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At least 91 records · Page 5

Morning boundary layer conditions for shallow to deep convective cloud evolution during the dry season in the central Amazon

Observations of the boundary layer (BL) processes are analyzed statistically for dry seasons of 2 years and in detail, as case studies, for 4 shallow convective days (ShCu) and 4 shallow-to-deep convective days (ShDeep) using a suite of ground-based measurements from the Observation and Modeling of the Green Ocean Amazon (GoAmazon 2014/5) Experiment. The BL stages in ShDeep days, from the nighttime to the cloudy mixing layer stage, are then described in comparison with ShCu days. Atmospheric thermodynamics and dynamics, environmental profiles, and surface turbulent fluxes were employed to compare these two distinct situations for each stage of the BL evolution. Particular attention is given to the morning transition stage, in which the BL changes from stable to unstable conditions in the early morning hours. Results show that the decrease in time duration of the morning transition on ShDeep days is associated with high humidity and well-established vertical wind shear patterns. Higher humidity since nighttime not only contributes to lowering the cloud base during the rapid growth of the BL but also contributes to the balance between radiative cooling and turbulent mixing during nighttime, resulting in higher sensible heat flux in the early morning. The sensible heat flux promotes rapid growth of the well-mixed layer, thus favoring the deeper BL starting from around 08:00 LST (UTC-4 h). Under these conditions, the time duration of morning transition is used to promote convection, having an important effect on the convective BL strength and leading to the formation of shallow cumulus clouds and their subsequent evolution into deep convective clouds. Statistical analysis was used to validate the conceptual model obtained from the case studies. Despite the case-to-case variability, the statistical analyses of the processes in the BL show that the described processes are very representative of cloud evolution during the dry season.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Architectural Techniques For Managing Non-volatile Caches

As chip power dissipation becomes a critical challenge in scaling processor performance, computer architects are forced to fundamentally rethink the design of modern processors and hence, the chip-design industry is now at a major inflection point in its hardware roadmap. The high leakage power and low density of SRAM poses serious obstacles in its use for designing large on-chip caches and for this reason, researchers are exploring non-volatile memory (NVM) devices, such as spin torque transfer RAM, phase change RAM and resistive RAM. However, since NVMs are not strictly superior to SRAM, effective architectural techniques are required for making them a universal memory solution. This book discusses techniques for designing processor caches using NVM devices. It presents algorithms and architectures for improving their energy efficiency, performance and lifetime. It also provides both qualitative and quantitative evaluation to help the reader gain insights and motivate them to explore further. This book will be highly useful for beginners as well as veterans in computer architecture, chip designers, product managers and technical marketing professionals.

Cache architecture↗

Wafer screening device and methods for wafer screening

Wafer breakage is a serious problem in the photovoltaic industry because a large fraction of wafers (between 5 and 10%) break during solar cell/module fabrication. The major cause of this excessive wafer breakage is that these wafers have residual microcracks--microcracks that were not completely etched. Additional propensity for breakage is caused by texture etching and incomplete edge grinding. To eliminate the cost of processing the wafers that break, it is best to remove them prior to cell fabrication. Some attempts have been made to develop optical techniques to detect microcracks. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to detect microcracks that are embedded within the roughness/texture of the wafers. Furthermore, even if such detection is successful, it is not straightforward to relate them to wafer breakage. We believe that the best way to isolate the wafers with fatal microcracks is to apply a stress to wafers--a stress that mimics the highest stress during cell/module processing. If a wafer survives this stress, it has a high probability of surviving without breakage during cell/module fabrication. Based on this, we have developed a high throughput, noncontact method for applying a predetermined stress to a wafer. The wafers are carried on a belt through a chamber that illuminates the wafer with an intense light of a predetermined intensity distribution that can be varied by changing the power to the light source. As the wafers move under the light source, each wafer undergoes a dynamic temperature profile that produces a preset elastic stress. If this stress exceeds the wafer strength, the wafer will break. The broken wafers are separated early, eliminating cost of processing into cell/module. We will describe details of the system and show comparison of breakage statistics with the breakage on a production line.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Chemistry and Reactivity of Oxide Films on Aluminum Clad Test Reactor Fuels

