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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 991 records · Page 55

Subcritical Copper-Reflected-α-phase Plutonium (SCRαP) Integral Experiment Design

A Subcritical Copper-Reflected α-phase Plutonium (SCRαP) integral benchmark experiment is proposed where multiplication will be approximated using correlated neutron data from a detector system consisting of {sup 3}He tubes inside polyethylene. Measurements will be performed on various subcritical experimental configurations consisting of a weapons-grade plutonium sphere surrounded by different Cu thicknesses. In addition to the proposed base experimental configurations with Cu, additional configurations are planned with the plutonium ball nested in various thicknesses of interleaved polyethylene spherical shells mixed in with the Cu shells. The polyethylene is intended to provide fast neutron moderation and reflection, resulting in additional measurements with differing multiplication, spectra, and nuclear data sensitivity. The proposed experiments will performed at the National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC). NCERC is home to a 4.5-kg α-phase stainless steel clad plutonium sphere that is referred to as the BeRP (Beryllium-Reflected Plutonium) ball due to its historical use in a beryllium-reflected critical experiment. In 2014, similar subcritical measurements were performed with the BeRP ball surrounded by nickel and tungsten. The nickel-reflected measurements were documented as a benchmark evaluation which was accepted by the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP). Similar to past measurements, the proposed work will help both identify deficiencies and quantify uncertainties in nuclear data and validate computational methods related to neutron multiplication inference for subcritical benchmark evaluations. Monte Carlo simulations were performed for the preliminary design of a subcritical Copper-Reflected - phase Plutonium (SCRP) integral benchmark experiment. Specifically, MCNP{sup R} version 6 was used to determine the k{sub eff} and associated nuclear data sensitivities for different preliminary configurations (reflector thickness, material type). The final experimental design process will include continuous-energy nuclear data sensitivity analysis. This will help assess the potential impact of this integral measurement as it relates to international efforts to continuously improve current libraries (ENDF, JEFF, JENDL etc) that still tend to over/under-estimate the measured results of integral experiments, sometimes significantly. Deficiencies in underlying nuclear data quantities such as Nubar have been shown to have an effect on inferred values from subcritical measurements as well. The proposed experiments and subsequent computational validation will help identify such deficiencies. It will also help validate new nuclear data evaluations, including one for Cu that was recently performed in the resolved region up to 100 MeV for {sup 65}Cu and {sup 63}Cu which is expected to improve Cu-related benchmark simulation performance. The final experimental design phase will also include simulation results that will incorporate the detectors that will be used for the subcritical measurements. For the benchmark portion of the measurements, the main detectors that are being considered are portable neutron multiplicity counters made up of {sup 3}He tubes embedded in polyethylene and lined with cadmium. These detectors employ a data acquisition system that produces list-mode data (correlated information where each event is listed sequentially) that can be analyzed using the Feynman variance-to-mean method. Other detector systems including SNAP (single {sup 3}He tube embedded in polyethylene), and a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector are being considered for supplementary measurements only and are not intended to be used for the final benchmark measurements. Decoupling the supplementary detectors from the system eliminates any contribution to the total system multiplication, and greatly simplifies the final computational benchmark model. Therefore, an optimization of the portable neutron multiplicity counter placement in the benchmark measurements will be performed to ensure that there is minimal contribution to the total system multiplication. In addition, new temperature measurement techniques and hardware will be explored. (authors)

42 ENGINEERING↗

Lean, premixed, prevaporized combustor conceptual design study

Phase 1 of the Lean Premixed-Prevaporized Comubstor Design Study is a nine month analytical study effort with no experimental or testing activities included. The program has the objective to design and analyze advanced combustor concepts with features for fuel premixing and prevaporization upstream of the combustion zone for use in future subsonic aircrafts with features for fuel premixing and prevaporization upstream of the combustion zone for use in future subsonic aircraft engines. All of the designs also embody some form of variable geometry for combustor flow modulation. The primary criterion for these designs is low oxides of nitrogen emissions at stratospheric cruise conditions. Four combustor concepts are being designed for the NASA/GE Energy Efficient Engine (EEE) envelope and cycle. Current status of the program is that the four concepts sized for the EEE were designed and are currently undergoing analysis and evaluation.

