Publications

This paper documents an investigation of approaches to improving the quality of Pro/Engineer-created solid model data for use by downstream applications. The investigation identified a number of sources of problems caused by deficiencies in Pro/Engineer`s geometric engine, and developed prototype software capable of detecting many of these problems and guiding users towards simplified, useable models. The prototype software was tested using Sandia production solid models, and provided significant leverage in attacking the simplification problem.

The CONTAIN 2.0 computer code is an integrated analysis tool used for predicting the physical conditions, chemical compositions, and distributions of radiological materials inside a containment building following the release of material from the primary system in a light-water reactor accident. It can also predict the source term to the environment. CONTAIN 2.0 is intended to replace the earlier CONTAIN 1.12, which was released in 1991. The purpose of this Code Manual is to provide full documentation of the features and models in CONTAIN 2.0. Besides complete descriptions of the models, this Code Manual provides a complete description of the input and output from the code. CONTAIN 2.0 is a highly flexible and modular code that can run problems that are either quite simple or highly complex. An important aspect of CONTAIN is that the interactions among thermal-hydraulic phenomena, aerosol behavior, and fission product behavior are taken into account. The code includes atmospheric models for steam/air thermodynamics, intercell flows, condensation/evaporation on structures and aerosols, aerosol behavior, and gas combustion. It also includes models for reactor cavity phenomena such as core-concrete interactions and coolant pool boiling. Heat conduction in structures, fission product decay and transport, radioactive decay heating, and the thermal-hydraulic and fission product decontamination effects of engineered safety features are also modeled. To the extent possible, the best available models for severe accident phenomena have been incorporated into CONTAIN, but it is intrinsic to the nature of accident analysis that significant uncertainty exists regarding numerous phenomena. In those cases, sensitivity studies can be performed with CONTAIN by means of user-specified input parameters. Thus, the code can be viewed as a tool designed to assist the knowledge reactor safety analyst in evaluating the consequences of specific modeling assumptions.

This report provides a summary of the Pulser In a Chip 9000-Discretionary LDRD. The program began in January of 1997 and concluded in September of 1997. The over-arching goal of this LDRD is to study whether laser diode triggered photoconductive semiconductor switches (PCSS) can be used to activate electro-optic devices such as Q-switches and Pockels cells and to study possible laser diode/switch integration. The PCSS switches we used were high gain GaAs switches because they can be triggered with small amounts of laser light. The specific goals of the LDRD were to demonstrate: (1) that small laser diode arrays that are potential candidates for laser-switch integration will indeed trigger the PCSS switch, and (2) that high gain GaAs switches can be used to trigger optical Q-switches in lasers such as the lasers to be used in the X-1 Advanced Radiation Source and the laser used for direct optical initiation (DOI) of explosives. The technology developed with this LDRD is now the prime candidate for triggering the Q switch in the multiple lasers in the laser trigger system of the X-1 Advanced Radiation Source and may be utilized in other accelerators. As part of the LDRD we developed a commercial supplier. To study laser/switch integration we tested triggering the high gain GaAs switches with: edge emitting laser diodes, vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), and transverse junction stripe (TJS) lasers. The first two types of lasers (edge emitting and VCSELs) did activate the PCSS but are harder to integrate with the PCSS for a compact package. The US lasers, while easier to integrate with the switch, did not trigger the PCSS at the US laser power levels we used. The PCSS was used to activate the Q-switch of the compact laser to be used in the X-1 Advanced Radiation Source.

During November/96 to April/97 Sandia National Laboratories provided consulation, data collection, analysis and project documentation to the U.S. Army for a series of four geothermal exploratory slimholes drilled on the McGregor Range approximately 25 miles north of El Paso, Texas. This drilling was directed toward evaluating a potential reservoir for geothermal power generation in this area, with a secondary objective of assessing the potential for direct use applications such as space heating or water de-salinization. This report includes: representative temperature logs from the wells; daily drilling reports; a narrative account of the drilling and testing; a description of equipment used; a summary and preliminary interpretation of the data; and recommendations for future work.

The WCEDS prototype software system was developed to investigate the usefulness of waveform correlation methods for CTBT monitoring. The WCEDS prototype performs global seismic event detection and has been used in numerous experiments. This report documents the software system design, presenting an overview of the system operation, describing the system functions, tracing the information flow through the system, discussing the software structures, and describing the subsystem services and interactions. The effectiveness of the software design in meeting project objectives is considered, as well as opportunities for code refuse and lessons learned from the development process. The report concludes with recommendations for modifications and additions envisioned for regional waveform-correlation-based detector.

This report presents a detailed analysis of the results from fatigue studies of wind turbine blade composite materials carried out at Montana State University (MSU) over the last seven years. It is intended to be used in conjunction with the DOE/MSU composite Materials Fatigue Database. The fatigue testing of composite materials requires the adaptation of standard test methods to the particular composite structure of concern. The stranded fabric E-glass reinforcement used by many blade manufacturers has required the development of several test modifications to obtain valid test data for materials with particular reinforcement details, over the required range of tensile and compressive loadings. Additionally, a novel testing approach to high frequency (100 Hz) testing for high cycle fatigue using minicoupons has been developed and validated. The database for standard coupon tests now includes over 4,100 data points for over 110 materials systems. The report analyzes the database for trends and transitions in static and fatigue behavior with various materials parameters. Parameters explored are reinforcement fabric architecture, fiber content, content of fibers oriented in the load direction, matrix material, and loading parameters (tension, compression, and reversed loading). Significant transitions from good fatigue resistance to poor fatigue resistance are evident in the range of materials currently used in many blades. A preliminary evaluation of knockdowns for selected structural details is also presented. The high frequency database provides a significant set of data for various loading conditions in the longitudinal and transverse directions of unidirectional composites out to 10{sup 8} cycles. The results are expressed in stress and strain based Goodman Diagrams suitable for design. A discussion is provided to guide the user of the database in its application to blade design.

An efficient method is presented for calculation of RMS von Mises stresses from stress component transfer functions and the Fourier representation of random input forces. An efficient implementation of the method calculates the RMS stresses directly from the linear stress and displacement modes. The key relation presented is one suggested in past literature, but does not appear to have been previously exploited in this manner.

This study is the second phase in a combined analytical and experimental effort to characterize and improve the ride quality of the Department of Energy tractor/trailer. The discussion includes a brief overview of the finite element model of the vehicle and experimental road and modal test results. A novel system identification approach is used, employing both lab-based modal tests, and modal data derived using the Natural Excitation Technique (NExT), a scheme that utilizes the roadway surface as a natural forcing function. The use of a cab isolation system is investigated with the computer model for purposes of improving the ride quality of the vehicle. To validate these analytical predictions, an engineering prototype vehicle was developed, which included a cab isolation system, to experimentally assess ride quality. Ride quality improvements due to the addition of the isolation system are then assessed both experimentally and analytically, and the results are compared.

The predictive modeling of vibration of many structural systems is crippled by an inability to predictively model the mechanics of joints. The lack of understanding of joint dynamics is evidenced by the substantial uncertainty of joint compliances in the numerical models and by the complete inability to predict joint damping. The lore is that at low amplitudes, joint mechanics are associated with Coulomb friction and stick-slip phenomena and that at high amplitudes, impact processes result in dissipation as well as shift of energy to other frequencies. Inadequate understanding of the physics precludes reliable predictions. In this introductory work, joint compliance is studied in both a numerical and experimental setting. A simple bolted interface is used as the test article and compliance is measured for the joint in both compression and in tension. This simple interface is shown to exhibit a strong non-linearity near the transition from compression to tension (or vice-versa). Modeling issues pertaining to numerically solving for the compliance are addressed. It is shown that the model predicts the experimental strains and compliance fairly well. It will be seen that the joint behavior is a mechanical analogy to a diode. In compression, the joint is very stiff, acting almost as a rigid link, while in tension the joint is soft, acting as a soft spring. Although there have been many other studies performed on bolted joints, the variety of joint geometries has demonstrated large variations in behavior. This study is an attempt to quantify the behavior of typical joints found in today`s weapon systems.

Cl{sub 2}-based Inductively Coupled Plasmas with low additional dc self- biases(-100V) produce convenient etch rates(500-1500 A /min) for GaN, AlN, InN, InAlN and InGaN. A systematic study of the effects of additive gas(Ar, N{sub 2}, H{sub 2}), discharge composition and ICP source power and chuck power on etch rate and surface morphology has been performed. The general trends are to go through a maximum in etch rate with percent Cl{sub 2} in the discharge for all three mixtures, and to have an increase(decrease) in etch rate with source power(pressure). Since the etching is strongly ion-assisted, anisotropic pattern transfer is readily achieved. Maximum etch selectivities of approximately 6 for InN over the other nitrides were obtained.