This paper describes recent work performed to assess the degradation of aluminum spent nuclear fuel (ASNF) as part of an ongoing Department of Energy project. As part of a multi-task effort, this paper specifically describes efforts initiated in 2018 to better understand chemical phenomena and degradation in ASNF). In this paper experimental and modeling activities are described. The modeling effort presents initial results in two areas potentially influencing stability. Using an established electrolyte model based on experimental data, the solubility of aluminum as a function of temperature and pH was examined. This work describes interesting results for the minimum pH providing relevant data that was not available from the literature. It was found that solubility increases with temperature and that the minimum pH shifts to low pH with increase in temperature. The second area involves understanding the metallurgy of aluminum alloys during fuel drying. In this study, the temperature range from 100°C to 300°C was analyzed. Thermodynamic models predict that AA1100 will not experience significant phase changes while the more highly alloyed AA6061 and AA5052 may experience significant phase changes. These thermodynamic measurements establish a potential for phase changes during drying, however they do not predict the kinetics for such processes. Phase 1 of the experimental program has initiated and results are forthcoming. The test program will examine aluminum oxidation under anticipated dry storage conditions (temperature and humidity). Examination of localized corrosion due to tight crevices and galvanic contact (with stainless steel) will be included. Finally, water deliquescence will be assessed using thermogravimetric analysis with dynamic humidity profiles.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Chemistry and Reactivity of Oxide Films on Aluminum Clad Test Reactor Fuels - 19294

This paper describes recent work performed to assess the degradation of aluminum spent nuclear fuel (ASNF) as part of an ongoing Department of Energy project. As part of a multi-task effort, this paper specifically describes efforts initiated in 2018 to better understand chemical phenomena and degradation in ASNF). In this paper experimental and modeling activities are described. The modeling effort presents initial results in two areas potentially influencing stability. Using an established electrolyte model based on experimental data, the solubility of aluminum as a function of temperature and pH was examined. This work describes interesting results for the minimum pH providing relevant data that was not available from the literature. It was found that solubility increases with temperature and that the minimum pH shifts to low pH with increase in temperature. The second area involves understanding the metallurgy of aluminum alloys during fuel drying. In this study, the temperature range from 100 deg. C to 300 deg. C was analyzed. Thermodynamic models predict that AA1100 will not experience significant phase changes while the more highly alloyed AA6061 and AA5052 may experience significant phase changes. These thermodynamic measurements establish a potential for phase changes during drying, however they do not predict the kinetics for such processes. Phase 1 of the experimental program has initiated and results are forthcoming. The test program will examine aluminum oxidation under anticipated dry storage conditions (temperature and humidity). Examination of localized corrosion due to tight crevices and galvanic contact (with stainless steel) will be included. Finally, water deliquescence will be assessed using thermogravimetric analysis with dynamic humidity profiles. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Alfalfa Virtual Building Service: Software Engineering Best Practices Applied to Runtime Interaction with Building Energy Models

Buildings are active participants in increasingly complex energy systems. Building Energy Modeling (BEM) has a key role to play in planning and de-risking an equitable energy transition, with BEM-backed "virtual buildings" critical path for diverse applications that include workforce training tools, Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) experimentation to study equipment performance under a range of conditions, Control-Hardware-in-the-Loop (CHIL) experimentation to de-risk commercial control implementations at equipment through grid orchestration levels, and integration of dynamic load profiles into grid modeling tools for energy system experimentation at the urban scale. Modeling requirements vary across these applications, but many software engineering tasks do not. The Alfalfa Virtual Building Service (AVBS, see https://github.com/NREL/alfalfa/wiki) is an open-source web service that solves these common tasks robustly in one place, providing a foundational platform for power users to bootstrap their own applications. AVBS abstracts the specifics of runtime interaction with OpenStudio, Modelica, and Spawn of EnergyPlus models behind a unified REST API. Additionally, AVBS provides resources for cloud deployment and scaling to 100s of parallel simulations, a growing library of modular Operational Technology (OT) integrations for emulation of real-world interfaces, and scripts to automate the population of communities of virtual buildings from URBANopt, ResStock and ComStock.

