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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 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Computational study of TATB

We have performed a computational study of TATB. The study is composed of two parts, one where we perform static T = 0 K calculations with several different DFT functionals, to investigate structural properties and obtain a cold curve. Even though the functionals used in this study give poor results at ambient pressure, they perform much better at compression, when the dominance of the van der Waals’ forces in the binding is replaced by more normal interactions. In particular AM05 gives good results, mainly because it doesn’t include any “faulty” van der Waals’. Indeed the van der Waals’ corrected functional (PBE+D2) results shows the worst performance on structural properties. For the cold curve the PBE+D2 functional gives the best results compared to experiments (room temperature) but since the structural properties were bad with this functional we cannot for sure say that this is in any way a validation. It is shown that scaling the AM05 results with a common factor reproduces the experimental data. We leave the question on why to a follow up study but speculate that maybe the experiment and our calculations do not represent the same system set-up. From the structural properties we identify a site in the TATB lattice that contains a high concentration of oxygen and hydrogen. The consequences of this finding, if any, are left to a future project. In the second part of the study we perform extensive high-quality DFT-MD (molecular dynamics with DFT forces) calculations to obtain points on the Hugoniot. This part of the study did not get finished within this project and a more extensive summary of this part will be given in a follow up report at a future date. However, we show that obtaining calculated data is essential for equations of state development since the existing experimental Hugoniot data barely deviates from room temperature isotherm data and thus give no information of the high temperature dependency of materials properties. Our conclusion so far in the project is that being able to calculate materials properties is essential for high explosives since experiments are unable to give information in the high temperature part of phase space. While blind use of DFT cannot (yet) give unambiguous answers, we can still explore qualitatively and use such information to guide us in EOS development. However, the main conclusion is that we need better functionals in DFT to easily extract needed properties from calculations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Deep Learning-Aided Workflow for Decoding the Stress Regime of Southern Nevada

The Rock Valley fault zone in southern Nevada has a notable history of seismic activity and is the site of a future direct comparison experiment of explosion and earthquake sources. This study aims to gain insight into regional tectonic processes by leveraging recent advances in seismic monitoring capabilities to elucidate the local stress regime. A crucial step in this investigation is the accurate determination of P-wave first-motion polarities, which play a vital role in resolving earthquake focal mechanisms of small earthquakes. Here, we deploy a deep learning-based method for automatic determination of first-motion polarities to vastly expand the polarity dataset beyond what has been reviewed by human analysts. By the integrating P-wave polarities with new measurements of S/P amplitude ratios, we obtain robust focal mechanism estimates for 1306 earthquakes with a local magnitude of 1 and above occurring between 2010 and 2023 in southern Nevada. We then use the focal mechanism catalog to examine the regional stress orientation, confirming an overall trans-tensional stress regime with smaller scale complexities illuminated by individual earthquake sequences. These findings demonstrate how detailed analyses of small earthquakes can provide fundamental information for understanding earthquake processes in the region and inform future experiments at the Nevada National Security Site.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Office of Nuclear Verification FY 2023 Quarterly Report TSVT Q1

This project encompasses the continued development and training of a U.S. operational team, the Test Site Verification Team (TSVT), supporting verification of nuclear testing activities. TSVT builds on decades of U.S. nuclear testing history and nuclear explosion monitoring experience. The Team maintains readiness to deploy internationally on short notice to provide field-based support of verification of declared or undeclared nuclear testing and associated activities, as well as follow-on activities including monitoring and capability disablement and dismantlement, as established by negotiated agreement or treaty. The roles and structure of the TSVT are integrated with other NA-243 deployable verification teams and the interagency. FY23 TSVT activities focus on continued capability buildup within the team, including Team trainings and exercises with a focus on missions in confined spaces (e.g., tunnels, mines, other underground facilities), increased familiarity with foreign nuclear weapons testing programs, demonstration of Team capacity to deploy, train, and practice sustained OPSEC in non-western locations, establishment of sustainable storage and maintenance of equipment, specification and procurement of additional equipment to support field observations, further evolution of concepts of operation documents (CONOPs), and mission coordination with Headquarters and associated Stakeholders. Activities will culminate with a full-scale domestic team exercise at the end of FY23 focusing on underground activities signatures/observations and safety including advanced outdoor safety and familiarity in working around explosive test environments. In addition, we will be further articulating approaches and capacity relevant to the identification of nuclear tests, as well as monitoring of nuclear testing activities and/or dismantlement of nuclear test sites and anticipate developing additional equipment requests in support of this evolution. The TSVT Team Leads will also coordinate with its Senior Advisor, the TSVT Logistics and Readiness (L&R) Training Lead, and NNSA Headquarters to draft a five-year TSVT training and exercise plan, that strategically and incrementally builds capacity and expertise in key areas of significance for the continuum of nuclear and nuclear-related testing activities that fall within the team’s mission space.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Embedded smoothed particle hydrodynamics