This paper describes a modular approach for computing redundant robot kinematics. First some conventional redundant control methods are presented and shown to be `passive control laws`, i.e. they can be represented by a network consisting of passive elements. These networks are then put into modular form by applying scattering operator techniques. Additional subnetwork modules can then be added to further shape the motion. Modules for obstacle detection, joint limit avoidance, proximity sensing, and for imposing nonlinear velocity constraints are presented. The resulting redundant robot control system is modular, flexible and robust.

This paper describes a modeling technique for single-agent reactive systems, that is influenced by the modeling paradigm of Parnas as well as by the synchronous paradigms of LUSTRE and ESTEREL. In this paradigm, single-agent reactive systems are modeled in a universe having a discrete clock. This discretization of time greatly reduces the temporal complexity of the model. According to the author, the advantage of this reduction in temporal complexity is that the resulting model is in many ways better suited to automated software construction and analysis techniques (e.g., deductive synthesis, transformation, and verification) than models that are based on continuous representations of time.

Effective management of DOE`s transportation operations requires better data than are currently available, a more integrated management structure for making transportation decisions, and decision support tools to provide needed analysis capabilities. This paper describes a vision of an advanced logistics management system for DOE, and the rationale for developing improved modeling and simulation capability as an integral part of that system. The authors illustrate useful types of models through four examples, addressing issues of transportation package allocation, fleet sizing, routing/scheduling, and emergency responder location. The overall vision for the advanced logistics management system, and the specific examples of potential capabilities, provide the basis for a conclusion that such a system would meet a critical DOE need in the area of radioactive material and waste transportation.

Sandia was presented with an opportunity in 1993 to design containers for the long term storage and transport of fissile material. This program was undertaken at the direction of the US Department of Energy and in cooperation with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory which were tasked with developing the internal fixturing for the contents. The hardware is being supplied by Allied Signal Federal Manufacturing and Technologies, and the packaging will occur at Mason and Hangar Corporation`s Pantex Plant. The unique challenge was to design a container that could be sealed with the fissile material contents; and, anytime during the next 50 years, the container could be transported with only the need for the pre-shipment leak test. This required not only a rigorous design capable of meeting the long term storage and transportation requirements, but also resulted in development of a surveillance program to ensure that the container continues to perform as designed over the 50-year life. This paper addresses the design of the container, the testing that was undertaken to demonstrate compliance with US radioactive materials transport regulations, and the surveillance program that has been initiated to ensure the 50-year performance.

The authors propose a general technique called solution decomposition to devise approximation algorithms with provable performance guarantees. The technique is applicable to a large class of combinatorial optimization problems that can be formulated as integer linear programs. Two key ingredients of the technique involve finding a decomposition of a fractional solution into a convex combination of feasible integral solutions and devising generic approximation algorithms based on calls to such decompositions as oracles. The technique is closely related to randomized rounding. The method yields as corollaries unified solutions to a number of well studied problems and it provides the first approximation algorithms with provable guarantees for a number of new problems. The particular results obtained in this paper include the following: (1) The authors demonstrate how the technique can be used to provide more understanding of previous results and new algorithms for classical problems such as Multicriteria Spanning Trees, and Suitcase Packing. (2) They show how the ideas can be extended to apply to multicriteria optimization problems, in which they wish to minimize a certain objective function subject to one or more budget constraints. As corollaries they obtain first non-trivial multicriteria approximation algorithms for problems including the k-Hurdle and the Network Inhibition problems.

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Compliance Certification Application (CCA) Performance Assessment (PA) used a relational database that was originally designed only to supply the input parameters required for implementation of the PA codes. Reviewers used the database as a point of entry to audit quality assurance measures for control, traceability, and retrievability of input information used for analysis, and output/work products. During these audits it became apparent that modifications to the architecture and scope of the database would benefit the EPA regulator and other stakeholders when reviewing the recertification application. This paper contains a discussion of the WPP PA CCA database and lessons learned for designing a database.

When implementing a Quality Assurance (QA) program, compliance and cost must be balanced. A QA program must be developed that hits the mark in terms of adequate control and documentation, but does not unnecessarily expand resources. As the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has moved towards certification, Sandia National Laboratories has learned much about balancing compliance and costs. Some of these lessons are summarized here.

The Yucca Mountain Project conducted a Single Heater Test (SHT) in the Exploratory Studies Facility at Yucca Mountain. During the nine month-long heating phase, approximately 4 m{sup 3} of in situ, fractured, 92% saturated, welded tuff was heated to temperatures above 100 C by a 5 m long, 3.8 kW, horizontal, line heater. In this paper, the thermal data collected during the test (Sandia National Laboratories, 1997) are compared to three numerical simulations (Sobolik et al., 1996) in order to gain insight into the coupled thermal-hydrologic processes. All three numerical simulations rely on the Equivalent Continuum Model (ECM) for reasons of computational efficiency. The ECM assumes that the matrix and the fractures are in thermodynamic equilibrium which allows the thermal and hydrologic properties of the matrix and the fractures to be combined into single, bulk values. The three numerical simulations differ only in their bulk permeabilities and are referred to as the High, Low and Matrix Permeability Models, respectively. In the Matrix Permeability Model, the system behaves as an unfractured porous medium with the properties of the rock matrix.

Movement of water through fractures plays an important role in performance assessments of the potential high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The magnitude and frequency of water flowing through individual fractures impacts predictions of the near-field environment and waste-package corrosion. Discrete fracture flow paths, referred to as ``weeps``, have been derived from dual continuum models of fracture flow. The required parameters include the geometric fracture spacing, an assumed width of each weep, and a scaling factor that accounts for reduced flow between fracture and matrix elements in dual continuum models. The formulation provides a convenient means to determine discrete weep spacing and flow rates that are mathematically consistent with the dual continuum model. Specific applications and examples related to seepage into drifts are also discussed.

This paper presents simulations of unsaturated groundwater flow and radionuclide transport at Yucca Mountain using the numerical codes TOUGH2 and FEHM. The simulations test the proposed methodology for coupling flow and transport in the upcoming Total Systems Performance Assessment and Viability Assessment (TSPA-VA). The simulations also reveal the sensitivity of transport results to different weighting schemes for hydraulic conductivities used in liquid flux calculations. Results indicate that coupling TOUGH2 and FEHM is a viable method for simulating flow and transport at Yucca Mountain when a modified upstream weighting scheme is used to simulate the flow fields.

The Russian-US joint program on the safety of nuclear materials was initiated in response to the 1993 Tomsk-7 accident. The bases for this program are the common technical issues confronting the US and Russia in the safe management of excess weapons grade nuclear materials. The US and Russian weapons dismantlement process is producing hundreds of tons of excess Pu and HEU fissile materials. The US is on a two path approach for disposition of excess Pu: (1) use Pu in existing reactors and/or (2) immobilize Pu in glass or ceramics followed by geologic disposal. Russian plans are to fuel reactors with excess Pu. US and Russia are both converting and blending HEU into LEU for use in existing reactors. Fissile nuclear materials storage, handling, processing, and transportation will be occurring in both countries for tens of years. A table provides a history of the major events comprising the Russian-US joint program on the safety of nuclear materials. A paper delineating program efforts was delivered at the SPECTRUM '96 conference. This paper provides an update on program activities since then.

Direct metal deposition technologies produce complex, near net shape components from CAD solid models. Most of these techniques fabricate a component by melting powder in a laser weld pool, rastering this weld bead to form a layer, and additively constructing subsequent layers. Powder feed material in these processes results in near net shape, high strength components, with the ability to blend materials for novel properties. This talk will describe a new direct metal deposition process, known as 3DWire, whereby a small diameter wire is used instead of powder as the feed material to fabricate components. This allows for faster deposition rates, smoother surface finishes, and easy material handling. Currently, parts are being fabricated from 308L stainless steel and Aermet{reg_sign} 100. Microscopy studies show the 3DWire parts to be fully dense with fine microstructural features. Initial mechanical tests show stainless steel parts to have good strength values ({sigma}{sub y} = 58 ksi, {sigma}{sub ult} = 95 ksi, 87 HRB) with retained ductility (65%).

This paper presents a model developed for predicting the mechanical response of inelastic media with heterogeneous microstructure. Particular emphasis is given to the development of microstructural damage along grains. The model is developed within the concepts of continuum mechanics, with special emphasis on the development of internal boundaries in the continuum by utilizing fracture mechanics-based cohesive zone models. In addition, the grains are assumed to be characterized by nonlinear viscoplastic material behavior. Implementation of the model to a finite element computational algorithm is also briefly described, and example solutions are obtained. Finally, homogenization procedures are discussed for obtaining macroscopic damage dependent mechanical constitutive equations that may then be utilized to construct a well-posed boundary value problem for the macroscopically homogenized damage dependent medium.

