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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 1,333 records · Page 74

Fluid structural interaction simulation of the MP-1 plate performance irradiated in the advanced test reactor

Due to the high neutron fluxes they generate and increased heat transfer performance, plate type fuels are used in the U.S. high-performance research reactors. During irradiation, a significant amount of fission energy (i.e., ~200 MeV per atom) is released by the U-235 chain reaction that is carried away by the coolant. Through thermal hydraulic analysis, the coolant’s heat transfer capability is investigated to ensure that the desired fuel temperature can be maintained. At high temperatures, the plate undergoes elastic/plastic deformation, creep, and swelling as a result of both the temperature gradients and the fission gas production within the fuel. These effects are studied via fuel performance analysis. When the plate deformation is small enough that the coolant flow remains relatively unchanged, conducting these two types of analyses independently will suffice. But at high fuel burnups, the swollen plates may encroach into the coolant channels that separate the fuel plates from each other and cause these channels to narrow. Large reductions in channel gap size imperil cooling performance, causing fuel temperatures to rise. Further, if the plate deformation is asymmetric, the fuel centerline will shift toward one side of the channel, causing an uneven reduction in coolability. In addition, a boehmite (oxide) layer will, over time, grow on the plate surface, further obstructing the heat transfer process. To precisely predict fuel temperatures/deformation, a complete coupled analysis that considers coolant flow, heat transfer, oxide growth, elastic/plastic deformation, creep, and swelling is needed; however, this type of analysis method is not available in the literature. To fill the gap, this research developed a fluid structure interaction (FSI) approach to the fuel plate analysis, then successfully applied it to the Mini-Plate (MP)-1 experiment, which was irradiated in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) for both one and two cycles. The complete analysis coupled STAR-CCM+, a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) software for calculating flow, with Abaqus, a finite element analysis code for calculating plate deformation. Improvements in the results were found when comparing the fully coupled analysis to the independently conducted analyses but they were not significant due to the miniature size of the plates and the relatively short irradiation time. In the future, the fully coupled approach presented herein will be applied to full-size fuel plates with longer irradiation cycles once additional experiments become available.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Compatibility of an FeCrAl alloy with flowing Pb-Li in a thermal convection loop

A mono-metallic thermal convection loop (TCL) fabricated from alloy APMT (Fe21Cr5Al3Mo) tubing and filled with 0.025 m long tensile specimens of the same alloy was operated continuously for 1000 h with commercially pure Pb-17 at.%Li (Pb-Li) at a peak temperature of 550 ± 1.5 °C and a temperature gradient of ~116 °C. The resulting Pb-Li flow rate was ~0.0067 m/s. A 1050 °C pre-oxidation treatment (to form an external alumina scale) given to most specimens exposed within the TCL decreased total mass loss by a factor of 3–30 compared to adjacent specimens that were not pre-oxidized. However, all specimens exposed above 500 °C lost mass suggesting that the alumina scale was not entirely stable in flowing Pb-Li at these temperatures. Post-exposure room temperature tensile tests indicated that the mechanical properties of APMT were substantially influenced by extended exposures in the range of 435–490 °C, which caused an increase in yield strength (~65%) and a corresponding decrease in ductility associated with α' embrittlement. Specimens annealed in argon at the same temperature exhibited identical changes without exposure to Pb-Li. In conclusion, scanning transmission electron microscopy revealed Cr-clusters within the microstructure in specimens exposed in the low temperature regions (<490 °C) of the TCL, indicating the formation of α' consistent with the mechanism of α' embrittlement.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Development of a composite geodetic structure for space construction, phase 1A

The development of a geodetic beam and beam builder for on orbit construction of large truss type space structures is discussed. The geodetic beam is a lightweight, open lattice structure composed of an equilateral gridwork of crisscrossing rods. The beam provides a high degree of stiffness and minimizes structural distortion, due to temperature gradients, through the incorporation of a new graphite and glass reinforced thermoplastic composite material with a low coefficient of thermal expansion. A low power consuming, high production rate, beam builder automatically fabricates the geodetic beams in space using rods preprocessed on Earth. Three areas of the development are focused upon; (1) geodetic beam designs for local attachment of equipment or beam to beam joining in a parallel or crossing configurations, (2) evaluation of long life pultruded rods capable of service temperatures higher than possible with the HMS/P1700 rod material, and (3) evalaution of high temperature joint encapsulant materials.

