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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 73 records · Page 4

The effect of windshear during takeoff roll on aircraft stopping distance

A simulation of a Boeing 727 aircraft during acceleration on the runway is used to determine the effect of windshear on stopping distance. Windshears of various magnitudes, durations, and onset times are simulated to assess the aircraft performance during an aborted takeoff on five different runway surfaces. A windshear detection system, active during the takeoff roll and similar to the Honeywell Windshear Detection System is simulated to provide a discrete system to activate aircraft braking upon shear detection. The results of the simulation indicate that several factors effect the distance required to stop the aircraft. Notable among these are gross weight, takeoff flap position, runway characteristics, and pilot reaction time. Of the windshear parameters of duration, onset and magnitude, magnitude appears to have the most significant effect.

Zweifel, Terry↗

The Effects of Impurities on Protein Crystal Growth and Nucleation: A Preliminary Study

Kubota and Mullin (1995) devised a simple model to account for the effects of impurities on crystal growth of small inorganic and organic molecules in aqueous solutions. Experimentally, the relative step velocity and crystal growth of these molecules asymptotically approach zero or non-zero values with increasing concentrations of impurities. Alternatively, the step velocity and crystal growth can linearly approach zero as the impurity concentration increases. The Kubota-Mullin model assumes that the impurity exhibits Langmuirian adsorption onto the crystal surface. Decreases in step velocities and subsequent growth rates are related to the fractional coverage (theta) of the crystal surface by adsorbed impurities; theta = Kx / (I +Kx), x = mole fraction of impurity in solution. In the presence of impurities, the relative step velocity, V/Vo, and the relative growth rate of a crystal face, G/Go, are proposed to conform to the following equations: V/Vo approx. = G/Go = 1 - (alpha)(theta). The adsorption of impurity is assumed to be rapid and in quasi-equilibrium with the crystal surface sites available. When the value of alpha, an effectiveness factor, is one the growth will asymptotically approach zero with increasing concentrations of impurity. At values less than one, growth approaches a non-zero value asymptotically. When alpha is much greater than one, there will be a linear relationship between impurity concentration and growth rates. Kubota and Mullin expect alpha to decrease with increasing supersaturation and shrinking size of a two dimensional nucleus. It is expected that impurity effects on protein crystal growth will exhibit behavior similar to that of impurities in small molecule growth. A number of proteins were added to purified chicken egg white lysozyme, the effect on crystal nucleation and growth assessed.

Schall, Constance A.↗

Theoretical characteristics of two-dimensional supersonic control surfaces

The "Busemann second-order-approximation theory" for the pressure distribution over a two-dimensional airfoil in supersonic flow was used to determine some of the aerodynamic characteristics of uncambered symmetrical parabolic and double-wedge airfoils with leading-edge and trailing-edge flaps. The characteristics presented and discussed in this paper are: flap effectiveness factor, rate of change of hinge-moment coefficient with flap deflection, rate of change of the pitching-moment coefficient with flap deflection, rate of change of the pitching-moment coefficient about the mid chord with flap deflection, and the location of the center of pressure of the airfoil-flap combination.

MACH NUMBER EFFECTS - WING SECTIONS↗

Emergent classical spacetime from microstates of an incipient black hole

Black holes have an enormous underlying space of microstates, but universal macroscopic physics characterized by mass, charge and angular momentum as well as a causally disconnected interior. This leads two related puzzles: (1) How does the effective factorization of interior and exterior degrees of freedom emerge in gravity?, and (2) How does the underlying degeneracy of states wind up having a geometric realization in the horizon area and in properties of the singularity? We explore these puzzles in the context of an incipient black hole in the AdS/CFT correspondence, the microstates of which are dual to half-BPS states of the $\mathcal{N}$ = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory. First, we construct a code subspace for this black hole and show how to organize it as a tensor product of a universal macroscopic piece (describing the exterior), and a factor corresponding to the microscopic degrees of freedom (describing the interior). We then study the classical phase space and symplectic form for low-energy excitations around the black hole. On the AdS side, we find that the symplectic form has a new physical degree of freedom at the stretched horizon of the black hole, reminiscent of soft hair, which is absent in the microstates. We explicitly show how such a soft mode emerges from the microscopic phase space in the dual CFT via a canonical transformation and how it encodes partial information about the microscopic degrees of freedom of the black hole.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Intrinsic kinetics of water-inhibited ultra-lean methane oxidation over PtPd-Mg/ θ -Al 2 O 3 catalyst