Rigid polyurethane foams are frequently used as encapsulants to isolate and support thermally sensitive components within weapon systems. When exposed to abnormal thermal environments, such as fire, the polyurethane foam decomposes to form products having a wide distribution of molecular weights and can dominate the overall thermal response of the system. Mechanical response of the decomposing foam, such as thermal expansion under various loading conditions created by gas generation, remains a major unsolved problem. A constitutive model of the reactive foam is needed to describe the coupling between mechanical response and chemical decomposition of foam exposed to environments such as fire. Towards this end, a reactive elastic-plastic constitutive model based on bubble mechanics describing nucleation, decomposition chemistry, and elastic/plastic mechanical behavior of rigid polyurethane foam has been developed. A local force balance, with mass continuity constraints, forms the basis of the constitutive model requiring input of temperature and the fraction of the material converted to gas. This constitutive model provides a stress-strain relationship which is applicable for a broad class of reacting materials such as explosives, propellants, pyrotechnics, and decomposing foams. The model is applied to a block of foam exposed to various thermal fluxes. The model is also applied to a sphere of foam confined in brass. The predicted mechanical deformation of the foam block and sphere are shown to qualitatively agree with experimental observations.

Determination of product species, equations-of-state (EOS) and thermochemical properties of high explosives and pyrotechnics remains a major unsolved problem. Although, empirical EOS models may be calibrated to replicate detonation conditions within experimental variability (5--10%), different states, e.g. expansion, may produce significant discrepancy with data if the basic form of the EOS model is incorrect. A more physically realistic EOS model based on intermolecular potentials, such as the Jacobs Cowperthwaite Zwisler (JCZ3) EOS, is needed to predict detonation states as well as expanded states. Predictive capability for any EOS requires a large species data base composed of a wide variety of elements. Unfortunately, only 20 species have known JCZ3 molecular force constants. Of these 20 species, only 10 have been adequately compared to experimental data such as molecular scattering or shock Hugoniot data. Since data in the strongly repulsive region of the molecular potential is limited, alternative methods must be found to deduce force constants for a larger number of species. The objective of the present study is to determine JCZ3 product species force constants by using a corresponding states theory. Intermolecular potential parameters were obtained for a variety of gas species using a simple corresponding states technique with critical volume and critical temperature. A more complex, four parameter corresponding state method with shape and polarity corrections was also used to obtain intermolecular potential parameters. Both corresponding state methods were used to predict shock Hugoniot data obtained from pure liquids. The simple corresponding state method is shown to give adequate agreement with shock Hugoniot data.

Sandia embarked on its first exercise in corporate strategic planning during the winter of 1989. The results of that effort were disseminated with the publication of Strategic Plan 1990. Four years later Sandia conducted their second major planning effort and published Strategic Plan 1994. Sandia`s 1994 planning effort linked very clearly to the Department of Energy`s first strategic plan, Fueling a Competitive Economy. It benefited as well from the leadership of Lockheed Martin Corporation, the management and operating contractor. Lockheed Martin`s corporate success is founded on visionary strategic planning and annual operational planning driven by customer requirements and technology opportunities. In 1996 Sandia conducted another major planning effort that resulted in the development of eight long-term Strategic Objectives. Strategic Plan 1997 differs from its predecessors in that the robust elements of previous efforts have been integrated into one comprehensive body. The changes implemented so far have helped establish a living strategic plan with a stronger business focus and with clear deployment throughout Sandia. The concept of a personal line of sight for all employees to this strategic plan and its objectives, goals, and annual milestones is becoming a reality.

A buckling calculation procedure based on the method of quadratic components is presented. Recently developed for simulating the motion of rotating flexible structures, the method of quadratic components is shown to be applicable to buckling problems with either conservative or nonconservative loads. For conservative loads, stability follows from the positive definiteness of the system`s stiffness matrix. For nonconservative loads, stability is determined by solving a nonsymmetric eigenvalue problem, which depends on both the stiffness and mass distribution of the system. Buckling calculations presented for a cantilevered beam are shown to compare favorably with classical results. Although the example problem is fairly simple and well-understood, the procedure can be used in conjunction with a general-purpose finite element code for buckling calculations of more complex systems.

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in southeast New Mexico has been studied as a transuranic waste repository for the past 23 years. During this time, an extensive site characterization, design, construction, and experimental program was completed to provide in-depth understanding of the dominant processes that are most likely to influence the containment of radionuclides for 10,000 years. The success of the program, however, is defined by the regulator in the context of compliance with performance criteria, rather than by the in-depth technical understanding typical of most scientific programs. The WIPP project was successful in making a transformation from science to compliance by refocusing and redirecting programmatic efforts toward the singular goal of meeting regulatory compliance requirements while accelerating the submittal of the Compliance Certification Application (CCA) by two months from the April 1994 Disposal Decision Plan (DDP) date of December 1996, and by reducing projected characterization costs by more than 40%. This experience is unparalleled within the radioactive waste management community and has contributed to numerous lessons learned from which the entire community can benefit.

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in southeast New Mexico has been studied as a transuranic waste repository for the past 23 years. During this time, an extensive site characterization, design, construction, and experimental program was completed, which provided in-depth understanding of the dominant processes that are most likely to influence the containment of radionuclides for 10,000 years. Nearly 1,500 parameters were developed using information gathered from this program; the parameters were input to numerical models for WIPP Compliance Certification Application (CCA) Performance Assessment (PA) calculations. The CCA probabilistic codes frequently require input values that define a statistical distribution for each parameter. Developing parameter distributions begins with the assignment of an appropriate distribution type, which is dependent on the type, magnitude, and volume of data or information available. The development of the parameter distribution values may require interpretation or statistical analysis of raw data, combining raw data with literature values, scaling of lab or field data to fit code grid mesh sizes, or other transformation. Parameter development and documentation of the development process were very complicated, especially for those parameters based on empirical data; they required the integration of information from Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) code sponsors, parameter task leaders (PTLs), performance assessment analysts (PAAs), and experimental principal investigators (PIs). This paper, Part 1 of two parts, contains a discussion of the parameter development process, roles and responsibilities, and lessons learned. Part 2 will discuss parameter documentation, traceability and retrievability, and lessons learned from related audits and reviews.

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in southeast New Mexico has been studied as a transuranic waste repository for the past 23 years. During this time, an extensive site characterization, design, construction, and experimental program was completed, which provided in depth understanding of the dominant processes that are most likely to influence the containment of radionuclides for 10,000 years. Nearly 1,500 parameters were developed using information gathered from this program and were input to numerical models for WIPP Compliance Certification Application (CCA) Performance Assessment (PA) calculations. The CCA probability models require input parameters that are defined by a statistical distribution. Developing parameters begins with the assignment of an appropriate distribution type, which is dependent on the type, magnitude, and volume of data or information available. Parameter development may require interpretation or statistical analysis of raw data, combining raw data with literature values, scaling laboratory or field data to fit code grid mesh sizes, or other transformations. Documentation of parameter development is designed to answer two questions: What source information was used to develop this parameter? and Why was this particular data set/information used? Therefore, complete documentation requires integrating information from code sponsors, parameter task leaders, performance assessment analysts, and experimental principal investigators. This paper, Part 2 of 2 parts, contains a discussion of the WIPP CCA PA Parameter Tracking System, document traceability and retrievability, and lessons learned from related audits and reviews.

The design of an effective physical protection system (PPS) includes the determination of the PPS objectives, the initial design of a PPS, the evaluation of the design, and probably, the redesign or refinement of the system. To develop the objectives, the designer must begin by gathering information about facility operation and conditions, such as a comprehensive description of the facility, operating conditions, and the physical protection requirements. The designer then needs to define the threat. This involves considering factors about potential adversaries: class of adversary, adversary`s capabilities, and range of adversary`s tactics. Next, the designer should identify targets. Determination of whether or not the materials being protected are attractive targets is based mainly on the ease or difficulty of acquisition and desirability of the material. The designer now knows the objectives of the PPS, that is, ``what to protect against whom.`` The next step is to design the system by determining how best to combine such elements as fences, vaults, sensors and assessment devices, entry control devices, communication devices, procedures, and protective force personnel to meet the objectives of the system. Once a PPS is designed, it must be analyzed and evaluated to ensure it meets the PPS objectives. Evaluation must allow for features working together to ensure protection rather than regarding each feature separately. Due to the complexity of the protection systems, an evaluation usually requires modeling techniques. If any vulnerabilities are found, the initial system must be redesigned to correct the vulnerabilities and a reevaluation conducted. After the system is installed, the threat and system parameters may change with time. If they do, the analysis must be performed periodically to ensure the system objectives are still being met.

A split Hopkinson bar technique has been developed to evaluate the performance of accelerometers that measure large amplitude pulses. An evaluation of this technique has been conducted in the Mechanical Shock Laboratory at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to determine its use in the practical calibration of accelerometers. This evaluation consisted of three tasks. First, the quartz crystal was evaluated in a split Hopkinson bar configuration to evaluate the quartz gage`s sensitivity and frequency response at force levels of 18,000, 35,000 and 53,000 N at ambient temperature, {minus}48 C and +74 C. Secondly, the fly away technique was evaluated at shock amplitudes of 50,000, 100,000, 150,000 and 200,000 G (1 G = 9.81 m/s{sup 2}) at ambient temperature, {minus}48 C and +74 C. Lastly, the technique was performed using a NIST calibrated reference accelerometer. Comparisons of accelerations calculated from the quartz gage data and the measured acceleration data have shown very good agreement. Based on this evaluation, the authors expect this split Hopkinson fly away technique to be certified by the SNL Primary Standards Laboratory.

