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NASA NTRS1999

Polarization Reversal Over Flooded Regions and Applications to Large-Scale Flood Mapping with Spaceborne Scatterometers

We present the polarization reversal in backscatter over flooded land regions, and demonstrate for the first time the utility of spaceborne Ku-band scatterometer for large-scale flood mapping. Scatterometer data were collected over the globe by the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) operated at 14 GHz on the Japanese ADEOS spacecraft from September 1996 to June 1997. During this time span, several severe floods occurred. Over most land surface, vertical polarization backscatter (Sigma(sub upsilon(upsilon)) is larger than horizontal polarization backscatter (sigma(sub hh)). Such polarization characteristics is reversed and sigma(sub upsilon(upsilon)) is smaller than sigma(sub hh) over flooded regions, except under a dense forest canopy. The total backscatter from the flooded landscape consists of direct backscatter and boundary-interaction backscatter. The direct term is contributed by direct backscattering from objects protruding above the water surface, and by backscattering from waves on the water surface. The boundary-interaction term is contributed by the forward scattering from the protruding objects and then reflected from the water surface, and also by the forward scattering from these objects after the water-surface reflection. Over flooded regions, the boundary-interaction term is dominant at large incidence angles and the strong water-surface reflection is much larger for horizontal polarization than the vertical one due to the Brewster effect in transverse-magnetic waves. These scattering mechanisms cause the polarization reversal over flooded regions. An example obtained with the Analytic Wave Theory is used to illustrate the scattering mechanisms leading to the polarization reversal. We then demonstrate the utility of spaceborne Ku-band scatterometer for large-scale flood mapping. We process NSCAT data to obtain the polarization ratio sigma(sub hh)/sigma(sub upsilon(upsilon)) with colocated data at incidence angles larger than 40 deg. The results over Asian summer monsoon regions in September-October 1996 indicate flooded areas in many countries such as Bangladesh, India, Lao, Vietnam, Cambodia, and China. Reports documented by the United Nation Department of Humanitarian Affairs (now called UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) show loss of many lives and severe flood related damages which affected many million people in the corresponding flooded areas. We also map the NSCAT polarization ratio over the same regions in the "dry season" in January 1997 as a reference to confirm our results. Furthermore, we obtain concurrent ocean wind fields also derived from NSCAT data, and Asia topographic data (USGS GTOPO30) to investigate the flooded area. The results show that winds during summer monsoon season blowing inland, which perplex flood problems. Overlaying the topographic map over NSCAT results reveals an excellent correspondence between the confinement of flooded area within the relevant topographic features, which very well illustrates the value of topographic wetness index. Finally, we discuss the applications of future spaceborne scatterometers, including QuikSCAT and Seawinds, for flood mapping over the globe.

Nghiem, Son V.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Shock-Wave/Boundary-Layer Interaction (SWBLI) Experiments in the Presence of Transition-to-Turbulence on a Flat Plate Model in the NASA LaRC 31-Inch Mach 10 Air Tunnel

