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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 973 records · Page 54
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Reactive flow modeling of the polymer bonded explosive LX-17 double shock experiments

Overdriven double shock experiments provide a measurement of the properties of the reaction product states of the 1-3-5-triamino-2-4-6trinitrobenzene-based explosive LX-17. These experiments used two flyer materials mounted on the end of a projectile to send an initial shock through the LX-17, followed by a second shock of a higher magnitude into the detonation products. The experimental results are compared to 2D reactive flow modeling. A reactive flow model that describes only the kinetics of the LX-17 decomposition fails to accurately reproduce the decay of the first shock or the curvature or strength of the second shock. A new model is proposed in which the carbon condensate produced in the reaction zone is controlled by a kinetic rate. This allows the carbon condensate to be initially out of chemical equilibrium with the product gas. Finally, this new model reproduces the initial detonation peak and decay and matches the curvature of the second shock; however, it still over-predicts the strength of the second shock.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Weak-shock wave propagation in polymer-based particulate composites

Shock waves are common in polymer-based particulate composites that are subjected to intermediate to high-velocity impact loading. However, quantitative information on the spatial variation of stress, particle velocities, and energy dissipation during the formation and propagation of weak-shock waves is limited. In this paper, a systematic experimental study is conducted to understand the characteristics of weak-shocks in polymer-bonded particulate composites. Specimens made of polymer-bonded sugar were subjected to a projectile impact loading, at varying velocities, using a modified Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus. Full-field displacement and strains of the deformed samples were obtained with the help of an ultrahigh-speed imaging and digital image correlation technique. Using the full-field displacement data, the shock wave velocity, shock front thickness, and the full-field stress fields are calculated. From the spatial stress field and the strain rate data, the spatial energy dissipation profile is also estimated. The effect of impact velocity on the spatial stress profile, shock wave velocity, and energy dissipation are discussed.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2019

Triple differential cross sections for electron-impact ionization of methane at intermediate energy

We report an experimental and theoretical investigation of electron-impact single ionization of the highest occupied molecular orbital 1 t 2 and the next highest occupied molecular orbital 2 a 1 states of CH 4 at an incident electron energy of 250 eV. Triple differential cross sections measured in two different laboratories were compared with results calculated within the molecular 3-body distorted wave and generalized Sturmian function theoretical models. For ionization of the 1 t 2 state, the binary peak was observed to have a single maximum near the momentum transfer direction that evolved into a double peak for increasing projectile scattering angles, as has been seen for ionization of atomic p-states. A detailed investigation of this evolution was performed. As expected because of its s-type character, for ionization of the 2 a 1 state, only a single binary peak was observed. Altogether, good agreement was found between experiment and theory.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Neutron generator based on intense lithium beam driver

We are proposing a compact neutron generator based on a Li beam driver. The proposed neutron generator comprises a laser ion source, a radio-frequency quadrupole linear accelerator (RFQ linac), a drift tube linac, and a target containing protons. In the generator, the lithium ion is used as a projectile instead of protons to utilize the kinematic focusing technique. The technique enables us to enhance the neutron flux without increasing the beam energy, which is important to develop a clean compact neutron generator. Moreover, the combination of a laser ion source and a RFQ linac with the direct plasma injection scheme will provide several tens of mA of a fully ionized lithium beam, which is much higher than that of conventional heavy ion sources comparable with proton drivers. Neutrons are generated by the nuclear reaction of the lithium ions and protons in the beam target. In this paper, we reported the current status of the development. For RFQ, we designed the RFQ rods to accelerate 40 mA of 7Li3+. We fabricated and installed the rods into a cavity, and, as a first test, accelerated 10 mA of C6+ successfully.

Ikeda, Shunsuke (ORCID:0000000339800577)↗
DOE OSTI2020

Imaging perturbed shock propagation in powders

A novel experimental methodology is presented to study the deviatoric response of powders in shock regimes. The powders are confined to a cylindrical wedge volume, and a projectile-driven shock wave with a sinusoidally varying front propagates through the powder. The perturbed shock wave exhibits a damping behavior due to irreversible processes of viscosity and strength (deviatoric) of the powder with propagation through increasing powder thicknesses. The inclined surface of the wedge is polished and coated to establish a diffuse surface suitable for reflecting incident laser light into a high-speed camera imaging at 5 MHz. Images of the contrast loss upon shock wave arrival at the observation surface are post-processed for qualitative and quantitative information. New data of shock damping behavior with parameters of perturbation wavelength and initial shock strength are presented for powders of copper, tantalum, and tungsten carbide as well as their mixtures. We present the first full-field images showing additional spatial disturbances on the perturbed shock front that appear dependent on particle material and morphology.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Improving manganin gauge measurements near radiographic fiducials

