allen Probe B

We analyze a wave event that occurred near noon between 07:03 and 07:08 UT on 23 February 2014 detected by the Van Allen Probes B spacecraft, where waves in the lower hybrid frequency range (LHFR) and electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves are observed to be highly correlated, with Pearson correlation coefficient of approximately 0.86. We assume that the correlation is the result of LHFR wave generation by the ions polarization drift in the electric field of the EMIC waves. To check this assumption the drift velocities of electrons and H+, He+, and O+ ions in the measured EMIC wave electric field were modeled. Then the LHFR wave linear instantaneous growth rates for plasma with these changing drift velocities and different plasma compositions were calculated. The time distribution of these growth rates, their frequency distribution, and the frequency dependence of the ratio of the LHFR wave power spectral density (PSD)parallel and perpendicular to the ambient magnetic eld to the total PSD were found. These characteristics of the growth rates were compared with the corresponding characteristics of the observed LHFR activity. Reasonable agreement between these features and the strong correlation between EMIC and LHFR energy densities support the assumption that the LHFR wave generation can be caused by the ions polarization drift in the electric field of an EMIC wave.

Van Allen Probes↗

SCA Tools - SCRM Value Add or Lossy Noise Machines

Software supply chain risk management (SCRM) depends upon accurate information regarding the software components that comprise any given software system. The collection of components included in a software package can be organized within a software bill of materials, or SBOM. SBOMs are ideally generated when the software components are put together, such as at compile time, but for many reasons that has not and is not always possible. For example, legacy or proprietary software packages often do not have SBOMs available to downstream consumers of that software. It’s not just end users that are affected, manufacturers themselves also must deal with this problem. To answer these questions, the market has seen the rise of several commercial software composition analysis (SCA) tools. These tools aim to peer into completed software systems, automatically identifying hidden software dependencies and looking up known vulnerabilities associated with those dependencies to enable end-users to enhance their cyber supply chain risk management processes. These tools are potentially a huge boon to end users of legacy and proprietary software – and a potential bane, depending on how accurate they are. This research asks that question – how accurate are currently available binary SCA tools – and provides answers to several other questions: What does it mean to be “accurate”? What limitations do the tools have in identifying common edge cases that take place in modern software development? Can they help you avoid a devastating supply chain attack, or is it all just noise? After researching SCA tools on the market, we identified three vendors that fit our use case and would provide analysis on compiled binaries. Using these tools, we submitted firmware for critical infrastructure devices for analysis and SBOM generation. The SBOM outputs were then cross referenced with SBOMs generated through manual analysis for comparison. In addition to the firmware samples, we also submitted edge case samples based off a popular open-source library that were specifically crafted to evaluate each tools’ ability to accurately identify components. These samples were customized to be consistent with modifications we have seen in modern software development as well as a couple that are representative of supply chain attacks.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Impact damage and residual strength analysis of composite panels with bonded stiffeners

Blade-stiffened, compression-loaded cover panels were designed, manufactured, analyzed, and tested. All panels were fabricated from IM6/1808I interleafed graphite-epoxy. An orthotropic blade stiffener and an orthotropic skin were selected to satisfy the design requirements for an advanced aircraft configuration. All specimens were impact damaged prior to testing. Experimental results were obtained for three- and five-stiffener panels. Analytical results described interlaminar forces caused by impact and predicted specimen residual strength. The analytical results compared reasonably with the experimental results for residual strength of the specimens.

Madan, Ram C.↗

Fireball antinucleosynthesis

The tentative identification of approximately ten relativistic antihelium ( He ¯ ) cosmic-ray events at AMS-02 would, if confirmed, challenge our understanding of the astrophysical synthesis of heavy antinuclei. We propose a novel scenario for the enhanced production of such antinuclei that is triggered by isolated, catastrophic injections of large quantities of energetic Standard Model (SM) antiquarks in our galaxy by physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). We demonstrate that SM antinucleosynthetic processes that occur in the resulting rapidly expanding, thermalized fireballs of SM plasma can, for a reasonable range of parameters, produce the reported tentative ∼ 2 : 1 ratio of He ¯ 3 to He ¯ 4 events at AMS-02, as well as their relativistic boosts. Moreover, we show that this can be achieved without violating antideuterium or antiproton flux constraints for the appropriate antihelium fluxes. A plausible BSM paradigm for the catastrophic injections is the collision of macroscopic composite dark-matter objects carrying large net antibaryon number. Such a scenario would require these objects to be cosmologically stable, but to destabilize upon collision, promptly releasing a fraction of their mass energy into SM antiparticles within a tiny volume. We show that, in principle, the injection rate needed to attain the necessary antihelium fluxes and the energetic conditions required to seed the fireballs appear possible to obtain in such a paradigm. We leave open the question of constructing a BSM particle physics model to realize this, but we suggest two concrete scenarios as promising targets for further investigation. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Analytical and experimental investigation of aircraft metal structures reinforced with filamentary composites. Phase 1: Concept development and feasibility

The analytical and experimental investigations are described in the first phase of a program to establish the feasibility of reinforcing metal aircraft structures with advanced filamentary composites. The interactions resulting from combining the two types of materials into single assemblies as well as their ability to function structurally were studied. The combinations studied were boron-epoxy reinforced aluminum, boron-epoxy reinforced titanium, and boron-polyimide reinforced titanium. The concepts used unidirectional composites as reinforcement in the primary loading direction and metal for carrying the transverse loads as well as its portion of the primary load. The program established that several realistic concepts could be fabricated, that these concepts could perform to a level that would result in significant weight savings, and that there are means for predicting their capability within a reasonable degree of accuracy. This program also encountered problems related to the application of polyimide systems that resulted in their relatively poor and variable performance.

Oken, S.↗

Effects of static tensile load on the thermal expansion of Gr/PI composite material

The effect of static tensile load on the thermal expansion of Gr/PI composite material was measured for seven different laminate configurations. A computer program was developed which implements laminate theory in a piecewise linear fashion to predict the coupled nonlinear thermomechanical behavior. Static tensile load significantly affected the thermal expansion characteristics of the laminates tested. This effect is attributed to a fiber instability micromechanical behavior of the constituent materials. Analytical results correlated reasonably well with free thermal expansion tests (no load applied to the specimen). However, correlation was poor for tests with an applied load.

Farley, G. L.↗