Historically, there have been a limited number of studies involving Transitional Shock-Wave/Boundary-Layer Interactions (XSWBLI) in hypersonic flows, the majority of which have been performed at Mach Numbers of 7.5 and below. Additionally, there have been even fewer such experiments which incorporate non-intrusive and optical diagnostics. NASA Langley Research Center (NASA LaRC), in collaboration with The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and The University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI), is currently planning and preparing for a series of experimental aerodynamic tests using the NASA LaRC 31-inch Mach 10 Air Tunnel. The experiments will primarily focus on studying the dynamics of Shock-Wave/Boundary-Layer Interactions (SWBLI) in the presence of transition (XSWBLI) and turbulence (SWTBLI) on a large, flat plate model at a freestream Mach number of 10. Besides continued interest in understanding the flow at high Mach numbers, executing such tests at Mach 10 avoids some known concerns and will aid in solving new problems. XSWBLI are a highly unsteady phenomena and the generation of XSWBLI at lower Mach numbers can prove to be a significant challenge. This concern will be somewhat mitigated in the Mach 10 flow, as boundary layers become increasingly stabilized, but some difficulty in achieving transition is still expected. Modelling SWBLI in the presence of transitional and turbulent boundary layers has also proven to be difficult, so a high-Mach number experiment which applies non-intrusive and optical diagnostics will aid in solving a unique problem as well as advancing the understanding and characterization of an aerodynamic surface at Mach 10.The NASA LaRC 31-inch Wind Tunnel incorporates a test section having a cross-section of 31-inches × 31-inches and provides optical access to the test section via three (3) ultra-violet (UV) transmitting windows on the top, side, and bottom. The Mach 10 operating conditions will consist of pressures (P0) ranging from 2.4 to 10MPa (348 to 1,450 psi) at a temperature (T0) of 1,000 K (1,800 °R). The NASA LaRC 31-inch wind tunnel will deliver 1-minute blow-down runs, of which 30-45 seconds will be consumed to reach the aforementioned test conditions. The pump down time between runs will be approximately 45-60 minutes, which will provide for 6-10 test runs per day over the course of a weeklong entry. The proposed flat plate model will be constructed of stainless steel with geometry consisting of a10-inch × 30-inch upper surface and a 2-inch thickness. The model will be designed to support multiple leading-edge inserts in order to examine blunt, round, and sharp leading edges at Mach 10. Adjustments will be made to manage boundary layer thickness as well as the strength and size of the shock interaction region for each test. Measurements and diagnostics will be performed though high-speed Schlieren, on-body high-speed pressure transducers, IR thermography, and oil flow visualization. Hypersonic vehicle applications have and will continue to emerge at the forefront of aerospace. The NASA-UTSA-UTSI team realizes the value of characterizing SWBLI, XSWBLI, and SWTBLI behaviors well beyond single-digit hypersonic Mach numbers. As hypersonic vehicle speed capabilities continue to increase, measurement and diagnostic methods for Mach numbers of 10 and beyond will provide the foundation for a firm understanding of flow field behavior which will directly influence the advancement of technologies towards the design and manufacturing of high-speed aerodynamic surfaces, controls, thermal protection systems, acoustic treatments, and structural components. The use of non-intrusive and optical diagnostic methods in such experimentation is pivotal in developing the visualization and empirical data necessary to advance the aforementioned technology areas.

Shockwave/Boundary-Layer Interactions↗

DOE OSTI2016

Evaporative thermal resistance and its influence on microlayer evaporation

The ability to predict various aspects of boiling is important for both safety and design of water-cooled reactors. Component-scale modelling is necessarily done by semi-mechanistic, semi-empirical approaches, generally based on heat flux partitioning. This needs to be informed by multiple detailed experimental observations of boiling behavior. Such measurements are difficult to make, and much effort is being applied to microscopic computational modelling of the detailed boiling process. Aims of such activities include the mechanistic prediction of growth and detachment of one bubble during nucleate boiling, and the quantification of the associated heat transfer partitioning (evaporation, micro-convection, quenching). We here study a subset of the full problem, and focus on the thermal response of the boiling substrate to the early growth of a single vapour bubble during pool boiling of water at atmospheric pressure. In such conditions, a thin liquid film ('microlayer') is left behind beneath the bubble as this expands. The microlayer evaporates due to the temperature difference between the solid-liquid and vapour-liquid interface. Its thickness being small, of order of microns, the local evaporation rate per unit area of bubble base can be high, up to one kilogram per second. Microlayer evaporation can therefore be important in early stages of bubble growth. In this contribution, thermal response of the boiling substrate to microlayer evaporation is studied with a two-dimensional, axisymmetric transient conduction model, coupled with an algebraic sub-model of the liquid film. The flow of heat through the microlayer is modelled as conduction in the liquid and with a pseudo-convective 'evaporative' heat transfer coefficient at the liquid-vapor interface, accounting for the interface superheat driving the evaporation process. Thermal coupling (conjugate heat transfer) between microlayer and solid substrate is obtained with a time dependent non-homogeneous Neumann boundary condition, derived from the algebraic microlayer sub-model and applied at the top surface of the solid computational domain. The thermal resistance associated to the evaporative heat transfer mechanism is shown to depend on a highly uncertain parameter, termed an 'evaporation coefficient'. After some exploratory calculations of the likely importance of the evaporative resistance in the present context, the model is employed to interpret some recent microlayer measurements. Satisfactory agreement between computed and measured evolution of the microlayer profile is obtained if small values (between 0.01 and 0.10) of the evaporation coefficient are used. The order of magnitude of the predicted evaporation rate from the microlayer is consistent with experimental observations. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Low-energy probes of no-scale SU(5) super-GUTs