Source record↗

Application of path-independent integrals to elevated temperature crack growth

The applicability of the J-integral in elasto-plastic fracture mechanics is limited to isothermal, monotonic loading conditions from the theoretical viewpoint, while in many applications, for instance gas turbine engines, crack growth occurs in the presence of cyclic inelastic loading, thermomechanical loading and temperature gradients. A number of path-independent (P-I) integrals have been proposed which do not have the restrictions of the J-integral. A review indicates that four of these integrals, although they are not the classical conservation integrals, are path-independent under these complex loading conditions. This paper describes a combined analytical and experimental effort to evaluate the ability of these four P-I integrals to correlate the crack growth data of Alloy 718 at elevated temperatures. Results for uniform temperature, 538 C, cases indicate that all these integrals are capable of correlating the crack growth data over a wide range of cyclic plasticity.

Kim, K. S.↗

Demonstrate the Out-of-Pile Performance of a Real-Time Measurement System to Measure Thermal Conductivity Based on Photo Thermal Radiometry

SUMMARY The goal of this project is to develop a fiber-based instrument to perform in-reactor thermal conductivity measurements of fuels and materials. This instrument is based on photothermal radiometry (PTR) and involves heating a sample locally and measuring the induced temperature gradient by collecting blackbody radiation [2]. Thermal conductivity of the sample is extracted by comparing experimental results with a continuum-based model [3,4]. As a laser-based technique, PTR is a non-contact measurement technique that can be performed remotely and non-destructively. In addition, it has several advantages over other photothermal techniques, making it an ideal approach for in-situ measurement of thermal conductivity of nuclear fuels. Because blackbody radiation increases with emissivity and temperature, the PTR technique works well with unprepared surfaces, and measurement accuracy increases with temperature. Moreover, this approach is capable of measuring samples with irregular or poorly defined boundary conditions, which is a common situation for friable spent fuels.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Decoding the dynamics of poleward shifting climate zones using aqua-planet model simulations

Growing evidence indicates that the atmospheric and oceanic circulation experiences a systematic poleward shift in a warming climate. However, the complexity of the climate system, including the coupling between the ocean and the atmosphere, natural climate variability and land-sea distribution, tends to obfuscate the causal mechanism underlying the circulation shift. Here, using an idealised coupled aqua-planet model, we explore the mechanism of the shifting circulation, by isolating the contributing factors from the direct CO 2 forcing, the indirect ocean surface warming, and the wind-stress feedback from the ocean dynamics. We find that, in contrast to the direct CO 2 forcing, ocean surface warming, in particular an enhanced subtropical ocean warming, plays an important role in driving the circulation shift. This enhanced subtropical ocean warming emerges from the background Ekman convergence of surface anomalous heat in the absence of the ocean dynamical change. Additionally, it expands the tropical warm water zone, causes a poleward shift of the mid-latitude temperature gradient, hence forces a corresponding shift in the atmospheric circulation and the associated wind pattern. The shift in wind, in turn drives a shift in the ocean circulation. Our simulations, despite being idealised, capture the main features of the observed climate changes, for example, the enhanced subtropical ocean warming, poleward shift of the patterns of near-surface wind, sea level pressure, storm tracks, precipitation and large-scale ocean circulation, implying that increase in greenhouse gas concentrations not only raises the temperature, but can also systematically shift the climate zones poleward.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Gyrokinetic simulations of momentum flux parasitic to free-energy transfer

