Thwarting oil-pipeline corrosion by identifying nanoscale villains
Researchers at Sandia, the DOE Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies and the Aramco Research Center in Boston have found that a particular form of nanoscale corrosion can cause variations in material longevity that unpredictably decrease the working life of steel pipes.
Building health through better buildings
Sandia is the first corporate campus to receive the new Building Health Leadership Award, which recognizes its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design v.4 Campus effort. Sandia is the largest DOE site named a LEED v.4 Campus.
High-speed experiments improve hypersonic flight predictions
When traveling at five times the speed of sound or faster, the tiniest bit of turbulence is more than a bump in the road, said Katya Casper, the Sandia aerospace engineer who, for the first time, characterized the vibrational effect of the pressure field beneath one of these tiny hypersonic turbulent spots.
Sandia lends expertise to hydrogen center
Sandia is building on longstanding partnerships to help found a new global center focused on safety and best practices for the use of hydrogen in the global energy transition. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers, in partnership with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, recently launched the Center for Hydrogen Safety.
Device in Z machine measures power for nuclear fusion
To better determine energy leaks at Sandia’s powerful Z machine — where remarkable gains in fusion outputs have occurred over the last two and a half decades, including a tripling of output in 2018 — a joint team from Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories has installed an upgraded laser diagnostic system.
Flying from the glass
Bird strikes against windows are an all-too-familiar sound. To birds, the transparent glass looks like open space, and between 500 million and 1 billion birds die each year trying to fly through closed windows. Sandia is solving this problem at one of its high-strike buildings, where ecology program staff partnered with facilities staff to place adhesives featuring a dot pattern on the building's windows.
W80-4 Life Extension Program achieves major milestone
The W80-4 Life Extension Program achieved a major milestone last month when the joint DOE and Department of Defense Nuclear Weapons Council approved the program to enter Phase 6.3, development engineering. The approval follows multiple briefings by the W80-4 leadership team to program stakeholders at NNSA headquarters and the Pentagon.
Process modernization
Modernizing the nuclear deterrent also means modernizing the weapon development process. To this end, Sandia and the Kansas City National Security Campus have established the New Product Introduction initiative. By integrating lessons learned from past weapons programs and industry best practices into the existing process, NPI can help enhance the security, reliability and performance of the nation’s nuclear deterrent.
‘MANOS’ needs a hand
Many of us can thank a teacher or mentor who early in our lives ignited in us a passion for our current professions. Sandia’s Manos — or “hands-on” — program is looking for the next generation of Sandia volunteer mentors to provide that spark for science, technology, engineering and math in local middle school students.
Robotics system demilitarizes 700,000 Army submunitions
More than 700,000 Multiple Launch Rocket System submunitions have been demilitarized since the Army started using an automated, nine-robot system conceptualized, built and programmed by Sandia engineers.