building automation↗

LINE PROFILES OF CORES WITHIN CLUSTERS. II. SIGNATURES OF DYNAMICAL COLLAPSE DURING HIGH-MASS STAR FORMATION

Observations of atomic or molecular lines can provide important information about the physical state of star-forming regions. In order to investigate the line profiles from dynamical collapsing massive star-forming regions (MSFRs), we model the emission from hydrodynamic simulations of a collapsing cloud in the absence of outflows. By performing radiative transfer calculations, we compute the optically thick HCO{sup +} and optically thin N{sub 2}H{sup +} line profiles from two collapsing regions at different epochs. Due to large-scale collapse, the MSFRs have large velocity gradients, reaching up to 20 km s{sup -1} pc{sup -1} across the central core. The optically thin lines typically contain multiple velocity components resulting from the superposition of numerous density peaks along the line of sight. The optically thick lines are only marginally shifted to the blue side of the optically thin line profiles, and frequently do not have a central depression in their profiles due to self-absorption. As the regions evolve, the lines become brighter and the optically thick lines become broader. The lower-order HCO{sup +} (1-0) transitions are better indicators of collapse than the higher-order (4-3) transitions. We also investigate how the beam sizes affect profile shapes. Smaller beams lead to brighter and narrower lines that are more skewed to the blue in HCO{sup +} relative to the true core velocity, but show multiple components in N{sub 2}H{sup +}. High-resolution observations (e.g., with Atacama Large Millimeter Array) can test these predictions and provide insights into the nature of MSFRs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Quantifying error of lidar and sodar Doppler beam swinging measurements of wind turbine wakes using computational fluid dynamics

Wind-profiling lidars are now regularly used in boundary-layer meteorology and in applications such as wind energy and air quality. Lidar wind profilers exploit the Doppler shift of laser light backscattered from particulates carried by the wind to measure a line-of-sight (LOS) velocity. The Doppler beam swinging (DBS) technique, used by many commercial systems, considers measurements of this LOS velocity in multiple radial directions in order to estimate horizontal and vertical winds. The method relies on the assumption of homogeneous flow across the region sampled by the beams. Using such a system in inhomogeneous flow, such as wind turbine wakes or complex terrain, will result in errors. To quantify the errors expected from such violation of the assumption of horizontal homogeneity, we simulate inhomogeneous flow in the atmospheric boundary layer, notably stably stratified flow past a wind turbine, with a mean wind speed of 6.5 m s -1 at the turbine hub-height of 80 m. This slightly stable case results in 15° of wind direction change across the turbine rotor disk. The resulting flow field is sampled in the same fashion that a lidar samples the atmosphere with the DBS approach, including the lidar range weighting function, enabling quantification of the error in the DBS observations. The observations from the instruments located upwind have small errors, which are ameliorated with time averaging. However, the downwind observations, particularly within the first two rotor diameters downwind from the wind turbine, suffer from errors due to the heterogeneity of the wind turbine wake. Errors in the stream-wise component of the flow approach 30% of the hub-height inflow wind speed close to the rotor disk. Errors in the cross-stream and vertical velocity components are also significant: cross-stream component errors are on the order of 15% of the hub-height inflow wind speed (1.0 m s −1 ) and errors in the vertical velocity measurement exceed the actual vertical velocity. By three rotor diameters downwind, DBS-based assessments of wake wind speed deficits based on the stream-wise velocity can be relied on even within the near wake within 1.0 s -1 (or 15% of the hub-height inflow wind speed), and the cross-stream velocity error is reduced to 8% while vertical velocity estimates are compromised. Furthermore, measurements of inhomogeneous flow such as wind turbine wakes are susceptible to these errors, and interpretations of field observations should account for this uncertainty.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

SU-E-P-24: Simplified EDW Profile Measurements Using Two Commonly Available Detector Arrays

Purpose: Enhanced dynamic wedge (EDW) profiles are needed as part of the commissioning of a treatment planning system. This work compares the acquisition of EDW profiles using a linear diode array (LDA) with two commonly used detector arrays available in the clinics, with the goal of identifying the simplest approach for these measurements. Methods: The measurements of EDW profiles were performed on a Varian TrueBeam linear accelerator for 6, 10, and 18 MV photon beams for all seven wedge angles at four depths. The measurements were done using the LDA 99 in Blue Phantom2 (IBA Dosimetry), and IC Profiler and MapCHECK2 (Sun Nuclear) in solid water phantoms. The water phantom was set up at 100 cm SSD, whereas the two other devices were set up at 75 cm due to the size limitations of the devices. The largest possible field size was used. The average and maximum percentage differences were examined within the central 90% of the field and in the penumbra. Results: Dose profiles measured with IC Profiler were in a good agreement with LDA 99 data. The average percentage difference within the field did not exceed 0.5% for all energies. MapCHECK2 measurements matched well with LDA 99 for 10 and 18 MV (within 0.3%) with discrepancies of up to 1.4% observed for the 6 MV beam. The maximum percentage differences for both devices in the penumbra exhibited larger variations than LDA 99 results due to differences in detector spacing and high dose gradient, as expected. Conclusion: Common linac QA devices such as IC Profiler or MapCHECK2 provide EDW beam profile data of reasonable accuracy as compared to measurements performed using a linear diode array in a water phantom, saving the expense and time involved in acquiring and setting up a LDA.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Long-term carbon and nitrogen dynamics at SPRUCE revealed through stable isotopes in peat profiles