Ion Landau damping interacts with a portion of the E×B drift to cause a non-diffusive outward flux of co-current toroidal angular momentum. Quantitative evaluation of this momentum flux requires nonlinear simulations to determine fL, the fraction of fluctuation free energy that passes through ion Landau damping, in fully developed turbulence. Nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations with the GKW code confirm the presence of the systematic symmetry-breaking momentum flux. For simulations with adiabatic electrons, fL scales inversely with the ion temperature gradient, because only the ion curvature drift can transfer free energy to the electrostatic potential. Although kinetic electrons should in principle relax this restriction, the ion Landau damping measured in collisionless kinetic-electron simulations remained at low levels comparable with ion-curvature-drift transfer, except when magnetic shear was strong. A set of simulations scanning the electron pitch-angle scattering rate showed only a weak variation of fL with the electron collisionality. However, collisional-electron simulations with electron temperature greater than ion temperature unambiguously showed electron-curvature-drift transfer supporting ion Landau damping, leading to a corresponding enhancement of the symmetry-breaking momentum flux.

intrinsic rotation↗

Solutal convection induced macrosegregation and the dendrite to composite transition in off-eutectic alloys

The effect of solute gradient induced convection during vertical solidification on the macrosegregation of Pb-rich Pb-Sn off-eutectic alloys is determined experimentally as a function of composition and growth rate. In many cases macrosegregation is sufficient to prevent the plane front solidification of the alloy. The transition from dendritic to composite structure is found to occur when the composition of the solid is close enough to the eutectic composition to satisfy a stability criterion based on the ratio of the liquid temperature gradient to growth rate. A vertical or horizontal magnetic field of 0.1 T (1 kilogauss) does not reduce macrosegregation, but downward solidification (liquid below solid) virtually eliminates macrosegregation in small (3 mm) diameter samples.

Boettinger, W. J.↗

Understanding Mesoscale Aggregation of Shallow Cumulus Convection Using Large-Eddy Simulation

Marine shallow cumulus convection, often mixed with thin stratocumulus, is commonly aggregated into mesoscale patches. The mechanism and conditions supporting this aggregation are elucidated using 36 h large-eddy simulations (LES) on a 128 3 128 km doubly periodic domain, using climatological summertime forcings for a location southeast of Hawaii. Within 12 h, mesoscale patches of higher humidity, more vigorous cumulus convection, and thin detrained cloud at the trade inversion base develop spontaneously. Mesoscale 16 3 16 km subdomains are composited into quartiles of column total water path and their heat and moisture budgets analyzed. The weak temperature gradient approximation is used to explain how apparent heating perturbations drive simulated mesoscale circulations, which in turn induce relative moistening of the moistest subdomains, a form of gross moist instability. Self-aggregation is affected by precipitation and mesoscale feedbacks of radiative and surface fluxes but still occurs without them. In that minimal-physics setting, the humidity budget analysis suggests self-aggregation is more likely if horizontal-mean humidity is a concave function of the horizontal-mean virtual potential temperature, a condition favored by radiative cooling and cold advection within the boundary layer.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Spin-Nernst effect in the paramagnetic regime of an antiferromagnetic insulator

In this study, we theoretically investigate a pure spin Hall current driven by a longitudinal temperature gradient, i.e., the spin Nernst effect (SNE), in a paramagnetic state of a collinear antiferromagnetic insulator with the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. The SNE in a magnetic ordered state in such an insulator was proposed by Cheng et al. [R. Cheng, S. Okamoto, and D. Xiao, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 217202 (2016)]. Here we show that the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction can generate a pure spin Hall current even without magnetic ordering. By using a Schwinger boson mean-field theory, we calculate the temperature dependence of SNE in a disordered phase. Lastly, we also discuss the implication of our results to experimental realizations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Land Surface Microwave Emissivities Derived from AMSR-E and MODIS Measurements with Advanced Quality Control