In this paper, a hybrid method for embedding a meshfree smoothed particle hydrodynamics into mesh-based ALE hydro schemes is presented. The method relies on the embedded mesh framework presented in Puso et al. (2015, 2012) and utilizes SPH (Owen, 2010) in the solid foreground; when an appropriate damage or failure model is used with SPH, it becomes a natural way to model material fracture and cracking in high-explosive driven experiments. Overall, we provide various examples which validate the coupling between SPH and the embedded mesh method.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Multiparticle cumulant mapping for Coulomb explosion imaging: Calculations and algorithm

We present a versatile cumulant mapping algorithm for analyzing correlated particle emission, offering insights into complex electronic and nuclear dynamics. Recently, we have demonstrated the use of cumulant mapping to extract information-rich correlations between the momenta of multiple fragments produced in Coulomb explosion imaging experiments [C. Cheng et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 093001 (2023)]. We define cumulant mapping in terms of histograms, enabling fast computation of linear (additive) observables. However, applying the same algorithm to nonlinear (nonadditive) observables poses challenges, as the computation time of conventional estimators scales nonlinearly with data size. To overcome this, we develop estimators and an accompanying algorithm to enable computationally efficient estimation of the cumulant of interest. Comparisons of computation times and signal-to-noise ratios reveal the superior performance of our approach. This method is demonstrated on the (D+, D+, C+, O+) dissociation channel of CD 2 ⁢O 4+ produced in a strong-field ionization experiment. Additionally, Poisson statistics are used to simulate the two methods and provide insights into the efficiency of our algorithm. The proposed methodology unlocks efficient computation of cumulant mapping for a broader range of complex systems and observables, such as the laser pulse dependence of ionization dynamics.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Code for paper "Reconstructing an Implosion with Space-Time Smoothing of Velocimetry Traces"

New diagnostics to obtain high-temporal resolution observation of surface velocity provide a rich collection of data from high-explosive (HE) experiments. Using this data to estimate the temporal evolution of an imploding, HE-driven surface is of great interest for validating simulation of the physical system and for design of future experiments. This is the code for a paper in which we propose a method for using a Gaussian process to estimate the surface position over time and provide uncertainty estimates on that reconstruction accounting for measurement error, uncertainty to sparse spatial sampling velocity data, and robustness to outlying observations. In the paper, the code is applied on data from a hemispherical HE implosion experiment. This code is for release with the paper for peer-review, replicating the results and making the figures from the paper.

Grosskopf, Michael↗
DOE OSTI2023

Ultraviolet digital holographic microscopy (DHM) of micron-scale particles from shocked Sn ejecta

A cloud of very fast, O (km/s), and very fine, O (µm), particles may be ejected when a strong shock impacts and possibly melts the free surface of a solid metal. To quantify these dynamics, this work develops an ultraviolet, long-working distance, two-pulse Digital Holographic Microscopy (DHM) configuration and is the first to replace film recording with digital sensors for this challenging application. A proposed multi-iteration DHM processing algorithm is demonstrated for automated measures of the sizes, velocities, and three-dimensional positions of non-spherical particles. Ejecta as small as 2 µm diameter are successfully tracked, while uncertainty simulations indicate that particle size distributions are accurately quantified for diameters ≥4 µm. These techniques are demonstrated on three explosively driven experiments. Measured ejecta size and velocity statistics are shown to be consistent with prior film-based recording, while also revealing spatial variations in velocities and 3D positions that have yet to be widely investigated. Having eliminated time-consuming analog film processing, the methodologies proposed here are expected to significantly accelerate future experimental investigation of ejecta physics.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Site 300 B-851 Permit: Radiological Assumptions and Source Term - Air Dispersion Modeling for Radiological Dose Assessment

The following modeling assumptions and source term that is provided in the attachments to this document are meant to serve as a guide to the presentation delivered on April 23rd, 2020, to the San Joaquin Air District Permit Services slides. This analysis is in response to the District’s “Project Incompleteness Letter” (Facility Number: N-472 and Project Number: N-1173492) regarding the potential for depleted uranium (DU) to be resuspended from areas of contaminated soil at Site 300 as a result of high explosive (HE) experiments increased to a requested permitted maximum of 1,000 pound detonations with an annual HE throughput not to exceed 7,500 pounds per year. LLNL has taken every step in the radiological health risk concerns in the modeling assumptions and final source term to be at a level of maximum conservativeness. As an example, forty soil samples were taken in the B-851 area (LLNL-AR-738708 – 2018) and assayed for uranium-234, uranium-235, and uranium-238 concentrations. The maximum uranium soil concentrations were used in the assumptions (potential for resuspended dust occurring from detonation experiments) and not the use of median uranium soil concentrations – a more realistic outcome. Additionally, these uranium soil concentrations were considered to be at 100% uptake in the vegetation for prescribed burns; vegetation uptake factors were not used as that would lower the final source term. This level of conservativeness was maintained throughout the modeling assumptions.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2020

X-ray Computed Tomography on UNESE Core: FY2020 Data Report to Support Fracture and Multiphase Fluid Flow Studies