Here, this study develops intrinsic methane oxidation kinetics for ultra-lean methane conditions in the presence of water over a highly active and stable PtPd–Mg/θ-Al 2 O 3 catalyst. Comprehensive laboratory experiments were conducted over a wide range of methane concentrations (150–1200 ppm CH 4 ), water contents (1–5% H 2 O), and industrially relevant space velocities (80,000 ≤ GHSV ≤ 160,000 h -1 ). These systematic experiments informed a two-dimensional, axisymmetric, multiscale reactor model that was used to develop and validate methane oxidation kinetics under practically relevant conditions, including non-isothermal operation and high conversion regimes. Combined experimental and modeling results revealed significant intraparticle diffusion resistance and transport-induced reaction exotherm at elevated temperatures, which limited catalyst utilization despite high intrinsic activity. These transport effects were explicitly incorporated into the reactor model, enabling accurate estimation of intrinsic kinetic parameters without reliance on conventional effectiveness-factor corrections. The resulting kinetic model successfully captured both kinetically controlled and mass-transfer-limited regimes and reliably predicted CH 4 conversion across broad ranges of temperature, methane concentration, and water content

Heat and mass transfer limitations↗

Explainable machine learning of the underlying physics of high-energy particle collisions

We present an implementation of an explainable and physics-aware machine learning model capable of inferring the underlying physics of high-energy particle collisions using the information encoded in the energy-momentum four-vectors of the final state particles. We demonstrate the proof-of-concept of our White Box AI approach using a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) which learns from a DGLAP-based parton shower Monte Carlo event generator. The constrained generator network architecture mimics the structure of a parton shower exhibiting similarities with Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs). We show, for the first time, that our approach leads to a network that is able to learn not only the final distribution of particles, but also the underlying parton branching mechanism, i.e. the Altarelli-Parisi splitting function, the ordering variable of the shower, and the scaling behavior. While the current work is focused on perturbative physics of the parton shower, we foresee a broad range of applications of our framework to areas that are currently difficult to address from first principles in QCD. Examples include nonperturbative and collective effects, factorization breaking and the modification of the parton shower in heavy-ion, and electron-nucleus collisions.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Hadrophilic light dark matter from the atmosphere

Light sub-GeV dark matter (DM) constitutes an underexplored target, beyond the optimized sensitivity of typical direct DM detection experiments. We comprehensively investigate hadrophilic light DM produced from cosmic-ray collisions with the atmosphere. The resulting relativistic DM, originating from meson decays, can be efficiently observed in variety of experiments, such as XENON1T. We include for the first time decays of η, η' and K + mesons, leading to improved limits for DM masses above few hundred MeV. We incorporate an exact treatment of the DM attenuation in Earth and demonstrate that nuclear form factor effects can significantly impact the resulting testable DM parameter space. Further, we establish projections for upcoming experiments, such as DARWIN, over a wide range of DM masses below the GeV scale.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Convolution Lagrangian perturbation theory for biased tracers beyond general relativity

We compare analytic predictions for real and Fourier space two-point statistics for biased tracers from a variety of Lagrangian perturbation theory approaches against those from state of the art N-body simulations in f(R) Hu-Sawicki and the nDGP braneworld modified gravity theories. We show that the novel physics of gravitational collapse in scalar tensor theories with the chameleon or the Vainshtein screening mechanism can be effectively factored in with bias parameters analytically predicted using the peak-background split formalism when updated to include the environmental sensitivity of modified gravity theories as well as changes to the halo mass function. Here, we demonstrate that convolution Lagrangian perturbation theory (CLPT) and standard perturbation theory (SPT) approaches provide accurate analytic methods to predict the correlation function and power spectra, respectively, for biased tracers in modified gravity models and are able to characterize both the baryon acoustic oscillation, power-law, and small scale regimes needed for upcoming galaxy surveys such as DESI, Euclid, LSST and WFIRST.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Pair distribution function analysis of nano-object assemblies