Many dynamical systems tested in the field and the laboratory display significant nonlinear behavior. Accurate characterization of such systems requires modeling in a nonlinear framework. One construct forming a basis for nonlinear modeling is that of the artificial neural network (ANN). However, when system behavior is complex, the amount of data required to perform training can become unreasonable. The authors reduce the complexity of information present in system response measurements using decomposition via canonical variate analysis. They describe a method for decomposing system responses, then modeling the components with ANNs. A numerical example is presented, along with conclusions and recommendations.

Sandia National Laboratories and Tracor Applied Sciences have developed a proof-of-concept Expert System for the automatic detection and diagnosis of several important problems in geothermal drilling. The system is designed to detect loss of circulation, influx, loss of pump efficiency, and sensor problems. Data from flow sensors (including the rolling float meter), the pump stroke counter and other sensors are processed and examined for deviations from expected patterns. The deviations from expected patterns. The deviations are transformed into evidence for a Bayesian Network (a probabilistic reasoning tool), which estimates the probability of each fault. The results are displayed by a Graphical User Interface, which also allows the user to see data related to a specific fault. The prototype was tested on real data, and successfully detected and diagnosed faults.

This paper presents the results of tests performed on a variety of electrochemical microactuators and arrays of these actuators fabricated in the SUMMiT process at the U.S. Department of Energy`s Sandia National Laboratories. These results are intended to aid designers of thermally actuated mechanisms, and they apply to similar actuators made in other polysilicon MEMS processes such as the MUMPS process. Measurements include force and deflection versus input power, maximum operating frequency, effects of long term operation, and ideal actuator and array geometries for different applications` force requirements. Also, different methods of arraying these actuators together are compared. It is found that a method using rotary joints, enabled by the advanced features of the SUMMiT fabrication process, is the most efficient array design. The design and operation of a thermally actuated stepper motor is explained to illustrate a useful application of these arrays.

The response of a system containing an energetic material (EM) to an abnormal thermal environment is termed cookoff. To predict the violence of reaction of confined energetic materials during cookoff requires a description of the relevant physical processes that occur on time scales Ranging from days to submicroseconds. The time-to-ignition can be characterized accurately using heat transfer with chemistry and quasistatic mechanics. After ignition the energetic material deflagrates on a millisecond time scale. During this time the mechanical processes become dynamic. If the confinement survives burning then accelerated deflagration can lead to shock formation and deflagration to detonation transition. The focus of this work is the dynamic combustion regime in the millisecond time domain. Due to the mathematical stiffness of the chemistry equations and the prohibitively fine spatial resolution requirements needed to resolve the structure of the flame, an interface tracking approach is used to propagate the burn front. Demonstrative calculations are presented that illustrate the dynamic interaction of the deflagrating energetic material with its confinement.

A high consequence system is often defined as one in which the potential exists for severe or catastrophic accidents. Familiar examples include nuclear power plants, airline and other mass transportation, dams and reservoirs, and large-scale food processing. Many manufacturing systems also qualify as high consequence systems. Much of the authors` experience with high consequence systems derives from work associated with the surveillance and dismantlement of nuclear weapons for the US Department of Energy. With such operations, there exists a risk of high explosive detonation accompanied by radiological dispersal and, potentially, nuclear detonation. Analysis of major industrial accidents such as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Bhopal have revealed that these incidents were not attributable to a single event or direct cause, but were the result of multiple factors that combined to create a condition ripe for an accident. In each case, human error was a critical factor contributing to the accident. Consequently, many authors have emphasized the need for greater appreciation of systematic factors and in particular, human activities. This paper discusses approaches used in hazard analysis of US nuclear weapons operations to assess risk associated with human factors.

The authors report on an integrated program to understand the fundamentals of LiMn{sub 2}O{sub 4} performance as a cathode for lithium ion rechargeable batteries. Specifically, this program is designed to address the effects of doping on the crystal chemistry, lattice constants, and electrochemical performance. The work is being expanded to include studies on LiCoO{sub 2} and LiNiO{sub 2}.

The authors conducted experiments that monitored the response of heated, confined energetic materials in both fixed-volume and fixed-load configurations. They studied a variety of HMX-based materials, looking at the effects of particle size and binders. The {beta}-{delta} phase transition near 170 C led to a more reactive state. Materials that underwent complete transition in the fixed-load experiments (allowed to expand fully to accommodate the 5% volume increase) cooked off faster than those in the fixed-volume configuration.

International relations are often devoted to establishing agreements that define, control, or regulate issues of potential conflict or dispute. These agreements span a full range of national and international issues from human rights to resource allocations and national security. The scope of these agreements can vary from bilateral arrangements to global treaties or control regimes. In many cases, elements of the agreement are monitored to verify compliance or increase confidence among parties that the terms of the agreement are being met. This article outlines options for cooperation on the Korean peninsula that could build confidence and reduce tension. The role of monitoring technology in helping to implement such agreements is also described.

The Federal Aviation Administration`s Airworthiness Assurance NDI Validation Center (AANC) and the Center for Aviation Systems Reliability (CASR) are currently working to develop a liquid penetrant inspection (LPI) system evaluation capability that will support the needs of the penetrant manufacturers, commercial airline industry and the FAA. The main focus of this facility is to support the evaluation of penetrant inspection materials, penetrant systems and to apply resources to support industry needs. This paper discusses efforts to create such a facility and an initial project to produce fatigue crack specimens for evaluation of Type 1 penetrant sensitivities.

One role of the Intelligent Robotics and System Center (ISRC) at Sandia National Laboratories is to address certain aspects of Sandia`s mission to design, manufacture, maintain, and dismantle nuclear weapon components. Hazardous materials, devices, and environments are often involved. Because of shrinking resources, these tasks must be accomplished with a minimum of prototyping, while maintaining high reliability. In this paper, the authors describe simulation, off-line programming/planning, and related tools which are in use, under development, and being researched to solve these problems at the ISRC.

A technique is presented to simultaneously diffuse boron and phosphorus in silicon, and grow an in-situ passivating oxide in a single furnace step. It is shown that limited solid doping sources made from P and B Spin-On Dopant (SOD) films can produce optimal n{sup +} and p{sup +} profiles simultaneously without the deleterious effects of cross doping. A high quality passivating oxide is grown in-situ beneath the thin ({approximately} 60 {angstrom}) diffusion glass, resulting in low J{sub o} values below 100 fA/cm{sup 2} for transparent ({approximately} 100 {Omega}/{open_square}) phosphorus and boron diffusions. For the first time it is shown that impurities present in the boron SOD film can be effectively filtered out by employing separate source wafers, resulting in bulk lifetimes in excess of 1 ms for the sample wafers. The degree of lifetime degradation in the sources is related to the gettering efficiency of boron in silicon. This novel simultaneous diffusion, in-situ oxidation, impurity filtering and gettering technique was successfully used to produce 20.3% Fz, and 19.1% Cz solar cells, in one furnace step.

A survey of US system integrators, charge controller manufacturers, and battery manufacturers was conducted in 1996 to determine market and application trends. This survey was sponsored by the USDOE. Results from 21 system integrators show a 1995 PV battery sales of $4.76 million. Using the survey results, a top down market analysis was conducted with a total predicted US battery market of $34.7 million and a world wide market of US $302 million. The survey also indicated that 71% (of dollars) were spent on VRLA and 29% on flooded lead-acid batteries. Eighty percent of charge controllers were ON-OFF, vs. PWM or constant voltage.

The Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories have one of the longest and most consistent histories of supercomputer use. The authors summarize the architecture of DOE`s new supercomputers that are being built for the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI). The authors then argue that in the near future scaled-down versions of these supercomputers with petaflop-per-weekend capabilities could become widely available to hundreds of research and engineering departments. The availability of such computational resources will allow simulation of physical phenomena to become a full-fledged third branch of scientific exploration, along with theory and experimentation. They describe the ASCI and other supercomputer applications at Sandia National Laboratories, and discuss which lessons learned from Sandia`s long history of supercomputing can be applied in this new setting.

Composite doublers are gaining popularity for their ability to repair and reinforce commercial aircraft structures and it is anticipated that the potential cost savings may spur wider use of this technology. But before composite doublers can be accepted by the civil aviation industry, inspection techniques must be developed to verify the integrity of the doubler and the parent material under the doubler. The Federal Aviation Administration Airworthiness Assurance NDI Validation Center (AANC) is currently developing test methods to inspect aircraft structures under composite doublers using low kilovoltage radiography. This paper documents the radiographic techniques developed by the AANC which have been found to give the best contrast of the radiographic image with reduced image distortion.