Ekstedt, E. E.↗

Anti-Phase Vortex Reduction Control for Rotor Noise Suppression

An investigation is conducted in 2019 under the NASA Ames Center Innovation Funds (CIF) project entitled “Anti-Phase Vortex Reduction Control for Rotor Noise Suppression“ to experimentally validate an anti-phase rotor noise suppression concept. The first objective of the investigation is to conduct computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to investigate the noise characteristics of several anti-phase rotor designs. The second objective is to conduct a series of acoustic tests of anti-phase rotors in an anechoic chamber at Pennsylvania State University (PSU) to evaluate the merit of the anti-phase rotor concept. The CFD investigation seeks to optimize the anti-phase alternating trailing edge patterns for rotor noise suppression. The design objective is to maximize the noise reduction while maintaining the aerodynamic thrust. The investigation is performed using a three-dimensional (3D) Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) commercial solver STAR-CCM+ together with the Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings (FW-H) formula to obtain the aerodynamic thrust and far-field noise level. An acoustic study is conducted for 13 anti-phase design candidates based on a proprietary rotor design. The CAD geometry of the rotor is furnished by PSU. These design candidates include different alternating trailing edge (TE) waveforms, TE segment lengths, TE deflection amplitudes, and transition characteristics. The best design candidate among those explored is an anti-phase rotor that has a four-period TE waveform which results in a reduction in far-field noise level of 2.1 dB in the hover condition and a reduction of 1.1 dB in the forward flight condition at 9.7 m/s. A further acoustic study is conducted for a different rotor manufactured by APC. Five APC rotor design candidates are simulated. The best anti-phase design candidate for the APC rotor results in a reduction in far-field noise level of 4.0 dB in the hover condition. An in-phase design candidate is also studied. This in-phase design provides a noise reduction of 2.5 dB. A series of acoustic experiments in the PSU anechoic chamber have been conducted in July 2019 and October 2019. Both anti-phase and in-phase rotors fabricated for the left-hand and right-hand rotations are tested. In the hover condition, all the rotors do not provide sufficient evidence of improved acoustic performance. However, the experimental data in the hover condition are deemed to be inconclusive due to the flow recirculation in the anechoic chamber caused by the rotor downwash. In the forward flight condition at 9.7 m/s, the anti-phase right-hand rotor produces a noise reduction by as much as 6.5 dB in the frequency range of 2000-4000 Hz, while the in-phase right-hand rotor produces a noise reduction by as much as 5 dB in the same frequency range. Both the anti-phase and in-phase left hand rotors offer no evidence of noise reduction. The difference in the acoustic performance of the left-hand and right-hand rotors could be explained by the location of the microphone array which is placed to the left side of the rotors. This microphone array location could create a bias in the sound pressure level in favor of the right-hand rotor. Using the average noise reduction values, the anti-phase 4H rotor could offer a noise reduction by as much as 3.25 dB while the in-phase 4I rotor could produce up to a 2.5 dB noise reduction. Both the computational and experimental results have provided sufficient evidence to support the noise suppression capability of the proposed anti-phase rotor concepts.

Rotor noise↗

Developing energy flexibility in clusters of buildings: A critical analysis of barriers from planning to operation

This paper examines building energy flexibility at an aggregated level and addresses the main barriers and research gaps for the development of this resource across three design and development phases: market and policy, early planning and design, and operation. We review methodologies and tools and discuss barriers, challenges, and opportunities, incorporating policy, economic, technical, professional, and social perspectives. Although various legal and regulatory frameworks exist to foster the development of energy flexibility for small buildings, financing mechanisms are limited with a significant number of perceived risks undermining private investment. For the early planning and design phase, planners and designers lack appropriate tools and face interoperability challenges, which often results in insufficient consideration of demand response programs. The review of the operational phase highlighted the socio-technical challenges related to both the complexity of deployment and communication, as well as privacy and acceptability issues. Finally, the paper proposes a number of targeted research directions to address challenges and promote greater energy flexibility deployments, including capturing building demand side dynamics, improving baseline estimations and developing seamless connectivity between buildings and districts.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

The Land Use Model Intercomparison Project (LUMIP) contribution to CMIP6: rationale and experimental design