The atomic pair distribution function (aPDF) analysis technique, also known as the total scattering method, which considers both Bragg and diffuse scattering, has been used extensively to probe local atomic arrangements in crystalline and disordered materials. In contrast, there have been limited applications of the PDF in self-assembled nanomaterials, which represent a class of materials built from nanoscale objects, such as nano-colloids, micelles and proteins. As distinguished from atoms, nano-objects have polydispersity in size and shape, and such form-factor effects complicate the application of PDF analysis to nano-systems. Here, in this paper, the application of the PDF is extended to spherical nano-object assemblies and the formulae for the nano-PDF (nPDF) are derived, showing some differences from the aPDF. By numerical simulations, the properties of the nPDF (peak broadening and pattern profile) are studied systematically as a function of structural features, such as nano-object parameters (size and size polydispersity) and assembly structural features (size, shape, structure type and lattice disorder), and of data processing parameters ( q cut-off and `missing' data in ultra-small-angle regions). The nPDF analysis method is found to provide an effective route to revealing not only nanoscale but also mesoscale structural properties, for example the morphology of a nano-assembly.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

A substandard candle: the low-$$\nu $$ method at few-GeV neutrino energies

Abstract As accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiments improve oscillation parameter constraints with more data, control over systematic uncertainties on the incoming neutrino flux and interaction models is increasingly important. The intense beams offered by modern experiments permit a variety of options to constrain the flux using in situ “standard candle” measurements. These standard candles must use very well understood interaction processes to avoid introducing additional interaction model dependence. One option often discussed in this context is the “low- $$\nu $$ ν ” method, which is designed to isolate neutrino interactions where there is low energy-transfer to the nucleus, such that the interaction cross section is expected to be approximately constant as a function of neutrino energy. The shape of the low-energy transfer event sample can then be used to extract the flux shape. Applications of the method at high neutrino energies (many tens of GeV) are well understood. However, the applicability of the method at the lower energies of current and future few-GeV accelerator neutrino experiments remains unclear due to the presence of nuclear and form-factor effects inherent in the interaction models.In this analysis we examine the prospects for improving constraints on the accelerator neutrino fluxes in situ with the low- $$\nu $$ ν method in an experiment-independent way, using (anti)neutrino interactions on argon and hydrocarbon targets from the GENIE, NEUT, NuWro and GiBUU event generators. We begin by investigating the extent to which deviations from the constant cross-section assumption are dependent on poorly understood aspects of the neutrino interaction model. We then assess whether a low energy-transfer event sample can be confidently identified using experimentally accessible observables. We finally consider how the practicalities of reconstructing the energy spectrum of interacting neutrinos in realistic detectors might further limit the utility of low- $$\nu $$ ν flux constraints. The results show that flux constraints from the low- $$\nu $$ ν method would be severely dependent on the interaction model assumptions used in an analysis of neutrinos with energies below 5 GeV, and anti-neutrinos below at least 15 GeV. The spread of model predictions show that a low- $$\nu $$ ν analysis is unlikely to offer much improvement on typical neutrino flux uncertainties, even with a perfect detector. Notably—running counter to the assumption inherent to the low- $$\nu $$ ν method—the model-dependence increases with decreasing energy transfer for experiments in the few-GeV region.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Modeling Oxygen Transport in High Surface Area Carbon Supports for Polymer-Electrolyte Fuel Cells

Here, an analytical model for resistance to oxygen transport in air electrodes containing carbon black supports with high surface area was developed by combining a Thiele modulus—effectiveness factor approach at the agglomerate scale (~150 nm) with nanoscale diffusional resistance in carbon micropores/pits (~5 nm). This paper extends an earlier model for transport resistance to platinum nanoparticles on low surface area carbon. Differences in transport resistances between catalyst layers with high and low surface area carbon blacks predicted by the model with reasonable geometric dimensions and physical properties are consistent with experimental observations.