A microwave emissivity database has been developed with data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS (AMSR-E) and with ancillary land surface temperature (LST) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the same Aqua spacecraft. The primary intended application of the database is to provide surface emissivity constraints in atmospheric and surface property retrieval or assimilation. An additional application is to serve as a dynamic indicator of land surface properties relevant to climate change monitoring. The precision of the emissivity data is estimated to be significantly better than in prior databases from other sensors due to the precise collocation with high-quality MODIS LST data and due to the quality control features of our data analysis system. The accuracy of the emissivities in deserts and semi-arid regions is enhanced by applying, in those regions, a version of the emissivity retrieval algorithm that accounts for the penetration of microwave radiation through dry soil with diurnally varying vertical temperature gradients. These results suggest that this penetration effect is more widespread and more significant to interpretation of passive microwave measurements than had been previously established. Emissivity coverage in areas where persistent cloudiness interferes with the availability of MODIS LST data is achieved using a classification-based method to spread emissivity data from less-cloudy areas that have similar microwave surface properties. Evaluations and analyses of the emissivity products over homogeneous snow-free areas are presented, including application to retrieval of soil temperature profiles. Spatial inhomogeneities are the largest in the vicinity of large water bodies due to the large water/land emissivity contrast and give rise to large apparent temporal variability in the retrieved emissivities when satellite footprint locations vary over time. This issue will be dealt with in the future by including a water fraction correction. Also note that current reliance on the MODIS day-night algorithm as a source of LST limits the coverage of the database in the Polar Regions. We will consider relaxing the current restriction as part of future development.

Moncet, Jean-Luc↗

Thermal Emission From Saturn's Polar Cyclones

We have used data from the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer to map the temperatures in Saturn's polar cyclones at the highest spatial resolution obtained during the Cassini mission. We find temperature contrasts of 7 K in the upper troposphere within 1.4° of both poles, roughly 50 percent larger than earlier measurements at lower spatial resolution. The polar hot spots weaken with depth, disappearing near 500 mbar. In the stratosphere, the polar hot spot becomes broader, extending 4° from the poles, and weakens with altitude disappearing near 1 mbar. A thermal relaxation model shows that the tropospheric hot spot is consistent with adiabatic heating from subsidence with a vertical velocity of about −0.05 mm/s above 500 mbar. The observed temperature gradients imply that the winds in the polar cyclone decay with increasing altitude over roughly three pressure scale heights above the 200‐mbar level.

Polar↗

Gyrokinetic simulations of momentum flux parasitic to free-energy transfer

Ion Landau damping interacts with a portion of the E × B drift to cause a nondiffusive outward flux of co-current toroidal angular momentum. Quantitative evaluation of this momentum flux requires nonlinear simulations to determine f L , the fraction of fluctuation free energy that passes through ion Landau damping, in fully developed turbulence. Nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations with the GKW code confirm the presence of the systematic symmetry-breaking momentum flux. For simulations with adiabatic electrons, f L scales inversely with the ion temperature gradient, because only the ion curvature drift can transfer free energy to the electrostatic potential. Although kinetic electrons should, in principle, relax this restriction, the ion Landau damping measured in collisionless kinetic-electron simulations remained at low levels comparable with ion-curvature-drift transfer, except when magnetic shear $\hat{s}$ was strong. A set of simulations scanning the electron pitch-angle scattering rate showed only a weak variation of f L with the electron collisionality. Still, collisional-electron simulations with electron temperature greater than ion temperature unambiguously showed electron-curvature-drift transfer supporting ion Landau damping, leading to a corresponding enhancement of the symmetry-breaking momentum flux.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

FAST - A Unique Experiment and Simplified Approach to Accelerated Integral Fuel Testing