In this report, a study of wave propagation and damping in a fluid loaded Flexural Plate Wave (FPW) sensor is presented. Previous to this study, it was believed that supersonic radiation was the dominate mechanism of loss in FPW devices. However, because no previous theory had been developed to explain finite length effects, this belief was never challenged. In this paper, it will be shown that the dominate mechanism of damping is not only due to supersonic radiation, but is also due to a fluid/structure resonance arising from finite length effects. The two-dimensional equations of motion for a single port FPW sensor plate are derived and coupled to the equations of motion for a viscous Newtonian fluid. These coupled equations are solved by using a wave number transform approach. This approach captures dynamics due to source terms at infinity. The resulting solution is comprised of terms derived by Wenzel, plus additional terms representing diffracted wave dynamics. The displacement field above the plate is then determined by using the Helmholtz integral equation.

In 1995, Salt River Project (SRP), a public power utility located in Phoenix, Arizona, collaborated with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) to initiate a photovoltaic (PV) power system with battery energy storage to match PV output with residential customer peak energy demand periods. The PV power system, a 2.4kW PV array with 25.2kWh of energy storage, was designed and installed by Southwest Technology Development Institute (SWTDI) at an SRP-owned facility, known as the Chandler Research House during August 1995. This paper presents an overview of the system design, operation and performance. 3 refs., 2 figs., 2 tabs.

The Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy (MINATOM) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) are engaged in joint, cooperative efforts to reduce the likelihood of nuclear proliferation by enhancing Material Protection, Control and Accounting (MPC&A) systems in both countries. Mayak Production Association (MPA) is a major Russian nuclear enterprise within the nuclear complex that is operated by MINATOM. This paper describes the nature, scope, and status of the joint, cooperative efforts to enhance existing MPC&A systems at MPA. Current cooperative efforts are focused on enhancements to the existing MPC&A systems at four plants that are operated by MPA and that produce, process, handle and/or store proliferation-sensitive nuclear materials.

PV hybrid electric power systems can offer an economically competitive alternative to engine generator (genset) systems in many off-grid applications. Besides the obvious `green` advantages of producing less noise and emissions, the PV hybrid can, in some cases, offer a lower life-cycle cost (LCC) then the genset. This paper evaluates the LCC of the 9.6 kWp PV hybrid power system installed by the National Park Services (NPS) at Pinnacles National Monument, CA. NPS motivation for installation of this hybrid was not based on economics, but rather the need to replace two aging diesel gensets with an alternative that would be quieter, fuel efficient, and more in keeping with new NPS emphasis on sustainable design and operations. In fact, economic analysis shows a lower 20-year LCC for the installed PV hybrid than for simple replacement of the two gensets. The analysis projects are net savings by the PV hybrid system of $83,561 and over 162,000 gallons of propane when compared with the genset-only system. This net savings is independent of the costs associated with environmental emissions. The effects of including emissions costs, according to NPS guidelines, is also discussed. 5 refs., 2 figs., 3 tabs.

This document describes the results of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Infrasound Prototype Development Test and Evaluation (DT&E). During DT&E the infrasound prototype was evaluated against requirements listed in the System Requirements Document (SRD) based on the Conference on Disarmament/Ad Hoc Committee on a Nuclear Test Ban/Working Papers 224 and 283 and the Preparatory Commission specifications as defined in CTBT/PC/II/1/Add.2, Appendix X, Table 5. The evaluation was conducted during a two-day period, August 6-7, 18997. The System Test Plan (STP) defined the plan and methods to test the infrasound prototype. Specific tests that were performed are detailed in the Test Procedures (TP).

The results of the investigation of retention and thermal desorption of hydrogen isotopes of B{sub 4}C coated RGT (a recrystallized graphite with high thermal conductivity, 600 W/mK) after the exposure to high heat flux in the divertor strike point region of DIII-D using the DiMES sample exchange system are reported. It is shown that the material is very promising for plasma facing elements of tokamaks.

Neutron reflection is used to examine the structure of an epoxy near an interface. Variations in both the density and the crosslink density within the interphase region are examined. The density is increased near the interface relative to that in the bulk of the film, but the crosslink density over the same region is reduced relative to that in the bulk of the film. These observations are interpreted via packing of the resin oligamers next to the wall, which leads to an increased density and also inhibits the crosslinking reaction. The effect is more pronounced the more slowly the resin is cured. Significant variations in reflectivity are observed with thermal cycling, which indicate an increase in the size of the interfacial layer of excess toluene. However, data for samples with greater number of thermal cycles are required to determine the relation of this effect to the fracture process.

SEMATECH was established in 1987 for defense and economic reasons to help the U.S. regain a competitive posture in semiconductor manufacturing. For 10 years SEMATECH was jointly funded by the federal government and semiconductor manufacturing companies representing 85 percent of the U.S. semiconductor industry. SEMATECH has spent about 80 percent of these funds on activities intended to produce useful results between 1 and 3 years. Very early in the establishment of SEMATECH, its members determined that their first priority would be to strengthen their U.S. based suppliers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. This has been the primary thrust of SEMATECH. SEMATECH first held some 30 workshops on a broad set of technical topics to assess the needs and opportunities to help the industry recover. These workshops scoped manufacturing areas where SEMATECH should focus. These early meetings were an early form of what later came to be termed roadmapping. The scope of R&D needs identified in these workshops well exceeded what SEMATECH could hope to accomplish with its $200 million annual budget. Wayne Johnson of Sandia participated in five of these workshops and used the knowledge gained as the basis for proposals later submitted to SEMATECH on behalf of Sandia. In the fall of 1989 the SETEC program was established at Sandia to support SEMATECH. This was initially a funds-in, work-for-others project that was fully funded by SEMATECH. Thus, the early work was entirely focused on SEMATECH`s needs. Later in the program when SEMATECH funds were supplemented by Department of Energy Cooperative Research and Development funds, attention was given to how this project would benefit Sandia`s defense microelectronics program.

This paper presents an analysis of how the US government responded to the concern in the 1980`s that US companies were experiencing problems of competitiveness in international markets. By the mid 1980`s there was great and growing concern throughout the US that US companies were experiencing difficulties in international competition. Pressure on Congress to take action came from constituents seeking jobs and companies that would directly benefit (this usually means receive public money) from programs that Congress might initiate. The fact that most constituent calls to Congress were about job creation was lost in the on-rush of R&D performers seeking funds for their favorite R&D project. In response, Congress created the Advanced Technology Program, the Technology Transfer Initiative, and the Technology Reinvestment Project, expanded the responsibilities of ARPA/DARPA, increased funding for the Small Business Initiative, expanded the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, funded SEMATECH, and increased NSF funding for basic research at universities. Many of these programs were later criticized for being industrial welfare and several were cut-back or stopped. Retrospective analysis shows that few of these programs addressed the root cause of competitiveness difficulties. In fact, by the time most of these programs were in place, US companies were well on their way to correcting their competitiveness problems. In addition, few were relevant to companies` often expressed concerns about workforce training, regulatory costs, and access to foreign markets. Twenty percent reductions in health care costs, regulatory costs, and education costs could annually pump $500 billion into the US economy and make companies operating in the US much more competitive in international markets.

The papers in this Faraday Discussion represent the state-of-the-art in using acoustic devices to measure the properties of thin films and interfaces. Sauerbrey first showed that the mass sensitivity of a quartz crystal could be used to measure the thickness of vacuum-deposited metals. Since then, significant progress has been made in understanding other interaction mechanisms between acoustic devices and contacting media. Bruckenstein and Shay and Kanazawa and Gordon showed that quartz resonators could be operated in a fluid to measure surface mass accumulation and fluid properties. The increased understanding of interactions between acoustic devices and contacting media has allowed new information to be obtained about thin films and interfaces. These closing remarks will summarize the current state of using acoustic techniques to probe thin films and interfaces, describe the progress reported in this Faraday Discussion, and outline some remaining problems. Progress includes new measurement techniques, novel devices, new applications, and improved modeling and data analysis.

Efforts to optimize the design of mechanical systems for preestablished use environments and to extend the durations of use cycles establish a need for in-service health monitoring. Numerous studies have proposed measures of structural response for the identification of structural damage, but few have suggested systematic techniques to guide the decision as to whether or not damage has occurred based on real data. Such techniques are necessary because in field applications the environments in which systems operate and the measurements that characterize system behavior are random. This paper investigates the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) to identify damage in mechanical systems. Two probabilistic neural networks (PNNs) are developed and used to judge whether or not damage has occurred in a specific mechanical system, based on experimental measurements. The first PNN is a classical type that casts Bayesian decision analysis into an ANN framework; it uses exemplars measured from the undamaged and damaged system to establish whether system response measurements of unknown origin come from the former class (undamaged) or the latter class (damaged). The second PNN establishes the character of the undamaged system in terms of a kernel density estimator of measures of system response; when presented with system response measures of unknown origin, it makes a probabilistic judgment whether or not the data come from the undamaged population. The physical system used to carry out the experiments is an aerospace system component, and the environment used to excite the system is a stationary random vibration. The results of damage identification experiments are presented along with conclusions rating the effectiveness of the approaches.