We explore the possible values of the μ → eγ branching ratio, BR(μ → eγ), and the electron dipole moment (eEDM), d e , in no-scale SU(5) super-GUT models with the boundary conditions that soft supersymmetry-breaking matter scalar masses vanish at some high input scale, M in , above the GUT scale, M GUT . We take into account the constraints from the cosmological cold dark matter density, Ω CDM h 2 , the Higgs mass, M h , and the experimental lower limit on the lifetime for p → K + ν¯, the dominant proton decay mode in these super-GUT models. Reconciling this limit with Ω CDM h 2 and M h requires the Higgs field responsible for the charge-2/3 quark masses to be twisted, and possibly also that responsible for the charge-1/3 and charged-lepton masses, with model-dependent soft supersymmetry-breaking masses. We consider six possible models for the super-GUT initial conditions, and two possible choices for quark flavor mixing, contrasting their predictions for proton decay with versions of the models in which mixing effects are neglected. We find that τ(p → K + ν¯) may be accessible to the upcoming Hyper-Kamiokande experiment, whereas all the models predict BR(μ → eγ) and d e below the current and prospective future experimental sensitivities or both flavor choices, when the dark matter density, Higgs mass and current proton decay constraints are taken into account. However, there are limited regions with one of the flavor choices in two of the models where μ → e conversion on a heavy nucleus may be observable in the future. Our results indicate that there is no supersymmetric flavor problem in the class of no-scale models we consider.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Liquid-gas phase transitions and C K symmetry in quantum field theories

A general field-theoretic framework for the treatment of liquid-gas phase transitions is developed. Starting from a fundamental four-dimensional field theory at nonzero temperature and density, an effective three-dimensional field theory is derived. The effective field theory has a sign problem at finite density. Although finite density explicitly breaks charge conjugation C , there remains a symmetry under C K , where K is complex conjugation. Here, we consider four models: relativistic fermions, nonrelativistic fermions, static fermions and classical particles. The interactions are via an attractive potential due to scalar field exchange and a repulsive potential due to massive vector exchange. The field-theoretic representation of the partition function is closely related to the equivalence of the sine-Gordon field theory with a classical gas. The thermodynamic behavior is extracted from C K -symmetric complex saddle points of the effective field theory at tree level. In the cases of nonrelativistic fermions and classical particles, we find complex saddle point solutions but no first-order transitions, and neither model has a ground state at tree level. The relativistic and static fermions show a liquid-gas transition at tree level in the effective field theory. The liquid-gas transition, when it occurs, manifests as a first-order line at low temperature and high density, terminated by a critical end point. The mass matrix controlling the behavior of correlation functions is obtained from fluctuations around the saddle points. Due to the C K symmetry of the models, the eigenvalues of the mass matrix are not always real but can be complex. This then leads to the existence of disorder lines, which mark the boundaries where the eigenvalues go from purely real to complex. The regions where the mass matrix eigenvalues are complex are associated with the critical line. In the case of static fermions, a powerful duality between particles and holes allows for the analytic determination of both the critical line and the disorder lines. Depending on the values of the parameters, either zero, one, or two disorder lines are found. Our numerical results for relativistic fermions give a very similar picture.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

NASA NTRS2010

The ICARE Method

The ICARE method is a flexible, widely applicable method for systems engineers to solve problems and resolve issues in a complete and comprehensive manner. The method can be tailored by diverse users for direct application to their function (e.g. system integrators, design engineers, technical discipline leads, analysts, etc.). The clever acronym, ICARE, instills the attitude of accountability, safety, technical rigor and engagement in the problem resolution: Identify, Communicate, Assess, Report, Execute (ICARE). This method was developed through observation of Space Shuttle Propulsion Systems Engineering and Integration (PSE&I) office personnel approach in an attempt to succinctly describe the actions of an effective systems engineer. Additionally it evolved from an effort to make a broadly-defined checklist for a PSE&I worker to perform their responsibilities in an iterative and recursive manner. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Systems Engineering Handbook states, engineering of NASA systems requires a systematic and disciplined set of processes that are applied recursively and iteratively for the design, development, operation, maintenance, and closeout of systems throughout the life cycle of the programs and projects. ICARE is a method that can be applied within the boundaries and requirements of NASA s systems engineering set of processes to provide an elevated sense of duty and responsibility to crew and vehicle safety. The importance of a disciplined set of processes and a safety-conscious mindset increases with the complexity of the system. Moreover, the larger the system and the larger the workforce, the more important it is to encourage the usage of the ICARE method as widely as possible. According to the NASA Systems Engineering Handbook, elements of a system can include people, hardware, software, facilities, policies and documents; all things required to produce system-level results, qualities, properties, characteristics, functions, behavior and performance. The ICARE method can be used to improve all elements of a system and, consequently, the system-level functional, physical and operational performance. Even though ICARE was specifically designed for a systems engineer, any person whose job is to examine another person, product, or process can use the ICARE method to improve effectiveness, implementation, usefulness, value, capability, efficiency, integration, design, and/or marketability. This paper provides the details of the ICARE method, emphasizing the method s application to systems engineering. In addition, a sample of other, non-systems engineering applications are briefly discussed to demonstrate how ICARE can be tailored to a variety of diverse jobs (from project management to parenting).