Abstract. Peatlands encode information about past vegetation dynamics, climate, and microbial processes. Here, we used δ15N and δ13C patterns from 16 peat profiles to deduce how the biogeochemistry of the Marcell S1 forested bog in northern Minnesota responded to environmental and vegetation change over the past ∼ 10 000 years. In multiple regression analyses, δ15N and δ13C correlated strongly with depth, plot location, C ∕ N, %N, and each other. Correlations with %N, %C, C ∕ N, and the other isotope accounted for 80 % of variance for δ15N and 38 % of variance for δ13C, reflecting N and C losses. In contrast, correlations with depth and topography (hummock or hollow) reflected peatland successional history and climate. Higher δ15N in plots closer to uplands may reflect upland-derived DON inputs and accompanying shifts in N dynamics in the lagg drainage area surrounding the bog. The Suess effect (declining δ13CO2 since the Industrial Revolution) lowered δ13C in recent surficial samples. High δ15N from −35 to −55 cm probably indicated the depth of ectomycorrhizal activity after tree colonization of the peatland over the last 400 years, as confirmed by the occasional presence of wood down to −35 cm depth. High δ13C at ∼ 4000 years BP (−65 to −105 cm) could reflect a transition at that time to slower rates of peat accumulation, when 13C discrimination during peat decomposition may increase in importance. Low δ13C and high δ15N at −213 and −225 cm ( ∼ 8500 years BP) corresponded to a warm period during a sedge-dominated rich fen stage. The above processes appear to be the primary drivers of the observed isotopic patterns, whereas there was no clear evidence for methane dynamics influencing δ13C patterns.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Start-to-end beam dynamics simulation of double triangular current profile generation in Argonne Wakefield Accelerator

Double triangular current profile (DT) gives a high transformer ratio which is the determining factor of the performance of collinear wakefield accelerator. This current profile can be generated using the emittance exchange (EEX) beam line. Argonne Wakefield Accelerator (AWA) facility plans to generate DT using the EEX beam line. We conducted start-to-end simulation for the AWA beam line using PARMELA code. Also, we discuss requirements of beam parameters for the generation of DT.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Deriving Galaxy Cluster Velocity Anisotropy Profiles from a Joint Analysis of Dynamical and Weak Lensing Data

We present an analytic approach to lift the mass-anisotropy degeneracy in clusters of galaxies by utilizing the line-of-sight velocity dispersion of clustered galaxies jointly with weak lensing inferred masses. More specifically, we solve the spherical Jeans equation by assuming a simple relation between the line-of-sight velocity dispersion and the radial velocity dispersion and recast the Jeans equation as a Bernoulli differential equation that has a well-known analytic solution. We first test our method in cosmological N-body simulations and then derive the anisotropy profiles for 35 archival data galaxy clusters with an average redshift of $\langle {z}_{c}\rangle =0.25$. The resulting profiles yield a weighted average global value of $\langle \beta (0.2\leqslant R/{R}_{200}\leqslant 1)\rangle =0.35\pm 0.28$ (stat) ±0.15 (sys). This indicates that clustered galaxies tend to globally fall on radially anisotropic orbits. We note that this is the first attempt to derive velocity anisotropy profiles for a cluster sample of this size utilizing joint dynamical and weak lensing data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Beam measurements using visible synchrotron light at NSLS2 storage ring

Visible Synchrotron Light Monitor (SLM) diagnostic beamline has been designed and constructed at NSLS2 storage ring, to characterize the electron beam profile at various machine conditions. Due to the excellent alignment, SLM beamline was able to see the first visible light when beam was circulating the ring for the first turn. The beamline has been commissioned for the past year. Besides a normal CCD camera to monitor the beam profile, streak camera and gated camera are used to measure the longitudinal and transverse profile to understand the beam dynamics. Measurement results from these cameras will be presented in this paper. A time correlated single photon counting system (TCSPC) has also been setup to measure the single bunch purity.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Searching for dark matter annihilation in the Smith high-velocity cloud