In dynamic experiments diagnosed with radiography and stress gauges, the gauges are often placed adjacent to radio-graphic fiducials, such as Ta foil, which perturbs the stress measurement. We conducted experiments to test the performance of different arrangements of manganin stress gauges and Ta foils. Three different gauge/foil configurations were tested, as well as a solitary gauge as control. Gauge/foil layers were placed between high-density polyethylene (HDPE) discs and impacted by a projectile in a gas gun, a simplification of a dynamic, high explosive experiment configuration. The stress measurements were minimally perturbed when a section of foil was removed near the active element of the gauge, as expected. In conclusion, a follow-up experiment showed that the modification to the foil has minimal impact on the radiographic measurement of the dynamic flow.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

Reproducibility of real-time time-dependent density functional theory calculations of electronic stopping power in warm dense matter

Real-time time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) is widely considered to be the most accurate available method for calculating electronic stopping powers from first principles, but there have been relatively few assessments of the consistency of its predictions across different implementations. This problem is particularly acute in the warm dense regime, where computational costs are high and experimental validation is rare and resource intensive. We report a comprehensive cross-verification of stopping power calculations in conditions relevant to inertial confinement fusion conducted using four different TDDFT implementations. We find excellent agreement among both the post-processed stopping powers and relevant time-resolved quantities for alpha particles in warm dense hydrogen. We also analyze sensitivities to a wide range of methodological details, including the exchange-correlation model, pseudopotentials, initial conditions, observable from which the stopping power is extracted, averaging procedures, projectile trajectory, and finite-size effects. We show that among these details, pseudopotentials, trajectory-dependence, and finite-size effects have the strongest influence, and we discuss different strategies for controlling the latter two considerations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Accessing terapascal pressures on two-stage light-gas guns for high-energy-density research

We present pressure amplifiers that have been developed to enable the study of material behavior at terapascal (TPa) pressures using two-stage light-gas gun (2SLGG) facilities. When impacted by a hyper-velocity projectile, Mach reflections within the pressure amplifier eventually merge to form a Mach stem, generating a planar output shock that greatly exceeds the initial drive. Validation experiments demonstrated that peak pressures of 0.6 and 1.073 TPa were achieved in quartz samples for two different amplifier designs. These pressures represent an approximately fivefold increase over the sample pressures typically attainable at 2SLGG facilities. The temporal and spatial uniformity of the pressure drive is suitable for high-precision equation-of-state measurements of materials relative to a shock standard. This work greatly extends the capabilities of 2SLGG facilities and opens new avenues of study in high-energy-density physics using these drivers.

Gorman, Martin G. [First Light Fusion, Oxford (Uni↗
DOE OSTI2024

Quantum computation of stopping power for inertial fusion target design

Stopping power is the rate at which a material absorbs the kinetic energy of a charged particle passing through it—one of many properties needed over a wide range of thermodynamic conditions in modeling inertial fusion implosions. First-principles stopping calculations are classically challenging because they involve the dynamics of large electronic systems far from equilibrium, with accuracies that are particularly difficult to constrain and assess in the warm-dense conditions preceding ignition. Here, we describe a protocol for using a fault-tolerant quantum computer to calculate stopping power from a first-quantized representation of the electrons and projectile. Our approach builds upon the electronic structure block encodings of Su et al. [ PRX Quant. 2 , 040332 (2021)], adapting and optimizing those algorithms to estimate observables of interest from the non-Born–Oppenheimer dynamics of multiple particle species at finite temperature. We also work out the constant factors associated with an implementation of a high-order Trotter approach to simulating a grid representation of these systems. Ultimately, we report logical qubit requirements and leading-order Toffoli costs for computing the stopping power of various projectile/target combinations relevant to interpreting and designing inertial fusion experiments. We estimate that scientifically interesting and classically intractable stopping power calculations can be quantum simulated with roughly the same number of logical qubits and about one hundred times more Toffoli gates than is required for state-of-the-art quantum simulations of industrially relevant molecules such as FeMoco or P450.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

ATLAS with CARIBU: A laboratory portrait

The Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS) is the world's first superconducting accelerator for projectiles heavier than the electron. This unique system is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national user research facility open to scientists from all over the world. Here, it is located within the Physics Division at Argonne National Laboratory and is one of five large scientific user facilities located at the laboratory.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