Henke, Luke↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Path to Improving Simulated Properties of Low Clouds over the Beaufort Sea using Airborne In Situ Observations of Subgrid-Scale Variability

Arctic low clouds influence the evolution of the Arctic system through their effects on radiative fluxes, boundary layer mixing, stability, turbulence, humidity, and precipitation. Unfortunately, atmospheric models and retrospective analysis (reanalysis) products struggle to accurately simulate the occurrence and properties of low clouds in the Arctic. One of the main reasons for this problem are the possible unrealistic assumptions that models/reanalyses make about the subgrid-scale (SGS) variability of meteorological properties, as well as the relationship between SGS variability and grid-scale (GS) cloud properties. We utilize cloud and thermodynamic data of low level (primarily) liquid clouds collected from two aircraft campaigns conducted over the Beaufort Sea to better understand and characterize this problem. Examining data from the September 2014 Arctic Radiation-IceBridge Sea and Ice Experiment (ARISE) airborne campaign and the 1998 First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Regional Experiment (FIRE)–Arctic Cloud Experiment (ACE) reveals that GS cloud water variability is closely related with SGS distribution of total water (i.e. water vapor + cloud water). We investigate two related approaches to prediction of GS cloud properties from SGS variability: the critical saturation ratio method, and the critical relative humidity method. We find significant correlation between GS cloud water and SGS supersaturation when the critical saturation ratio is set at 100%, as well as a notable relationship between GS cloud water and the width of the SGS total water distribution. Critical relative humidity also compares well with GS cloud water. However, we also find that the assumptions of a static critical saturation ratio of 100% to be unrealistic, as well as a fixed SGS distribution width. Empirical calculations from the ARISE data show a large sensitivity of these SGS variables to GS relative humidity, and so a SGS parameterization allowing them to vary according to GS thermodynamic properties may result in more realistic GS cloud water values.

J. Brant Dodson↗

DOE OSTI2019

TROPoe retrievals from SGP C1

The TROPoe (formerly called AERIoe) algorithm (Turner and Löhnert 2014, 2021; Turner and Blumberg 2019) retrieves profiles of temperature and water vapor mixing ratio, together with cloud properties for a single-layer cloud (i.e., LWP, effective radius), from AERI-observed infrared radiance spectrum. The data can be used to characterize the evolution of the planetary boundary layer and boundary layer clouds. This data set was collected at the ARM SGP Central Facility (CF) during and after the MicroPulse DIAL Demonstration (MPDDEMO) field campaign. The TROPoe retrieval was run at 5-minute resolution, but retrievals can be performed at the maximum temporal resolution of the AERI instrument (order 30 s) -- if this higher temporal resolution is desired, please contact Dave Turner. This is a physical-iterative retrieval method. The retrieval of thermodynamic profiles from spectral infrared radiance observations is an ill-posed problem, and thus constraints need to be included in the retrieval algorithm to provide physically plausible results. Here, we use a climatology of radiosonde profiles collected at the ARM SGP site during the summer as our prior information in an optimal estimation framework. Surface meteorology and output from the rapid-refresh (RAP) numerical weather prediction model (above 4 km) were used as additional constraints by the retrieval. As the method uses an optimal estimation framework, a full error covariance matrix of each solution is included in the output file. The 1-sigma uncertainty of each retrieved variable, which is derived from the error covariance matrix, is included for each scientific field and is named "sigma_X", where "X" is the name of the scientific field (e.g., 'temperature'). The information content in the AERI observations, which is in the "dfs" field, on the thermodynamic profiles is primarily concentrated in the lowest 3 km or up to cloud base; the retrieved data should not be used above that level (or used with caution). There is an overall "qc_flag" field that is set when a retrieval should not be trusted. However, the logic that sets this flag did not work correctly, and it should not be used. Instead, consider all retrievals that have a value for "converged_flag" greater than 0 as valid. If you have any questions, contact Dave Turner. This is Release_2_12 of the TROPoe algorithm.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2019

Comparison of heavy-ion transport simulations: Collision integral with pions and Δ resonances in a box