Recent observations suggest that some high-velocity clouds may be confined by massive dark matter halos. In particular, the proximity and proposed dark matter content of the Smith Cloud make it a tempting target for the indirect detection of dark matter annihilation. We argue that the Smith Cloud may be a better target than some Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies and use γ-ray observations from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for a dark matter annihilation signal. No significant γ-ray excess is found coincident with the Smith Cloud, and we set strong limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section assuming a spatially extended dark matter profile consistent with dynamical modeling of the Smith Cloud. Notably, these limits exclude the canonical thermal relic cross section (∼ 3 × 10{sup –26} cm{sup 3} s{sup –1}) for dark matter masses ≲ 30 GeV annihilating via the b b-bar or τ{sup +}τ{sup –} channels for certain assumptions of the dark matter density profile; however, uncertainties in the dark matter content of the Smith Cloud may significantly weaken these constraints.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Mechanisms of Retention and Transport of Fission Products in Virgin and Irradiated Nuclear Graphite

To fulfill the design and licensing requirements for advanced reactors, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is specifically interested in targeted research to quantify the mechanisms of fission product transport and retention in graphitic grades that will likely be used in next-generation very/high temperature reactors, fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactors and molten salt reactors. We have examined an integrated experimental-computational approach to determine the diffusivities of selected fission products – ruthenium (Ru) and silver (Ag) in five nuclear graphite grades – POCO AXF-5Q, POCO ZXF-5Q, PCEA, IG110, and NBG-18. Experimental investigation for diffusion of other fission products (iodine, cesium, and krypton) in graphite could not be carried out due to extreme evaporation due to high vapor pressure, despite several attempts incorporating various experimental schemes. Experimental investigation with irradiated graphite could not be carried out because necessary approval to transport irradiated graphite could not be obtained due to procedural reasons at ORNL and national policy change in UK. An effort was made to “produce” by ion sputtering, but it was discontinued because the outcome did not adequately represent irradiated graphite. Thin film and “cup-and-cap” methods were employed to deposit fission products, diffusion annealed were carried out in an argon atmosphere, and concentration profiles were determined by dynamic secondary ion mass spectroscopy depth profiling technique. Regardless of graphite type, anomalous diffusion behavior of Ru (i.e., lower than expected based on Arrhenius temperature dependence) at an intermediate temperature, around 600 to 700 °C, was observed. Diffusion behavior of silver on the other hand agreed well to the Arrhenius temperature dependence although the excessive evaporation of silver hampered the accurate determination of diffusivities at temperature higher than 900 °C. In general, silver was observed to diffuse faster than Ru in the temperature range compared from 500 to 900 °C, had consistently had higher pre-exponential factor corresponding to higher jump frequency. To understand the abnormal diffusional behavior of Ru in graphite in intermediate temperature range, a detailed microstructural analysis was carried out. Clustering of Ru into particles on the surface of graphite was observed around 700 °C corresponding to de-wetting and spheroidization. This change would influence the boundary condition of diffusion, although features of clustering was much smaller (<1 mm) than the SIMS raster size (120 x 120 mm). Raman spectroscopy also demonstrated that Raman peak intensity for Ru decreased significantly for samples annealed higher than 700 °C and presence of Ru in graphite altered the crystallinity of graphite. To further elucidate the abnormal diffusion behavior observed in intermediate temperature investigated, the vibrational properties of graphene, bilayer graphene and Kr atoms in bilayer graphene were investigated with molecular dynamics. Krypton, which is a fission product, was introduced between a bilayer graphene system to evaluate (i) whether the phonon dispersion curves change with high temperature in bilayer graphene (ii) whether the addition of Kr atoms between the bilayer introduces any significant change in the vibrational properties, and (iii) whether any change in the vibrational properties can be correlated to the diffusive behavior of Kr atoms. The results show that the Kr atoms indeed exhibit an anomalous diffusive behavior at 550°C. Phonon analysis shows that a few phonon frequencies are enhanced as much as 20 to 30 % with the addition of just 0.2 at.% Kr. So, this may explain the unexpected self-diffusivity of fission products.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Activity-based protein profiling of secreted cellulolytic enzyme activity dynamics in Trichoderma reesei QM6a, NG14, and RUT-C30