08 HYDROGEN↗

Evaluation of Anisotropic Magnetoresistive (AMR) Sensors for a Magnetic Field Scanning System for SRF Cavities

One of the significant causes of residual losses in superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities is trapped magnetic flux. The flux trapping mechanism depends on many factors that include cool-down conditions, surface preparation techniques, and ambient magnetic field orientation. Suitable diagnostic tools are not yet available to quantitatively correlate such factors’ effect on the flux trapping mechanism. A magnetic field scanning system (MFSS) consisting of AMR sensors, fluxgate magnetometers, or Hall probes is recently commissioned to scan the local magnetic field of trapped vortices around 1.3 GHz single-cell SRF cavities. In this contribution, we will present results from sensitivity calibration and the first tests of AMR sensors in the MFSS.

Parajuli, I. P.↗

Complete Round-Robin Hydrogen Gas Analysis Capability Comparison (Milestone 2.6)

The Department of Energy (DOE) is currently evaluating strategies for the extended dry storage of aluminum-clad spent nuclear fuel (ASNF). Part of this assessment concerns the extent of radiolytic molecular hydrogen (H2) generation from the aluminum cladding’s oxyhydroxide corrosion layers. Understanding this radiation-induced process and the factors effecting it (e.g., system conditions such as temperature and gaseous environment) are essential for the development of predictive computer models to support the Technical Considerations and Challenges for Extended (> 50 yrs) Dry Storage of ASNF program. To achieve this goal and ensure that the experimental data gathered by Task 2 (Oxyhydroxide Layer Radiolytic Gas Generation Resolution) research groups (Idaho National Laboratory and Savannah River National Laboratory) are consistent, a round-robin H2 analysis capability comparison was initiated. Here we present the results from said round-robin and conclude that despite differences in sample preparation, irradiation parameters, and analytical procedures, the measured data are sufficiently consistent between the two laboratories (= 15%).

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗

Fabrication of Black Body Grids by Thick Film Printing for Quantitative Neutron Imaging

Neutron imaging offers deep penetration through many high-Z materials while also having high sensitivity to certain low-Z isotopes such as 1H, 6Li, and 10B. This unique combination of properties has made neutron imaging an attractive tool for a wide range of material science and engineering applications. However, measurements made by neutron imaging or tomography are generally qualitative in nature due to the inability of detectors to discriminate between neutrons which have been transmitted through the sample and neutrons which are scattered by the sample or within the detector. Recent works have demonstrated that deploying a grid of small black bodies (BBs) in front of the sample can allow for the scattered neutrons to be measured at the BB locations and subsequently subtracted from the total measured intensity to yield a quantitative transmission measurement. While this method can be very effective, factors such as the scale and composition of the sample, the beam divergence, and the resolution and construction of the detector may require optimization of the grid design to remove all measurement biases within a given experimental setup. Therefore, it is desirable to have a method by which BB grids may be rapidly and inexpensively produced such that they can easily be tailored to specific applications. In this work, we present a method for fabricating BB patterns by thick film printing of Gd2O3 and evaluate the performance with variation in feature size and number of print layers with cold and thermal neutrons.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Study of extraterrestrial disposal of radioactive wastes. Part 2: Preliminary feasibility screening study of extraterrestrial disposal of radioactive wastes in concentrations, matrix materials, and containers designed for storage on earth

The results are reported of a preliminary feasibility screening study for providing long-term solutions to the problems of handling and managing radioactive wastes by extraterrestrial transportation of the wastes. Matrix materials and containers are discussed along with payloads, costs, and destinations for candidate space vehicles. The conclusions reached are: (1) Matrix material such as spray melt can be used without exceeding temperature limits of the matrix. (2) The cost in mills per kw hr electric, of space disposal of fission products is 4, 5, and 28 mills per kw hr for earth escape, solar orbit, and solar escape, respectively. (3) A major factor effecting cost is the earth storage time. Based on a normal operating condition design for solar escape, a storage time of more than sixty years is required to make the space disposal charge less than 10% of the bus-bar electric cost. (4) Based on a 10 year earth storage without further processing, the number of shuttle launches required would exceed one per day.

Hyland, R. E.↗

Design certification review assessment report. Electron/proton spectrometer

The characteristics of the electron-photon spectrometer developed for the Skylab program are presented. The spectrometer is externally mounted on the Skylab module complex and provides omnidirectional measurement of electrons and protons which result from solar flares or enhancement of the radiation belts. The data are applied to the determination of relative biological effectiveness factors as a safety factor for manned space flight.

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