Many nuclear power plants use instrument and control systems based on analog electronics. The state of the art in process control and instrumentation has advanced to use digital electronics and incorporate advanced technology. This technology includes distributed microprocessors, fiber optics, intelligent systems (neural networks), and advanced displays. The technology is used to optimize processes and enhance the man-machine interface while maintaining control and safety of the processes. Nuclear power plant operators have been hesitant to install this technology because of the cost and uncertainty in the regulatory process. This technology can be directly applied in an operating nuclear power plant provided a surety principle-based {open_quotes}administrator{close_quotes} hardware system is included in parallel with the upgrade Sandia National Laboratories has developed a rigorous approach to High Consequence System Surety (HCSS). This approach addresses the key issues of safety, security, and control while satisfying requirements for reliability and quality. HCSS principles can be applied to nuclear power plants in a manner that allows the off-the-shelf use of process control instrumentation while maintaining a high level of safety and enhancing the plant performance. We propose that an HCSS administrator be constructed as a standardized approach to address regulatory issues. Such an administrator would allow a plant control system to be constructed with commercially available, state-of-the-art equipment and be customized to the needs of the individual plant operator.

Given the complex geometry of most wind turbine blades, structural modeling using the finite element method is generally performed using a unique model for each particular blade analysis. Development time (often considerable) spent creating a model for one blade may not aid in the development of a model for a different blade. In an effort to reduce model development time and increase the usability of advanced finite element analysis capabilities, a new software tool, NuMAD, is being developed.

If there should be an accident involving drainage of all the water from a spent fuel pool, the fuel elements will heat up until the heat produced by radioactive decay is balanced by that removed by natural convection to air, thermal radiation, and other means. If the temperatures become high enough for the cladding or other materials to ignite due to rapid oxidation, then some of the fuel might melt, leading to an undesirable release of radioactive materials. The amount of melting is dependent upon the fuel loading configuration and its age, the oxidation and melting characteristics of the materials, and the potential effectiveness of recovery actions. The authors have developed methods for modeling the pertinent physical phenomena and integrating the results with a probabilistic treatment of the uncertainty distributions. The net result is a set of complementary cumulative distribution functions for the amount of fuel melted.

A freeform fabrication technique for dense ceramics and composites has been developed. The technique requires less than 2 volume percent of organic additives and relies on the principle of layerwise deposition of highly loaded colloidal slurries. Components can be manufactured into complex geometries with thick solid sections as well as with thin-walled sections with high aspect ratios. Process feasibility and quality is dependent on the processing parameters of solids loading, slurry rheology, deposition rate, and drying rate. These interrelated parameters must be controlled so that sintering defects are prevented and shape tolerance is maintained. A review of this freeform fabrication technique, called robocasting, will be discussed for fabrication of aluminum oxide parts. Recent developments for a finite element analysis technique for modeling the drying process will also be presented.

Using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and lattice engineering techniques, the feasibility of combining photonic devices applicable to the 1.3 to 1.55 {micro}m wavelength range and monolithic microwave (or mm-wave) integrated circuits (MMICs) on GaAs is demonstrated. A key factor in the MBE growth is incorporation of an InGaAs active layer having an indium arsenide mole fraction of 0.35 or greater and its lattice compatibility with the underlying semi-insulating GaAs substrate. The InGaAs layer used for the photonic devices, can also serve as the active channel for the high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) for application in MMICs. Several examples of active and passive photonic devices grown by MBE are presented including an optical ridge waveguide, and a photodetector for detection of light in the 1.3 {micro}m range. The material structure includes a 3-layer AlGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs optical waveguide and a thin InGaAs absorbing layer situated directly above the optical waveguide. Metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors are formed on the top surface of the InGaAs layer for collection of the photo-induced carriers. The optical ridge waveguide is designed for lateral incidence of the light to enhance the MSM photodetector responsivity. Initial measurements on the optical waveguide and photodetector are presented.

The purpose of this project is to develop and extend the electron beam joining process to applications related to Mo/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} cermets for neutron tube fabrication, glass seals for flat panel displays, and ceramics for structural applications. The key issue is the identification of the allowable operating ranges that produce thermal conditions favorable to robust joining and sealing. High strength, hermetic braze joints between ceramic components have been produced using high energy electron beams. With a penetration depth into a typical ceramic of {approximately} 1 cm for a 10 MeV electron beam, this method provides the capability for rapid, transient brazing operations where temperature control of heat sensitive components is essential. The method deposits energy directly into a buried joint, allowing otherwise inaccessible interfaces to be brazed. The combination of transient heating, with higher thermal conductivity, lower heat capacity, and lower melting temperature of braze metals relative to the ceramic materials, enables a pulsed high power beam to melt a braze metal without producing excessive ceramic temperatures. The authors have demonstrated the feasibility of this process related to ceramic coupons a well as ceramic and glass tubes and cylindrical shapes. The transient thermal response was predicted, using as input the energy absorption predicted from the coupled electron-photon and thermal transport analysis. The joining experiments were conducted with an RF linear accelerator at 10--13 MV. Joining experiments have provided high strength joints between alumina and alumina and between alumina and cermet joints in cylindrical geometry. These joints provided good hermetic seals.

Intense pulsed high-power ion beams have been demonstrated to produce enhanced surface properties by changes in microstructure caused by rapid heating and cooling of the surface. Additional improvements can be effected by the mixing of a previously deposited thin-film layer (surface alloying or ion beam mixing) into any number of substrate materials. The authors have conducted surface treatment and alloying experiments with Al, Fe, and Ti-based metals on the RHEPP-1 accelerator (0.8 MV, 20 W, 80 ns FHWM, up to 1 Hz repetition rate) at Sandia National Laboratories. Ions are generated by the MAP gas-breakdown active anode, which can yield a number of different beam species including H, N, and Xe, depending upon the injected gas. Enhanced hardness and wear resistance have been produced by treatment of 440C stainless steel, and by the mixing of Pt into Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Mixing of a thin-film Hf layer into Al 6061-T6 alloy (Al-1.0Mg-0.6Si) has improved its corrosion resistance by as much as four orders of magnitude in electrochemical testing, compared with untreated and uncoated Al6061. Experiments are ongoing to further understand the microstructural basis for these surface improvements.

The Hardware Design Document (HDD) describes the various hardware components used in the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Infrasound Prototype and their interrelationships. It divides the infrasound prototype into hardware configurations items (HWCIs). The HDD uses techniques such as block diagrams and parts lists to present this information. The level of detail provided in the following sections should be sufficient to allow potential users to procure and install the infrasound system. Infrasonic monitoring is a low cost, robust, and effective technology for detecting atmospheric explosions. Low frequencies from explosion signals propagate to long ranges (few thousand kilometers) where they can be detected with an array of sensors.

In this paper we describe a new method for creating three-dimensional images using pairs of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images obtained from a unique collection geometry. This collection mode involves synthetic apertures that have a common center. In this sense the illumination directions for the two SAR images are the same, while the slant planes are at different spatial orientations. The slant plane orientations give rise to cross-range layover (fore-shortening) components in the two images that are of equal magnitude but opposite directions. This differential cross-range layover is therefore proportional to the elevation of a given target, which is completely analogous to the situation in stereo optical imaging, wherein two film planes (corresponding to the two slant planes) result in elevation-dependent parallax. Because the two SAR collections are coherent in this particular collection mode, the images have the same speckle patterns throughout. As a result, the images may be placed into stereo correspondence via calculation of correlations between micro-patches of the complex image data. The resulting computed digital stereo elevation map can be quite accurate. Alternatively, an analog anaglyph can be displayed for 3-D viewing, avoiding the necessity of the stereo correspondence calculation.

Chromium-contaminated soil is a common environmental problem in the United States as a result of numerous industrial processes involving chromium. Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] is the species of most concern because of its toxicity and mobility in groundwater. One method of diminishing the environmental impact of chromium is to reduce it to a trivalent oxidation state [Cr(III)], in which it is relatively insoluble and nontoxic. This study investigated a stabilization and solidification process to minimize the chromium concentration in the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) extract and to produce a solidified waste form with a compressive strength in the range of 150 to 300 pounds per square inch (psi). To minimize the chromium in the TCLP extract, the chromium had to be reduced to the trivalent oxidation state. The average used in this study was an alluvium contaminated with chromic and sulfuric acid solutions. The chromium concentration in the in the in situ soil was 1212 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) total chromium and 275 mg/kg Cr(VI). The effectiveness of iron, ferrous sulfate to reduce Cr(VI) was tested in batch experiments.

The temperature, curing, and filler dependencies of the viscosities of common epoxies used at Sandia encapsulants are presented along with examples of useful applications.

Butyl rubber, unfortunately, has pronounced nonlinear viscoelastic behavior, which may be modelled by a separable KBKZ formalism. While these effects seem to have minimal impact on accelerated sealing force measurements, they do severely impact compression set tests. Therefore, a new test is suggested for evaluating field-return o-rings which is free from such confounding effects.