The source provenance of an obsidian Eden point from Sierra County, New Mexico

Eden projectile points associated with the Cody complex are underrepresented in the late Paleoindian record of the American Southwest. EDXRF analysis of an obsidian Eden point from a site in Sierra County, New Mexico demonstrates this artifact is from the Cerro del Medio (Valles Rhyolite) source in the Jemez Mountains. Lastly, we contextualize our results by examining variability in obsidian procurement practices beyond the Cody heartland in southcentral New Mexico.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

LIMITS TO ICE ON ASTEROIDS (24) THEMIS AND (65) CYBELE

We present optical spectra of (24) Themis and (65) Cybele, two large main-belt asteroids on which exposed water ice has recently been reported. No emission lines, expected from resonance fluorescence in gas sublimated from the ice, were detected. Derived limits to the production rates of water are {approx}<400 kg s{sup -1} (5{sigma}) for each object, assuming a cometary H{sub 2}O/CN ratio. We rule out models in which a large fraction of the surface is occupied by high-albedo ('fresh') water ice because the measured albedos of Themis and Cybele are low ({approx}0.05-0.07). We also rule out models in which a large fraction of the surface is occupied by low-albedo ('dirty') water ice because dirty ice would be warm and would sublimate strongly enough for gaseous products to have been detected. If ice exists on these bodies it must be relatively clean (albedo {approx}>0.3) and confined to a fraction of the Earth-facing surface {approx}<10%. By analogy with impacted asteroid (596) Scheila, we propose an impact excavation scenario, in which 10 m scale projectiles have exposed buried ice. If the ice is even more reflective (albedo {approx}>0.6), then the timescale for sublimation of an optically thick layer can rival the {approx}10{sup 3} yr interval between impacts with bodies this size. In this sense, exposure by impact may be a quasi steady-state feature of ice-containing asteroids at 3 AU.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2010

IS H{sup +} AN EFFICIENT DESTROYER OF LiH MOLECULES? A QUANTUM INVESTIGATION AT EARLY UNIVERSE CONDITIONS

Quantum reactive calculations, under the general conditions of early universe chemistry, are carried out for the reaction of H{sup +} ions, expected to be abundant projectiles at those redshift values, with LiH molecules ({nu} = 0). The results indicate that the outgoing flux, due to the special kinematics induced by the exothermic potential energy surface, is mostly distributed into the LiH survival channels of the fast exothermic reaction. The final, ab initio destruction rates, which are forming H{sup +}{sub 2}, are found however to be larger than previous estimates and to exhibit little dependence on LiH internal vibrational energy. The consequences of such findings on the broader network of early universe reactions involving Li-containing molecules will be discussed from an analysis of these newly obtained quantum reaction rates.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

(596) SCHEILA IN OUTBURST: A PROBABLE COLLISION EVENT IN THE MAIN ASTEROID BELT

Images of asteroid (596) Scheila have been acquired at various dates after the discovery of the 2010 outburst. Assuming a short-duration event scenario, as suggested by the quick vanishing of the dust tail brightness with time, and numerically integrating the equation of motion of individual particles ejected from the surface, we have developed a tail model from which we estimate the parameters associated with the geometry of the ejection, the size distribution, and the velocity distribution of the ejected particles, as well as the total mass ejected. We found a weak inverse power-law dependence of ejection velocity versus particle radius, with velocities ranging from 50 to 80 m s{sup -1} for particle radii in the range from 5 cm to 8 x 10{sup -5} cm, respectively. These velocities are very different from those expected from ice sublimation at the asteroid heliocentric distance ({approx}3 AU) and suggest a collision scenario as a likely cause of the outburst. We found that the ejected particles are distributed in size following a power law of index -3, and, based on the ejecta mass and scaling laws, the impactor size is estimated at 30-90 m in radius, assuming an impact velocity of {approx}5 km s{sup -1}, and the same density (1500 kg m{sup -3}) for the asteroid as for the projectile. We have inferred an asymmetry in the ejecta along the axis normal to the asteroid orbit plane, a likely indicator of an oblique impact. The impact is estimated to have occurred on November 27, with an accuracy not better than {+-}3 days.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

THREE-DIMENSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION OF AN ERUPTING FILAMENT WITH SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY AND STEREO OBSERVATIONS