Idaho National Laboratory has a long and internationally recognized history of performing irradiation testing of advanced fast reactor fuels in the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) and the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). Since EBR-II’s decommissioning in the early 1990’s, irradiation testing has been exclusively performed in ATR. The testing of fast reactor fuels in ATR is challenging given its thermal neutron spectrum and coolant temperatures far below those prototypic of fast reactors. Adept researchers have overcome these obstacles through the use of Cadmium shrouds which attenuate all thermalized neutrons and an experiment design that fosters fuel and cladding temperatures prototypic of fast neutron reactors. Although this design has successfully demonstrated temperatures and temperature gradients that closely mimic those seen in fast reactors, irradiation performance is highly sensitive to fabrication tolerances and the time requirements necessary for high fuel burnup, where irradiation performance data of fast fuel is lacking, are significant. This work summarizes two novel experiment designs and their associated physics analyses for testing fast reactor fuels in ATR; an accelerated irradiation experiment and a fast spectrum experiment. The accelerated irradiation experiment does not utilize a Cadmium shroud, has been shown to triple the burnup rate, yet yields temperatures and radial power profiles prototypic of fast reactor fuels. The fast spectrum experiment utilizes a booster fuel element that that hardens the incident neutron spectrum and also yields temperatures and radial power profiles prototypic of fast reactor fuels. These experiment designs efficiently reduce irradiation time requirements, are more economical, and significantly increase ATR throughput. Fast reactor experiments that capitalize on these designs expedite irradiation performance data for fast reactor fuels and provide information invaluable to fuel performance modeling and simulation validation over a wide range of parameters.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Evaluation of Thermal Neutron Scattering Cross Section of Uranium Silicide with Ab Initio Lattice Dynamics

Uranium silicide (U 3 Si 2 ) is a candidate material for the high-density nuclear fuel in commercial light water reactors [1], [2]. Its higher uranium density, 11.3 g-U/cm3, compared to that of uranium dioxide (UO 2 ), 9.7 g-U/cm3, can improve the performance of a nuclear reactor while using low enriched uranium (LEU) and diversify the choice of cladding materials [1]–[3]. It also has a higher thermal conductivity than UO 2 , which can reduce the thermal stress on the material caused by a temperature gradient across the fuel pellet and provide a larger margin for some postulated accidents [1], [2], [4]. Furthermore, compared to U3Si, another high-density fuel candidate, it has better resistance to in-pile swelling due to less irradiation-induced rapid amorphization [1], [3]. Corresponding to its importance in nuclear engineering, many previous studies have reported the properties of U3Si2. Experiments showed that U 3 Si 2 is a paramagnetic (PM) metal, where a slight linear increase in magnetic susceptibility was measured with increasing temperature [5], [6]. In addition, thermodynamic quantities such as thermal expansion coefficient, heat capacity, and thermal conductivity were experimentally determined over a wide temperature range [1], [7], [8]. In several computational studies, ab initio atomistic simulations based on density functional theory (DFT) were performed to calculate various properties including elastic constants, electronic density of states (DOS), and phonon dispersion curves [9]–[12]. Nevertheless, thermal neutron scattering cross sections, which are critical to the prediction of the parameters in reactor physics that are ultimately related to reactor criticality, have not yet been evaluated for U3Si2. The scattering cross section can be calculated from the phonon DOS, or the energy spectrum of lattice vibrations, of the crystalline system [13], [14]. However, there is also no experimental data available for the phonon DOS of U 3 Si 2 . While some computational studies reported the phonon DOS and/or dispersion curves from ab initio simulations [9]–[12], the accuracy cannot be guaranteed because it is unclear whether the spin-polarization behavior of PM U 3 Si 2 was properly described. In the present study, the thermal neutron scattering cross section for U 3 Si 2 is evaluated for the first time by calculating the phonon DOS for U3Si2 from ab initio lattice dynamics (AILD) simulations based on DFT. First, U 3 Si 2 is modeled based on the experimental structure, and AILD simulations are performed on the modeled U3Si2 to optimize the structure. Next, AILD simulations are performed for supercells with atomic displacement to calculate Hellmann-Feynman forces. Based on the calculated forces, partial phonon DOSs for U and Si are obtained, and the thermal neutron scattering law (TSL) for U 3 Si 2 is finally evaluated. To verify the accuracy of the calculations in the present study, the calculation results are compared with experimental data on the structure and heat capacity of U3Si2 [1], [7], [8], [15].