Human land-use activities have resulted in large changes to the Earth's surface, with resulting implications for climate. In the future, land-use activities are likely to expand and intensify further to meet growing demands for food, fiber, and energy. The Land Use Model Intercomparison Project (LUMIP) aims to further advance understanding of the impacts of land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) on climate, specifically addressing the following questions. (1) What are the effects of LULCC on climate and biogeochemical cycling (past-future)? (2) What are the impacts of land management on surface fluxes of carbon, water, and energy, and are there regional land-management st rategies with the promise to help mitigate climate change? In addressing these questions, LUMIP will also address a range of more detailed science questions to get at process-level attribution, uncertainty, data requirements, and other related issues in more depth and sophistication than possible in a multi-model context to date. There will be particular focus on the separation and quantification of the effects on climate from LULCC relative to all forcings, separation of biogeochemical from biogeophysical effects of land use, the unique impacts of land-cover change vs. land-management change, modulation of land-use impact on climate by land-atmosphere coupling strength, and the extent to which impacts of enhanced CO 2 concentrations on plant photosynthesis are modulated by past and future land use.LUMIP involves three major sets of science activities: (1) development of an updated and expanded historical and future land-use data set, (2) an experimental protocol for specific LUMIP experiments for CMIP6, and (3) definition of metrics and diagnostic protocols that quantify model performance, and related sensitivities, with respect to LULCC. In this paper, we describe LUMIP activity (2), i.e., the LUMIP simulations that will formally be part of CMIP6. These experiments are explicitly designed to be complementary to simulations requested in the CMIP6 DECK and historical simulations and other CMIP6 MIPs including ScenarioMIP, C4MIP, LS3MIP, and DAMIP. LUMIP includes a two-phase experimental design. Phase one features idealized coupled and land-only model simulations designed to advance process-level understanding of LULCC impacts on climate, as well as to quantify model sensitivity to potential land-cover and land-use change. Phase two experiments focus on quantification of the historic impact of land use and the potential for future land management decisions to aid in mitigation of climate change. This paper documents these simulations in detail, explains their rationale, outlines plans for analysis, and describes a new subgrid land-use tile data request for selected variables (reporting model output data separately for primary and secondary land, crops, pasture, and urban land-use types). It is essential that modeling groups participating in LUMIP adhere to the experimental design as closely as possible and clearly report how the model experiments were executed.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Enhanced NDE systems

The goal of this contractual effort was to evaluate the Langley narrow-band ultrasonic debond detection method for a factory use configuration. Successful accomplishment requires establishing the robustness of the method, and enhancing it if necessary. It is also desirable to strive for simplicity of implementation, such as attachment to in-place scanning devices planned for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) measurements. The contract was established with three phases for the ultrasonic work: (1) establish the method and robustness of the ultrasonic method; (2) follow up on any questions which arise with respect to the method or its implementation and produce a Phase A design; and (3) fabricate and test the Phase A design. This is a report on Phase 1.

Source record↗

Conceptual design study of a nuclear Brayton turboalternator-compressor

A comprehensive analysis and conceptual design study of the turboalternator-compressor components using HeXe as the working fluid was performed. The study was conducted in three phases: general configuration analysis (Phase 1), design variations (Phase 2), and conceptual design study (Phase 3). During the Phase 1 analysis, individual turbine, alternator, compressor, and bearing and seal designs were evaluated. Six turboalternator-compressor (TAC) configurations were completed. Phase 2 consisted of evaluating one selected Phase 1 TAC configuration to calculate its performance when operating under new cycle conditions, namely, one higher and one lower turbine inlet temperature and one case with krypton as the working fluid. Based on the Phase 1 and 2 results, a TAC configuration that incorporated a radial compressor, a radial turbine, a Lundell alternator, and gas bearings was selected. During Phase 3 a new layout of the TAC was prepared that reflects the cycle state points necessary to accommodate a zirconium hydride moderated reactor and a 400 Hz alternator. The final TAC design rotates at 24,000 rpm and produces 160 kWe, 480 V, 3-phase, 400 hertz power.

Source record↗

Designing Estimator/Predictor Digital Phase-Locked Loops

Signal delays in equipment compensated automatically. New approach to design of digital phase-locked loop (DPLL) incorporates concepts from estimation theory and involves decomposition of closed-loop transfer function into estimator and predictor. Estimator provides recursive estimates of phase, frequency, and higher order derivatives of phase with respect to time, while predictor compensates for delay, called "transport lag," caused by PLL equipment and by DPLL computations.