Simulations by transport codes are indispensable for extracting valuable physical information from heavy-ion collisions. Pion observables such as the π - /π + yield ratio are expected to be sensitive to the symmetry energy at high densities. To evaluate, understand, and reduce the uncertainties in transport-code results originating from different approximations in handling the production of Δ resonances and pions. We compare ten transport codes under controlled conditions for a system confined in a box, with periodic boundary conditions, and initialized with nucleons at saturation density and at a temperature of 60 MeV. The reactions NN↔NΔ and Δ↔Nπ are implemented, but the Pauli blocking and the mean-field potential are deactivated in the present comparison. Thus, these are cascade calculations including pions and Δ resonances. Results are compared to those from the two reference cases of a chemically equilibrated ideal gas mixture and of the rate equation. For the numbers of Δ and π, deviations from the reference values are observed in many codes, and they depend significantly on the size of the time step. These deviations are tied to different ways in ordering the sequence of reactions, such as collisions and decays, that take place in the same time step. Better agreements with the reference values are seen in the reaction rates and the number ratios among the isospin species of Δ and π. Both the reaction rates and the number ratios are, however, affected by the correlations between particle positions, which are absent in the Boltzmann equation, but are induced by the way particle scatterings are treated in many of the transport calculations. The uncertainty in the transport-code predictions of the π - /π + ratio, after letting the existing Δ resonances decay, is found to be within a few percent for the system initialized at n/p=1.5. In conclusion, the uncertainty in the final π - /π + ratio in this simplified case of particles in a box is sufficiently small so that it does not strongly impact constraining the high-density symmetry energy from heavy-ion collisions. Most of the sources of uncertainties have been understood, and individual codes may be further improved in future applications. This investigation will be extended in the future to heavy-ion collisions to ensure the problems identified here remain under control.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2016

Position-Dependency of Fuel Assembly Homogenization in a Pressurized Water Reactor

2-step nuclear reactor core analysis has long been established as the conventional calculational procedure for the pressurized water reactor (PWR) due to its efficiency. This is because the procedure significantly avoids the potentially huge computational burden arising from an explicit geometrical modeling and consideration of over ∼ 500 energy groups. It instead approaches the problem with spatial homogenization and group condensation: a 2-D lattice transport calculation to homogenize the fuel assembly cross-sections and a 3-D whole core nodal diffusion. One notes that the few-group constant generation using deterministic method could be complicated due to its limited flexibilities in geometrical modeling and inherent drawbacks of the multi-group approximation. Furthermore, accuracy of the deterministic few-group constant generation can especially be compromised during the resonance treatment calculation. As such, an alternative lattice calculation using the Monte Carlo (MC) approach, in place of the deterministic fuel assembly homogenization (few-group constant generation), has previously been proposed. During the assembly homogenization, directions and magnitudes of the current at boundaries are unknowns. Therefore, zero net current boundary conditions (infinite lattice) are instead used as the assembly node. The assumption is quite reasonable considering heterogeneities inside the node are more dominant than heterogeneities due to nodal location in the core. In fact, this approximation has successfully been applied to many LWR core analyses to reasonable accuracy. It should nonetheless be noted that the net current zero boundary assumption effectively ignores position-dependency of the fuel assembly homogenization in the general 2-step method. As such, there are a number of well-known researches on the extended assembly homogenization techniques, which introduce correction factors to compensate effects of the assembly environment, such as Generalized Equivalence Theory (GET), Super-homogenization method (SPH), and color set calculation method. Even though the assembly environment effect has long been acknowledged, its effect has not properly been investigated due to the limited computing power in the past and due to the reasonable accuracy of the extended assembly homogenization techniques. Nonetheless, quantification of position-dependency of the assembly homogenization in the core could still potentially offer additional value in terms of calculation accuracy to the 2-step reactor analysis. It is upon this motivation that the paper is prepared. In this research, position-dependent few-group constants were calculated and compared against those of infinite lattices. All calculations were completed using the MC Serpent2 code with ENDF/B7.0 nuclear data library. In this study, position-dependency of the fuel assembly homogenized cross sections in a PWR core has been investigated through comparison of the conventional 2-step reactor analysis with the reference high fidelity Monte Carlo simulation. It was found that the homogenized two-group constants are clearly position-dependent as the discrepancies between infinite lattice and whole-core calculations are quite significant especially in a rodded assembly. As such, the corresponding correction required due to the assembly environment effect is not negligible compared to the correction required due to assembly heterogeneity itself. It is therefore quite clear that position-dependency of the group cross sections should be considered in the 2-step procedure for a more accurate PWR core analysis. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