This report describes the results of a Sandia-funded laboratory-directed research and development project titled {open_quotes}Integrated and Robust Security Infrastructure{close_quotes} (IRSI). IRSI was to provide a broad range of commercial-grade security services to any software application. IRSI has two primary goals: application transparency and manageable public key infrastructure. IRSI must provide its security services to any application without the need to modify the application to invoke the security services. Public key mechanisms are well suited for a network with many end users and systems. There are many issues that make it difficult to deploy and manage a public key infrastructure. IRSI addressed some of these issues to create a more manageable public key infrastructure.

This report summarizes measured performance of residential geothermal heat pumps (GHP`s) that were installed in family housing units at Ft. Hood, Texas and at Selfridge Air National Guard base in Michigan. These units were built as part of a joint Department of Defense/Department of Energy program to evaluate the energy savings potential of GHP`s installed at military facilities. At the Ft. Hood site, the GHP performance was compared to conventional forced air electric air conditioning and natural gas heating. At Selfridge, the homes under test were originally equipped with electric baseboard heat and no air conditioning. Installation of the GHP systems at both sites was straightforward but more problems and costs were incurred at Selfridge because of the need to install ductwork in the homes. The GHP`s at both sites produced impressive energy savings. These savings approached 40% for most of the homes tested. The low cost of energy on these bases relative to the incremental cost of the GHP conversions precludes rapid payback of the GHP`s from energy savings alone. Estimates based on simple payback (no inflation and no interest on capital) indicated payback times from 15 to 20 years at both sites. These payback times may be reduced by considering the additional savings possible due to reduced maintenance costs. Results are summarized in terms of 15 minute, hourly, monthly, and annual performance parameters. The results indicate that all the systems were working properly but several design shortcomings were identified. Recommendations are made for improvements in future installations at both sites.

Results from simulations of the impact and penetration of tungsten alloy rods into thick rolled armor plates are presented. The calculations were performed with the CTH and ALEGRA computer codes using the DOE massively parallel TFLOPS computer co-developed by Sandia National Laboratory and Intel Corporation. Comparisons with experimental results are presented. Agreement of the two codes with each other and with the empirical results for penetration channel depth and radius is very close. Other shock physics and penetration features are also compared to simulation results.

Analytical models of wind turbine blades have many uncertainties, particularly with composite construction where material properties and cross-sectional dimension may not be known or precisely controllable. In this paper the authors demonstrate how modal testing can be used to estimate important material parameters and to update and improve a finite-element (FE) model of a prototype wind turbine blade. An example of prototype blade is used here to demonstrate how model parameters can be identified. The starting point is an FE model of the blade, using best estimates for the material constants. Frequencies of the lowest fourteen modes are used as the basis for comparisons between model predictions and test data. Natural frequencies and mode shapes calculated with the FE model are used in an optimal test design code to select instrumentation (accelerometer) and excitation locations that capture all the desired mode shapes. The FE model is also used to calculate sensitivities of the modal frequencies to each of the uncertain material parameters. These parameters are estimated, or updated, using a weighted least-squares technique to minimize the difference between test frequencies and predicted results. Updated material properties are determined for axial, transverse, and shear moduli in two separate regions of the blade cross section: in the central box, and in the leading and trailing panels. Static FE analyses are then conducted with the updated material parameters to determine changes in effective beam stiffness and buckling loads.

Natural attenuation is increasingly applied to remediate contaminated soils and ground waters. Roughly 25% of Superfund groundwater remedies in 1995 involved some type of monitored natural attenuation, compared to almost none 5 years ago. Remediation by natural attenuation (RNA) requires clear evidence that contaminant levels are decreasing sufficiently over time, a defensible explanation of the attenuation mechanism, long-term monitoring, and a contingency plan at the very least. Although the primary focus of implementation has to date been the biodegradation of organic contaminants, there is a wealth of scientific evidence that natural processes reduce the bioavailability of contaminant metals and radionuclides. Natural attenuation of metals and radionuclides is likely to revolve around sorption, solubility, biologic uptake and dilution controls over contaminant availability. Some of these processes can be applied to actively remediate sites. Others, such as phytoremediation, are likely to be ineffective. RNA of metals and radionuclides is likely to require specialized site characterization to construct contaminant and site-specific conceptual models of contaminant behavior. Ideally, conceptual models should be refined such that contaminant attenuation can be confidently predicted into the future. The technical approach to RNA of metals and radionuclides is explored here.

During July--November, 1995, Sandia National Laboratories, in cooperation with CE Exploration, drilled a 5,360 feet exploratory slimhole (3.895 inch diameter) in the Newberry Known Geothermal Resource Area (KGRA) near Bend, Oregon. This well was part of Sandia`s program to evaluate slimholes as a geothermal exploration tool. During and after drilling the authors performed numerous temperature logs, and at the completion of drilling attempted to perform injection tests. In addition to these measurements, the well`s data set includes: over 4,000 feet of continuous core (with detailed log); daily drilling reports from Sandia and from drilling contractor personnel; daily drilling fluid record; and comparative data from other wells drilled in the Newberry KGRA. This report contains: (1) a narrative account of the drilling and testing, (2) a description of equipment used, (3) a brief geologic description of the formation drilled, (4) a summary and preliminary interpretation of the data, and (5) recommendations for future work.

Corrosion is a leading material degradation mode observed in many military systems. This report contains a description of a small project that was performed to allow some of the important electrochemical aspects of two distinct and potentially relevant degradation modes to be better understood: environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) of aluminum alloys and corrosion in moist salt. Two specific and respective tasks were completed: (A) the characterization of the effect of aluminum microstructural variability on its susceptibility to EAC, and (B) the development of experimental and analytical techniques that can be used to identify the factors and processes that influence the corrosivity of moist salt mixtures. The resultant information constitutes part of the basis needed to ultimately predict component reliability and/or possibly to identify techniques that could be used to control corrosion in critical components. In Task A, a physical model and related understanding for the relevant degradation processes were formulated. The primary result from Task B included the identification and qualitative validation of a methodology for determining the corrosivity of salt mixtures. A detailed compilation of the results obtained from each of these two diverse tasks is presented separately in the body of this report.

This report describes the creation of three-dimensional numerical models of selected rock-matrix properties for the region of the potential high-level nuclear waste repository site at Yucca Mountain, which is located in southern Nevada. The models have been generated for a majority of the unsaturated and shallow saturated zone within an area referred to within the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization project as the site area. They comprise a number of material properties of importance both to detailed process-level modeling activities and to more summary-style performance assessment modeling. The material properties within these models are both spatially variable (heterogeneous) and spatially correlated, as the rocks are understood from data obtained from site-characterization drill holes widely scattered across the site area.

This report summarizes the investigation and evaluation of several {open_quotes}compact{close_quotes} drill rigs which could be used for drilling geothermal production wells. Use of these smaller rigs would save money by reducing mobilization costs, fuel consumption, crew sizes, and environmental impact. Advantages and disadvantages of currently-manufactured rigs are identified, and desirable characteristics for the {open_quotes}ideal{close_quotes} compact rig are defined. The report includes a detailed cost estimate of a specific rig, and an evaluation of the cost/benefit ratio of using this rig. Industry contacts for further information are given.

During the DOE Onsite Review in August 1996, Sandia`s Executive Vice President formally proposed combining Sandia`s Institutional Plan and Operating Plan, and their associated processes. The Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs subsequently approved a pilot plan to do so. This pilot plan is intended to comply with one of our new strategic objectives (see section 3.7), which entails creating an infrastructure that is a competitive advantage for our strategic missions. Therefore, Sandia`s planning organization integrated the information in the two plans and collected the data with a unified call. These data can not be combined in multiple ways, depending on customer requirements. Recently, executive management revamped Sandia`s Strategic Plan by creating eight new strategic objectives: four primary whats and four supporting hows. The new strategic objectives are set forth in chapters 3 through 5 of this document. The four primary objectives cover nuclear weapons responsibilities, nonproliferation and materials control, energy and critical infrastructures, and emerging national security threats. The major programmatic initiatives in chapter 7 are grouped accordingly. However, the programmatic descriptions in chapter 6 and the associated funding tables in chapter 9 continue to be presented by DOE Budget and Reporting Code, as in previous Sandia institutional plans. As an aid to the reader, the four primary strategic objectives in chapter 3 are cross-referenced to the program information in chapter 6.

This paper describes the method by which Sandia National Laboratories has deployed information technology to the line organizations and to the desktop as part of the integrated information services organization under the direction of the Chief Information officer. This deployment has been done by the Computer Support Unit (CSU) Department. The CSU approach is based on the principle of providing local customer service with a corporate perspective. Success required an approach that was both customer compelled at times and market or corporate focused in most cases. Above all, a complete solution was required that included a comprehensive method of technology choices and development, process development, technology implementation, and support. It is the authors hope that this information will be useful in the development of a customer-focused business strategy for information technology deployment and support. Descriptions of current status reflect the status as of May 1997.