On 2010 August 1, a global solar event was launched involving almost the entire Earth-facing side of the Sun. This event mainly consisted of a C3.2 flare, a polar crown filament eruption, and two Earth-directed coronal mass ejections. The observations from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and STEREO showed that all the activities were coupled together, suggesting a global character of the magnetic eruption. We reconstruct the three-dimensional geometry of the polar crown filament using observations from three different viewpoints (STEREO A, STEREO B, and SDO) for the first time. The filament undergoes two eruption processes. First, the main body of the filament rises up, while it also moves toward the low-latitude region with a change in inclination by {approx}48{sup 0} and expands only in the altitudinal and latitudinal direction in the field of view of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. We investigate the true velocities and accelerations of different locations along the filament and find that the highest location always has the largest acceleration during this eruption process. During the late phase of the first eruption, part of the filament material separates from the eastern leg. This material displays a projectile motion and moves toward the west at a constant velocity of 141.8 km s{sup -1}. This may imply that the polar crown filament consists of at least two groups of magnetic systems.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

COLLISIONS BETWEEN GRAVITY-DOMINATED BODIES. II. THE DIVERSITY OF IMPACT OUTCOMES DURING THE END STAGE OF PLANET FORMATION

Numerical simulations of the stochastic end stage of planet formation typically begin with a population of embryos and planetesimals that grow into planets by merging. We analyzed the impact parameters of collisions leading to the growth of terrestrial planets from recent N-body simulations that assumed perfect merging and calculated more realistic outcomes using a new analytic collision physics model. We find that collision outcomes are diverse and span all possible regimes: hit-and-run, merging, partial accretion, partial erosion, and catastrophic disruption. The primary outcomes of giant impacts between planetary embryos are approximately evenly split between partial accretion, graze-and-merge, and hit-and-run events. To explore the cumulative effects of more realistic collision outcomes, we modeled the growth of individual planets with a Monte Carlo technique using the distribution of impact parameters from N-body simulations. We find that fewer planets reached masses >0.7 M{sub Earth} using the collision physics model compared to simulations that assumed every collision results in perfect merging. For final planets with masses >0.7 M{sub Earth}, 60% are enriched in their core-to-mantle mass fraction by >10% compared to the initial embryo composition. Fragmentation during planet formation produces significant debris ({approx}15% of the final mass) and occurs primarily by erosion of the smaller body in partial accretion and hit-and-run events. In partial accretion events, the target body grows by preferentially accreting the iron core of the projectile and the escaping fragments are derived primarily from the silicate mantles of both bodies. Thus, the bulk composition of a planet can evolve via stochastic giant impacts.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Anti-screening optically allowed and forbidden collisional excitations in nonthermal astrophysical plasmas

The influence of nonthermal shielding on the optically allowed and forbidden anti-screening channels for ion-ion collisional excitations is investigated in astrophysical Lorentzian plasmas. The semiclassical trajectory method and effective interaction Hamiltonian are employed to obtain the transition amplitudes, differential cross-sections, and momentum transfer-dependent effective projectile charges for the optically allowed and forbidden excitation channels as functions of the impact parameter, collision energy, Debye radius, and spectral index of nonthermal astrophysical plasmas. It is found that the nonthermal effect suppresses the ion-ion collisional excitation probability in astrophysical Lorentzian plasmas. Additionally, the influence of nonthermal shielding on the optically allowed transition is found to be more significant than that on the optically forbidden transition. The variations of the nonthermal shielding effects on the optically allowed and forbidden anti-screening channels in astrophysical nonthermal plasmas are also discussed.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

SOLAR-WIND ION-DRIVEN X-RAY EMISSION FROM COMETARY AND PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES: MEASUREMENTS AND THEORETICAL PREDICTIONS OF CHARGE-EXCHANGE CROSS-SECTIONS AND EMISSION SPECTRA FOR O{sup 6+} + H{sub 2}O, CO, CO{sub 2}, CH{sub 4}, N{sub 2}, NO, N{sub 2}O, AND Ar

Relevant to modeling and understanding X-ray emission from cometary and planetary atmospheres, total cross-sections for 1.17 and 2.33 keV/u O{sup 6+} colliding with H{sub 2}O, CO, CO{sub 2}, CH{sub 4}, N{sub 2}, NO, N{sub 2}O, and Ar have been measured for the processes of single, double, and triple charge exchanges. Using these measurements as benchmarks, synthetic emission spectra spanning the X-ray, UV, and visible range have been calculated based on theoretical treatment of the transfer of between one and six electrons from the target neutrals to the projectile ion, followed by radiative and non-radiative decay of the highly excited states produced in these collisions. The results help add to the base of knowledge required to simulate ion-neutral processes in astrophysical environments; refine the present understanding of these fundamental atomic processes; and guide future observations, laboratory measurements, and theoretical predictions.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