NASA NTRS2011

Multi-Scale Hydrometeorological Modeling, Land Data Assimilation and Parameter Estimation with the Land Information System

The Land Information System (LIS; http://lis.gsfc.nasa.gov) is a flexible land surface modeling framework that has been developed with the goal of integrating satellite-and ground-based observational data products and advanced land surface modeling techniques to produce optimal fields of land surface states and fluxes. As such, LIS represents a step towards the next generation land component of an integrated Earth system model. In recognition of LIS object-oriented software design, use and impact in the land surface and hydrometeorological modeling community, the LIS software was selected as a co-winner of NASA?s 2005 Software of the Year award.LIS facilitates the integration of observations from Earth-observing systems and predictions and forecasts from Earth System and Earth science models into the decision-making processes of partnering agency and national organizations. Due to its flexible software design, LIS can serve both as a Problem Solving Environment (PSE) for hydrologic research to enable accurate global water and energy cycle predictions, and as a Decision Support System (DSS) to generate useful information for application areas including disaster management, water resources management, agricultural management, numerical weather prediction, air quality and military mobility assessment. LIS has e volved from two earlier efforts -- North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) and Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) that focused primarily on improving numerical weather prediction skills by improving the characterization of the land surface conditions. Both of GLDAS and NLDAS now use specific configurations of the LIS software in their current implementations.In addition, LIS was recently transitioned into operations at the US Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) to ultimately replace their Agricultural Meteorology (AGRMET) system, and is also used routinely by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) for their land data assimilation systems to support weather and climate modeling. LIS not only consolidates the capabilities of these two systems, but also enables a much larger variety of configurations with respect to horizontal spatial resolution, input datasets and choice of land surface model through "plugins". LIS has been coupled to the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to support studies of land-atmosphere coupling be enabling ensembles of land surface states to be tested against multiple representations of the atmospheric boundary layer. LIS has also been demonstrated for parameter estimation, who showed that the use of sequential remotely sensed soil moisture products can be used to derive soil hydraulic and texture properties given a sufficient dynamic range in the soil moisture retrievals and accurate precipitation inputs.LIS has also recently been demonstrated for multi-model data assimilation using an Ensemble Kalman Filter for sequential assimilation of soil moisture, snow, and temperature.Ongoing work has demonstrated the value of bias correction as part of the filter, and also that of joint calibration and assimilation.Examples and case studies demonstrating the capabilities and impacts of LIS for hydrometeorological modeling, assimilation and parameter estimation will be presented as advancements towards the next generation of integrated observation and modeling systems

Peters-Lidard, Christa D.↗

DOE OSTI2016

PONDEROMOTIVE ACCELERATION IN CORONAL LOOPS

Ponderomotive acceleration has been asserted to be a cause of the first ionization potential (FIP) effect, the well-known enhancement in abundance by a factor of 3–4 over photospheric values of elements in the solar corona with FIP less than about 10 eV. It is shown here by means of numerical simulations that ponderomotive acceleration occurs in solar coronal loops, with the appropriate magnitude and direction, as a “by-product” of coronal heating. The numerical simulations are performed with the HYPERION code, which solves the fully compressible three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic equations including nonlinear thermal conduction and optically thin radiation. Numerical simulations of coronal loops with an axial magnetic field from 0.005 to 0.02 T and lengths from 25,000 to 75,000 km are presented. In the simulations the footpoints of the axial loop magnetic field are convected by random, large-scale motions. There is a continuous formation and dissipation of field-aligned current sheets, which act to heat the loop. As a consequence of coronal magnetic reconnection, small-scale, high-speed jets form. The familiar vortex quadrupoles form at reconnection sites. Between the magnetic footpoints and the corona the reconnection flow merges with the boundary flow. It is in this region that the ponderomotive acceleration occurs. Mirroring the character of the coronal reconnection, the ponderomotive acceleration is also found to be intermittent.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2016