Development of alternative, non-petroleum based sources of bioenergy that can be applied in the short-term find great promise in the use of highly abundant and renewable lignocellulosic plant biomass.1 This material obtained from different feedstocks, such as forest litter or agricultural residues, can yield liquid fuels and other chemical products through biorefinery processes.2 Biofuels are obtained from lignocellulosic materials by chemical pretreatment of the biomass, followed by enzymatic decomposition of cellulosic and hemicellulosic compounds into soluble sugars that are converted to desired chemical products via microbial metabolism and fermentation.3, 4 To release soluble sugars from polymeric cellulose multiple enzymes are required, including endoglucanase, exoglucanase, and β-glucosidase.5, 6 However, the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose into soluble sugars remains a significant limiting factor to the efficient and economically viable utilization of lignocellulosic biomass for transport fuels.7, 8 The primary industrial source of cellulose and hemicellulases is the mesophilic soft-rot fungus Trichoderma reesei,9 having widespread applications in food, feed, textile, pulp, and paper industries.10 The genome encodes 200 glycoside hydrolases, including 10 cellulolytic and 16 hemicellulolytic enzymes.11 The hypercellulolytic catabolite derepressed strain RUT-C30 was obtained through a three-step UV and chemical mutagenesis of the original T. reesei strain QM6a,12, 13 in which strains M7 and NG14 were intermediate, having higher cellulolytic activity than the parent strain but less activity and higher catabolite repression than RUT-C30.14 Numerous methods have been employed to optimize the secreted enzyme cocktail of T. reesei including cultivation conditions, operational parameters, and mutagenesis.3 However, creating an optimal and economical enzyme mixture for production-scale biofuels synthesis may take thousands of experiments to identify.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗

Large-Scale Molecular Dynamics Simulation Studies on Deformation of Ni Nanowires: Surface Profile, Defects and Stacking Fault Width Analysis

We report large-scale molecular dynamics simulation deformation studies of Ni nanowire (NW) of size 100 Å (x) × 1000 Å (y) × 100 Å (z) comprising of 925,965 atoms. Surface and internal defects are introduced to study their effect on the surface profile, strength, fracture behavior and deformation mechanisms. Tensile tests have been carried out at a temperature of 10 K and at a strain rate of 10{sup 8} s{sup −1}. Periodic boundary condition is applied along the loading direction (y). Peak strength of 23 GPa is observed in the perfect NW, and the strength decreases with defects. The surface profiles of the deformed NWs show intrusion and extrusion regions corresponding to slip steps with wider valleys in the defect NWs. Several intrinsic and extrinsic parallel stacking faults (SFs) are generated after yielding by slip occurring on {111} planes. The calculated SF widths are in the range of 0.85-2.57 nm in the perfect NW. The dislocations are mainly Shockley partial dislocations of type 1/6 〈112〉, and Schmid’s factor (m) obtained is 0.471. Twinning dislocation of types 1/9 〈221〉 and 1/18 〈172〉 is also observed in the SFs. The density of Shockley partial dislocations is observed to be the maximum in all the NWs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Experimental Investigation of Low Cost, Low Thermal Conductivity Thermal Barrier Coating on HCCI Combustion, Efficiency, and Emissions

In-cylinder surface temperature is of heightened importance for Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion since the combustion mechanism is thermo-kinetically driven. Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBCs) selectively manipulate the in-cylinder surface temperature, providing an avenue for improving thermal and combustion efficiency. A surface temperature swing during combustion/expansion reduces heat transfer losses, leading to more complete combustion and reduced emissions. At the same time, achieving a highly dynamic response sidesteps preheating of charge during intake and eliminates the volumetric efficiency penalty. The magnitude and temporal profile of the dynamic surface temperature swing is affected by the TBC material properties, thickness, morphology, engine speed, and heat flux from the combustion process. This study follows prior work of authors with Yttria Stabilized Zirconia, which systematically engineered coatings for HCCI combustion. Herein, a modeling study was used to assess the impacts of various TBC material properties, e.g. density, thickness, and thermal conductivity on the temperature swing effect. Reducing conductivity emerged as a most promising avenue, rather than reducing both the density and effective conductivity by increasing porosity, the current work emphasizes a material with natively low conductivity. A novel TBC formulation was developed, leverages a class of materials that, to the author’s best knowledge, have not been used as a thermal barrier coating previously. Here, a systematic experimental investigation was carried out using single-cylinder research engine. Experimental engine studies utilizing the novel ‘glassy’ low-K coating exhibit advanced ignition phasing and reduced combustion duration relative to the baseline engine. Heat transfer measurements indicate a net reduction in heat flux over the entire cycle, although main effect is felt during expansion, and the reduced heat transfer losses manifest in higher gross indicated thermal efficiency by approximately 5-6% on a relative basis.

42 ENGINEERING↗