Geometry Optimization↗

Microphysics of Waves and Instabilities in the Solar Wind and Their Macro Manifestations in the Corona and Interplanetary Space

A breakthrough resulted from the investigation of plasma heating by ion-cyclotron waves in rapidly expanding flow tubes, often referred to as coronal funnels and expected to originate in the low transition region where the temperature gradient in the solar atmosphere rises very sharply. The investigation was made using a three-fluid plasma consisting of protons, electrons and alpha particles. It was found that these waves heat the solar wind plasma by directly heating the heavier species, namely the alphas. Although only alpha particles dissipate the waves, the strong Coulomb coupling between alpha particles and protons, and between protons and electrons, makes it possible for protons and electrons to be heated also to more than one million degrees, i.e. to coronal temperatures. Interestingly, the extreme heating of the alpha particles, however, is such that they end up being hotter and faster, and are no longer in thermal equilibrium with the protons and electrons. once the rapid expansion of the flow tube is complete, the particles return to thermal equilibrium. The observational signatures of these results are such that if spectral lines formed below a million degrees are observed at different heights in the corona, the inferred outflow velocities may vary by a factor of 5 to 6. In addition, if minor ions are indeed much faster than protons and electrons at temperatures below a million degrees, then one cannot reliably determine the bulk outflow velocity of the solar wind in that region from inferences of minor ion outflow velocities. A detailed parameter study on the resonant interaction between ion cyclotron waves and alpha particles and other minor ions is also under way. It is found that the highest frequency of the waves, or the location of the heating determines whether a thermal equilibrium can be established between minor ions and protons. As the maximum frequency is increased, alpha particles and protons become farther away from thermal equilibrium. As the maximum frequency becomes smaller, alpha particles and protons are more likely to be in thermal equilibrium. However, if the maximum frequency is below a critical value, ion cyclotron resonance occurs at a greater height and a hot corona cannot be produced.

Habbal, Shadia Rifai↗

Characterization of dissipative regions of a N-doped superconducting radio-frequency cavity

We report radio-frequency measurements of quality factors and temperature mapping of a nitrogen doped Nb superconducting RF cavity. Cavity cutouts of hot and cold spots were studied with low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and secondary electron microscopy. Temperature mapping revealed a substantial reduction of the residual resistance upon cooling the cavity with a greater temperature gradient and hysteretic losses at the quench location, pointing to trapped vortices as the dominant source of residual surface resistance. Analysis of the tunneling spectra in the framework of a proximity effect theory shows that hot spots have a reduced pair potential and a wider distribution of the contact resistance between the Nb and the top Nb oxide. Alone, these degraded superconducting properties account for a much weaker excess dissipation as compared with the vortex contribution. Based on the correlation between the quasiparticle density of states and temperature mapping, we suggest that degraded superconducting properties may facilitate vortex nucleation or settling of trapped flux during cooling the cavity through the critical temperature.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Confinement effects on the solar thermal heating process of TiN nanoparticle solutions

We propose a theoretical approach to describe quantitatively the heating process in aqueous solutions of dispersed TiN nanoparticles under solar illumination. The temperature gradients of the solution with different concentrations of the TiN nanoparticles are calculated when confinement effects of the container on the solar absorption are taken into account. We find that the average penetration of solar radiation into the solution is significantly reduced upon increasing the nanoparticle concentration. At high concentrations, our numerical results show that photons are localized near the surface of the solution. Moreover, the heat energy balance equation at the vapor–liquid interface is used to describe the solar steam generation. The theoretical time dependence of temperature rise and vaporization weight losses is consistent with experiments. Our calculations give strong evidence that the substantially localized heating near the vapor–liquid interface is the main reason for the more efficient steam generation process by floating plasmonic membranes when compared to randomly dispersed nanoparticles. The validated theoretical model suggests that our approach can be applied towards new predictions and other experimental data descriptions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