Fragmentation Prediction for a Brittle Ceramic: a Two-Scale Model Approach

Glass and oxide-ceramic radioactive material forms (e.g., PuO{sub 2}) are susceptible to brittle fracture during handling and transportation. Fracture of these materials may result in the generation of fragments small enough to become airborne, and thus easily dispersed and inhaled. Entrainment and dispersal of particles with dimensions less than 10 μm is generally anticipated under normal aerodynamic conditions. The assessment of the risk to the public and the environment from these materials due to events resulting in their fracture is based on the determination of the source term for environmental release. This source term is typically quantified by an airborne release fraction (ARF) and a respirable fraction (RF) of material generated by a given event. While the recommended empirical bounding values prove satisfactory to comply with the regulatory process for handling and transportation of these materials, they are based on test data for only a few materials subjected to a limited range of loading conditions. Because the final state of fragmentation (in terms of the size and distribution of fragments) is strongly dependent not only on the properties of the material and the energetic loading conditions that lead to breakup, but also on the many intrinsic length scales associated with fragmentation, it is difficult to precisely predict fragmentation characteristics for other brittle solid wastes forms subjected to a wider range of loading conditions based on the test data alone. The purpose of this manuscript is to present a two-scale modeling approach that may be used to simulate the dynamic fragmentation of brittle solid radioactive material forms subjected to general loading and boundary conditions. The method provides the resulting fragment characteristics (average size and size distribution) across the entire fragment range of interest. At the macro-scale, the approach uses a gradient damage elastic continuum mechanics material model within a finite element framework to simulate dynamic fracture under general loading and boundary conditions. Results from the macroscopic calculations are passed to a one-dimensional (1-D) lower length scale model that incorporates the relevant fine scale effects to determine the micro-scale fragmentation. This 1-D micro-scale fragmentation model simulates the internal crack nucleation and opening processes to predict the average fragment size and the fragment size distribution as a function of the material properties, loading conditions, and microscopic characteristic length scale of the material. Results from the lower length scale model are then combined with the macro-scale model fragmentation information to determine the resulting fragment size distribution spanning both length scales. This two-scale model has been exercised on a representative problem drawn from experimental studies, consisting of an impact of a falling weight onto a brittle ceramic. (authors)

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

DOE OSTI2015

Application of polymers for the emergency damage control and remediation at nuclear and chemical industry sites - 15259

From the standpoint of possible accidents and the following complex emergency damage control the nuclear and chemical industry sites are of the primary concern. Among the possible causes of accidents and emergency situations are technological and waste solution spills. Polymers can be used for this problem resolution and the spilled solutions could be effectively isolated. The apparent advantage of polymer materials is the possibility of solidifying solutions with rather high acidity and high salt bearing. To date the situations with the RW storage tank decommissioning in Russia and in the United States have much in common: the lack of the waste management strategy developed at the initial stage of production, the end of the storage tank lifetime. Development of the in-situ solidification technique for the mobile (liquid) components of heterogeneous waste will provide a good option to contain the radio nuclides within the storage site boundaries. The presented work was aimed at the search for the simple engineering decisions that would provide the waste immobilization in case of the accidental liquid spills. The application of polymers for the purpose indicated would allow in case of emergency to reduce the radioactive aerosol concentration in the air and prevent the distribution of aerosols on the premises and in the environment. Another promising area of the polymer application could be the technical challenges associated with the decommissioning of NPPs and other objects and facilities including the large volume LRW storage tanks. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

DOE OSTI2014

SU-E-T-21: A Novel Sampling Algorithm to Reduce Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) Optimization Time

Purpose: The IMRT optimization problem requires substantial computer time to find optimal dose distributions because of the large number of variables and constraints. Voxel sampling reduces the number of constraints and accelerates the optimization process, but usually deteriorates the quality of the dose distributions to the organs. We propose a novel sampling algorithm that accelerates the IMRT optimization process without significantly deteriorating the quality of the dose distribution. Methods: We included all boundary voxels, as well as a sampled fraction of interior voxels of organs in the optimization. We selected a fraction of interior voxels using a clustering algorithm, that creates clusters of voxels that have similar influence matrix signatures. A few voxels are selected from each cluster based on the pre-set sampling rate. Results: We ran sampling and no-sampling IMRT plans for de-identified head and neck treatment plans. Testing with the different sampling rates, we found that including 10% of inner voxels produced the good dose distributions. For this optimal sampling rate, the algorithm accelerated IMRT optimization by a factor of 2–3 times with a negligible loss of accuracy that was, on average, 0.3% for common dosimetric planning criteria. Conclusion: We demonstrated that a sampling could be developed that reduces optimization time by more than a factor of 2, without significantly degrading the dose quality.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2014

Nonlinear instability of an Oldroyd elastico–viscous magnetic nanofluid saturated in a porous medium