Statman, J. I.↗

Meanline Analysis of Turbines with Choked Flow in the Object-Oriented Turbomachinery Analysis Code

The prediction of turbomachinery performance characteristics is an important part of the conceptual aircraft engine design process. During this phase, the designer must examine the effects of a large number of turbomachinery design parameters to determine their impact on overall engine performance and weight. The lack of detailed design information available in this phase necessitates the use of simpler meanline and streamline methods to determine the turbomachinery geometry characteristics and provide performance estimates prior to more detailed CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) analyses. While a number of analysis codes have been developed for this purpose, most are written in outdated software languages and may be difficult or impossible to apply to new, unconventional designs. The Object-Oriented Turbomachinery Analysis Code (OTAC) is currently being developed at NASA Glenn Research Center to provide a flexible meanline and streamline analysis capability in a modern object-oriented language. During the development and validation of OTAC, a limitation was identified in the code's ability to analyze and converge turbines as the flow approached choking. This paper describes a series of changes which can be made to typical OTAC turbine meanline models to enable the assessment of choked flow up to limit load conditions. Results produced with this revised model setup are provided in the form of turbine performance maps and are compared to published maps.

Choked Flow↗

Conceptual design of two-phase fluid mechanics and heat transfer facility for spacelab

Five specific experiments were analyzed to provide definition of experiments designed to evaluate two phase fluid behavior in low gravity. The conceptual design represents a fluid mechanics and heat transfer facility for a double rack in Spacelab. The five experiments are two phase flow patterns and pressure drop, flow boiling, liquid reorientation, and interface bubble dynamics. Hardware was sized, instrumentation and data recording requirements defined, and the five experiments were installed as an integrated experimental package. Applicable available hardware was selected in the experiment design and total experiment program costs were defined.

North, B. F.↗

Inverse Thermodynamics: Designing Interactions for Targeted Phase Behavior

The traditional goal of inverse self-assembly is to design interactions that drive particles toward a desired target structure. However, achieving successful self-assembly also requires tuning the thermodynamic conditions under which the structure is stable. In this work, we extend the inverse design paradigm to explicitly address this challenge by developing a framework for inverse thermodynamics, i.e., the design of interaction potentials that realize specific thermodynamic behavior. As a step in this direction, using patchy particle mixtures as a model system, we demonstrate how precise control over both bonding topology and bond energetics enables the programming of targeted phase behavior. In particular, we establish design principles for azeotropic demixing and show how to create mixtures that exhibit azeotropy at any prescribed composition. Our predictions are validated through Gibbs-ensemble simulations [Panagiotopoulos, Mol. Phys. 1987, 61, 813−826]. These results highlight the necessity of coupling structural design with thermodynamic engineering, and provide a blueprint for controlling complex phase behavior in multicomponent systems.

Azeotropes↗

Mobile terminal equipment design utilising split-loop phase-lock techniques

The design and resultant performance of the terminal equipment in a mobile satellite system is vitally important in respect to the overall cost/performance compromise of the whole system. Improvements in system performance which also result in a reduction of the equipment cost are rare. However, this paper details a significant advance in terminal design, utilizing a novel form of 'split-loop' phase locked receiver/downconverter system to enable an accurate, stable and wide coverage terminal to be realized at a reduced cost. The system has the capability of automatically locking onto any carrier within a complete transponder, and can cope with severe amplitude modulation and fading effects.

Kenington, P. B.↗

Design of tangential viewing phase contrast imaging for turbulence measurements in JT-60SA

A tangential viewing phase contrast imaging system is being designed for the JT-60SA tokamak to investigate microturbulence. In order to obtain localized information on the turbulence, a spatial-filtering technique is applied, based on magnetic shearing. The tangential viewing geometry enhances the radial localization. The probing laser beam is injected tangentially and traverses the entire plasma region including both low and high field sides. The spatial resolution for an Internal Transport Barrier discharge is estimated at 30%–70% of the minor radius at k = 5 cm{sup −1}, which is the typical expected wave number of ion scale turbulence such as ion temperature gradient/trapped electron mode.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOME Reactor Testing User Guide

DOME User Guide History DOME User Guide Introduction User Engagement Lifecycle for DOME Phase 1 – Front End Engineering and Experiment Design (FEEED) Phase 2 – Detailed Design & Long Lead Procurement Phase 3 – Fabrication, Training, & Delivery Phase 4 – Installation & Testing Phase 5 – Removal & Disposal Next steps

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