Natural and induced fractures are potential preferential pathways for migration of radioactive gases to earths surface from underground nuclear explosions (UNEs). This report documents X-ray computed tomography (XRCT) imaging on 26 samples of rock core that was collected to support the Underground Nuclear Explosion Signatures Experiment (UNESE) program. The XRCT datasets are intended to help fill a data gap on the three-dimensional (3D) characteristics of natural and/or induced fractures at the centimeter and smaller scale, which may strongly influence multiphase fluid flow and transport properties of preferential flow paths and interaction with the matrix of the surrounding host rock. Pre- and post-UNE rock samples were carefully chosen to enable comparison of fractures as a function of lithologic and petrophysical properties, as well as distance to the past UNEs. This report serves as documentation for the data, including an introduction with the research motivation, a methods and materials section, descriptions of the XRCT datasets without post-processing, and recommendations for 3D quantification via image analysis and digital rock physics.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Analysis methods for quantifying Xe-127 samples from the UNESE project

In the Underground Nuclear Explosions Signatures Experiment (UNESE) radioactive 37 Ar and 127 Xe were used as tracers in subsurface migration experiments. As part of the experiment, methods were developed to quantify 127 Xe via β-γ coincidence spectroscopy. Later examination of the results highlighted a weakness of this analysis method in samples with no 127 Xe present, so a reanalysis of samples was performed to identify those which were falsely identified as having 127 Xe present. Ongoing work to develop a new analysis method with targeted regions of interest is also described. Measurements were also performed to quantify the concentration of 127 Xe and 37 Ar which were injected as part of UNESE Phase 2. A best value for the concentration of 37 Ar and 127 Xe was determined and reported here for use in future analyses of the UNESE Phase 2 results.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2004

Lunar and Planetary Science XXXV: Impacts: Observations and Experiments

The title in this section include: 1) Impactites of the Haughton Impact Structure, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada; 2) Geochemical Characteristics of Impactites from the Yaxcopoil-1 ICDP Drill Core, Chicxulub Impact Structure, Mexico; 3) Investigation of the Ries Impact Crater Based upon Old and New Geophysical Data and Numerical Modeling; 4) Potential of Radar Imaging and Sounding Methods in Mapping Heavily Eroded Impact Craters: Mapping Some Structural Elements of the Hico Crater, TX; 5) From Simple to Complex Craters: The Mechanics of Late-time Crater Adjustments; 6) Impact Structures: What Does Crater Diameter Mean? 7) Early-Time Temperature Evolution of the Impact Flash and Beyond; 8) Probing Impact-Generated Vapor Plumes; 9) Non-Ballistic Vapor-Driven Ejecta; 10) Depth and Diameter of Transient Craters; 11) A Plausibility of Z-Model; 12) Experiments with Explosives and Ordnance Disposal Devices for the Simulation of Specific Processes During Shallow-Marine Impacts; 13) Collisional Fragmentation of Rotating Bodies.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2025

Deployment of portable, modular gas samplers as part of an atmospheric tracer experiment

Underground nuclear explosions release noble gases into the atmosphere that can be detected to support international monitoring efforts. Atmospheric transport models help predict the movement of these gases over long distances, but struggle to predict the movement in the atmosphere local to the release. A field experiment was designed to monitor the movement of 127 Xe within a 5-km radius. Four gas samplers were deployed as part of this experiment to collect atmospheric samples at various distances from the release point. In conclusion, these samples were then analyzed in a near-field lab using a NaI detector and in an off-site lab using gamma-gamma coincidence and beta-gamma coincidence counting.

Radioxenon↗
DOE OSTI2024

Visualization and Quantification of Wind Induced Variability in Hydrogen Clouds Following Releases of Liquid Hydrogen: Preprint

Well characterized experimental data for consequence model validation is important in progressing the use of liquid hydrogen as an energy carrier. In 2019, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) undertook a series of liquid hydrogen dispersion and combustion experiments as a part of the Pre-normative Research into the Safe Use of Liquid Hydrogen (PRESLHY) project. In partnership between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and HSE, time and spatially varying hydrogen concentration measurements were made in 25 dispersion experiments and 23 congested ignition experiments associated with PRESLHY WP3 and WP5, respectively. These measurements were undertaken using the hydrogen wide area monitoring system developed by NREL. During the 23 congested ignition experiments, high variability was observed in the measured explosion severity during experiments with similar initial conditions. This led to the conclusion that wind, including localized gusts, had a large influence on the dispersion of the hydrogen, and therefore the quantity of hydrogen that was present in the congested region of the explosions. Using the hydrogen concentration measurements taken immediately prior to ignition, the hydrogen clouds were visualized in an attempt to rationalize the variability in overpressure between the tests. Gaussian process regression was applied to quantify the variability of the measured hydrogen concentrations. This analysis could also be used to guide modifications in experimental designs for future research on hydrogen combustion behavior.

HSR&D↗
NASA NTRS1985

Predicting Effects of Impacts on Confined Explosives

Study aimed at improving safety of explosive storage examined relationship between small-scale experiments and actual explosions. Object of study to develop scaling laws that eliminate need for full-scale explosion tests and reduce need for small-scale tests. Results of study make it possible to predict explosive behavior from small tests and numerical simulation.

Chan, C. K.↗