Through viscoelastic potential theory, a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of two semi-infinite fluid layers, of Oldroydian viscoelastic magnetic nanofluids (MNF), is investigated. The system is saturated by porous medium through two semi-infinite fluid layers. The Oldroyd B model is utilized to describe the rheological behavior of viscoelastic MNF. The system is influenced by uniform oblique magnetic field that acts at the surface of separation. The model is used for the MNF incorporated the effects of uniform basic streaming and viscoelasticity. Therefore, a mathematical simplification must be considered. A linear stability analysis, based upon the normal modes analysis, is utilized to find out the solutions of the equations of motion. The onset criterion of stability is derived; analytically and graphs have been plotted by giving numerical values to the various parameters. These graphs depict the stability characteristics. Regions of stability and instability are identified and discussed in some depth. Some previous studies are recovered upon appropriate data choices. The stability criterion in case of ignoring the relaxation stress times is also derived. To relax the mathematical manipulation of the nonlinear approach, the linearity of the equations of motion is taken into account in correspondence with the nonlinear boundary conditions. Taylor's theory is adopted to expand the governing nonlinear characteristic equation according to of the multiple time scales technique. This analysis leads to the well-known Ginzburg–Landau equation, which governs the stability criteria. The stability criteria are achieved theoretically. To simplify the mathematical manipulation, a special case is considered to achieve the numerical estimations. The influence of orientation of the magnetic fields on the stability configuration, in linear as well as nonlinear approaches, makes a dual role for the magnetic field strength in the stability graphs. Stability diagram is plotted for different sets of physical parameters. A new stability as well as instability region, in the parameter space, appears due to the nonlinear effects.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

A region-appearance-based adaptive variational model for 3D liver segmentation

Purpose: Liver segmentation from computed tomography images is a challenging task owing to pixel intensity overlapping, ambiguous edges, and complex backgrounds. The authors address this problem with a novel active surface scheme, which minimizes an energy functional combining both edge- and region-based information. Methods: In this semiautomatic method, the evolving surface is principally attracted to strong edges but is facilitated by the region-based information where edge information is missing. As avoiding oversegmentation is the primary challenge, the authors take into account multiple features and appearance context information. Discriminative cues, such as multilayer consecutiveness and local organ deformation are also implicitly incorporated. Case-specific intensity and appearance constraints are included to cope with the typically large appearance variations over multiple images. Spatially adaptive balancing weights are employed to handle the nonuniformity of image features. Results: Comparisons and validations on difficult cases showed that the authors’ model can effectively discriminate the liver from adhering background tissues. Boundaries weak in gradient or with no local evidence (e.g., small edge gaps or parts with similar intensity to the background) were delineated without additional user constraint. With an average surface distance of 0.9 mm and an average volume overlap of 93.9% on the MICCAI data set, the authors’ model outperformed most state-of-the-art methods. Validations on eight volumes with different initial conditions had segmentation score variances mostly less than unity. Conclusions: The proposed model can efficiently delineate ambiguous liver edges from complex tissue backgrounds with reproducibility. Quantitative validations and comparative results demonstrate the accuracy and efficacy of the model.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

DOE OSTI2014

Comparison of analytic models of instability of rarefied gas flow in a channel

Numerical and analytical results are compared concerning the limit properties of the trajectories, attractors and bifurcations of rarefied gas flows in channels. The cascade of bifurcations obtained in our previous analytical and numerical investigations is simulated numerically for different scattering functions V generalizing the ray-diffuse reflection of gas particles from the surface. The main purpose of numerical simulation by Monte Carlo method is the investigation of the properties of different analytic nonlinear dynamic systems corresponding to rarefied gas flow in a channel. The results are compared as well for the models suggested originally by R. N. Miroshin, as for the approximations considered for the first time or for studied in our subsequent papers. Analytical solutions we obtained earlier for the ray reflection which means only one determined velocity of scattered from the walls gas atoms, generally different from the specular reflection. The nonlinear iterative equation describing a rarefied gas flow in a long channel becomes unstable in some regions of corresponding parameters of V (it means the sensitivity to boundary conditions). The values of the parameters are found from analytical approximations in these regions. Numerical results show that the chaotic behavior of the nonlinear dynamic system corresponds to strange attractors and distinguishes clearly from Maxwellian distribution and from the equilibrium on the whole. In the regions of instability (as the dimension of the attractor increases) the search for a corresponding state requires a lot more computation time and a lot of data (the amount of data required increases exponentially with embedding dimension). Therefore the main complication in the computation is reducing as well the computing time as the amount of data to find a suitably close solution. To reduce the computing time our analytical results are applied. Flow conditions satisfying the requirements to the experiment are indicated where the instability of considered type can be detected. The advantages and the drawbacks of considered approximations are detected and the features of obtained solutions are indicated. The recommendations are given for applying the results in practical applications and in numerical calculations of rarefied gas flows.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