Significant progress has been made over the past year in understanding the chemistry and processing challenges associated with {sup 99}Mo production using Cintichem type targets. Targets fabricated at Los Alamos National Laboratory have been successfully irradiated in fuel element locations at the Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR) and processed at the Sandia Hot Cell Facility. The next goal for the project is to remove the central cavity experiment tube from the reactor core, allowing for the irradiation of up to 37 targets. After the in-core work is complete, the reactor will be capable of producing significant quantities of {sup 99}Mo.

The Monitoring Systems Technology Center (MSTC) at Sandia National Laboratories has recently upgraded its Satellite Parts Inventory Forms 3.0 application to Developer/2000 for the web. This involved changing from a character based Forms 3.0 system on an HP-UX 9000 database and forms server to a GUI forms 4.5 web- based system on Windows NT 4.0 Forms Serve. The need to migrate the MSTC Satellite Parts Inventory System to a newer supported software environment, that was easy to access and use, and was year 2000 compliant, drove the migration from forms 3.0. This paper will examine the steps of this successful migration to a web environment in detail. The MSTC Satellite Parts Inventory System includes a parts inventory application for inventory management of flight qualified electronic parts. This application tracks parts from receipt to fabrication, including manufacturer information such as lot and date, and quantities data such as lot totals, quantity on order and reorder levels. The system keeps a current count of parts that are used in kitting modules/assemblies for fabrication, does automated picks of the oldest parts, and allows suggested parts to be pulled or put back in stock and the required part pulled in place of the system suggested part. The system also flags and notifies component engineers of parts that fall below a certain level and includes traceability of parts to module record of assembly (ROA), module ROA repairs, drawings definition, CAD queue scheduling, purchase requisition records, and module action and document management.

The ability to model the packing of polymers in melts and blends is important in many polymer applications. One significant application is the development of new polymer blends. It would be exceedingly helpful to the materials chemist if molecular modeling could be employed to predict the thermodynamics and phase behavior of hypothetical polymer alloys before embarking on a time consuming and expensive synthesis program. The well known Flory-Huggins theory has been remarkably successful in describing many aspects of polymer mixing from a qualitative point of view. This theory is known, however, to suffer from several deficiencies which can be traceable to the fact that: (1) it is a lattice model requiring both monomer components to have the same volume; and (2) a mean field or random mixing approximation is made which effectively ignores chain connectivity. Because of these limitations the Flory-Huggins theory does not include packing effects and cannot be used to make quantitative molecular engineering calculations. Recently Curro and Schweizer developed a new approach for treating polymer liquids and mixtures which the authors call PRISM theory. This is an extension to polymers of the Reference Interaction Site Model (RISM Theory) developed by Chandler and Andersen to describe the statistical mechanics of small molecule liquids. The PRISM theory is a continuous space description of a polymer liquid, which includes chain connectivity and nonrandom mixing effects in a computationally tractable manner. The primary output from PRISM calculations is the average structure or packing of the amorphous liquid given by the radial distribution function denoted as g(r). This radial distribution function is employed to deduce thermodynamic or structural properties of interest. Here, the authors describe the theoretical approach and demonstrate its application to polyethylene, isotactic polypropylene, syndiotactic polypropylene, and polyisobutylene liquids and blends.

The magnitudes of accident dose risks calculated by the RADTRAN code depend directly on the time span between an accidental release and evacuation of the affected area surrounding potential radionuclide releases. In a previous study of truck and rail transportation accidents, and other incidents requiring evacuations, a lognormal distribution of evacuation times (time span from decision to evacuate until complete) was developed, which provided a better model for this parameter than the practice of using a highly conservative value of 24 hours. However, the distribution did not account for time required for responders to arrive on the scene, to evaluate the hazards to surrounding population and to initiate an evacuation. Data from US Department of Transportation (DOT) accident statistics have been collected and their distribution functions determined. The separate distribution functions were combined into a single, comprehensive distribution which may be sampled to supply values of the RADTRAN input parameter, EVACUATION. A sample RADTRAN calculation illustrating the effect on risks of using the distribution versus the original (24 hour), conservative point-estimate are also presented.

In the transport of radioactive material (RAM), e.g., spent nuclear fuel (SNF), stakeholders are generally most concerned about risks in high population density areas along transportation routes because of the perceived high consequences of potential accidents. The most significant portions of a transcontinental route and an alternative examined previously were evaluated again using population density data derived from US Census Block data. This method of characterizing population that adjoins route segments offers improved resolution of population density variations, especially in high population density areas along typical transport routes. Calculated incident free doses and accident dose risks for these routes, and the rural, suburban and urban segments are presented for comparison of their relative magnitudes. The results indicate that modification of this route to avoid major metropolitan areas through use of non-Interstate highways increases total risk yet does not eliminate a relatively small urban component of the accident dose risk. This conclusion is not altered by improved resolution of route segments adjoining high density populations.

Severe ship accidents and the probability of radioactive material release from spent reactor fuel casks were investigated previously. Other forms of RAM, e.g., plutonium oxide powder, may be shipped in large numbers of packagings rather than in one to a few casks. These smaller, more numerous packagings are typically placed in ISO containers for ease of handling, and several ISO containers may be placed in one of several holds of a cargo ship. In such cases, the size of a radioactive release resulting from a severe collision with another ship is determined not by the likelihood of compromising a single, robust package but by the probability that a certain fraction of 10`s or 100`s of individual packagings is compromised. The previous analysis involved a statistical estimation of the frequency of accidents which would result in damage to a cask located in one of seven cargo holds in a collision with another ship. The results were obtained in the form of probabilities (frequencies) of accidents of increasing severity and of release fractions for each level of severity. This paper describes an extension of the same general method in which the multiple packages are assumed to be compacted by an intruding ship`s bow until there is no free space in the hold. At such a point, the remaining energy of the colliding ship is assumed to be dissipated by progressively crushing the RAM packagings and the probability of a particular fraction of package failures is estimated by adaptation of the statistical method used previously. The parameters of a common, well characterized packaging, the 6M with 2R inner containment vessel, were employed as an illustrative example of this analysis method. However, the method is readily applicable to other packagings for which crush strengths have been measured or can be estimated with satisfactory confidence.

Even prior to the beginning of the nuclear age, the packaging and transportation of nuclear materials was a prime national concern. Nuclear materials such as uranium and plutonium had to be transported safely (and secretly) to the Manhattan Engineer District Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The subsequent post war use of nuclear power for the generation of electricity and accelerated weapons development programs resulted in radioactive waste byproducts, such as spent fuel and plutonium, that were stored on site at utilities and federal weapons sites. While projected repositories for long term storage of radioactive waste are being planned, both low and high level radioactive materials on occasion must be moved safely. Movement to interim storage and, for low level waste, repository sites, is accomplished by a combination of truck, rail, ship, and air. The US Department of Energy (DOE) directs transportation activities including cask development technology for use in single or multimodal (a combination of land, water, and air) transport. In 1978, Sandia National Laboratories was selected as the lead contractor for basic transportation technology. This report is divided into the following topics: (1) early research and development (1936--1978); (2) radioactive material package test (1975--1977); (3) the SNL Transportation Technology Center; (4) TRUPACT-II; (5) beneficial uses of shipping system casks; (6) C-141B drop tests; (7) MIDAS; (8) MOSAIK; (9) SEARAM; (10) PATRAM; and (11) a chronology of transportation activities.

The Radioactive Materials Incident Report (RMIR) database was developed in 1981 at the Transportation Technology Center of Sandia National Laboratories to support its research and development activities for the US Department of Energy (DOE). This database contains information about radioactive materials transportation incidents that have occurred in the US since 1971. These data were drawn from the US Department of Transportation`s (DOT) Hazardous Materials Incident Report system, from Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) files, and from various agencies including state radiological control offices. Support for the RMIR data base is funded by the National Transportation Program (EM-70) of the US Department of Energy. Transportation events in RMIR are classified in one of the following ways: as a transportation accident, as a handling accident, or as a reported incident. This presentation will provide definitions for these classifications and give examples of each. The primary objective of this presentation is to provide information on nuclear materials transportation accident incident events in the US for the period 1971--1997. Among the areas to be examined are: transportation accidents by mode, package response during accidents and an examination of accidents where release of contents has occurred.

Little guidance has been provided by the DOE for developing appropriate Operational Safety Requirements (OSR) for non-nuclear facility safety documents. For a period of time, Chapter 2 of DOE/AL Supplemental Order 5481.lB provided format guidance for non-reactor nuclear facility OSRs when this supplemental order applied to both nuclear and non-nuclear facilities. Thus, DOE Albuquerque Operations Office personnel still want to see non-nuclear facility OSRs in accordance with the supplemental order (i.e., in terms of Safety Limits, Limiting Conditions for Operation, and Administrative Controls). Furthermore, they want to see a clear correlation between the OSRs and the results of a facility safety analysis. This paper demonstrates how OSRs can be rather simply derived from the results of a risk assessment performed using the ``binning`` methodology of SAND95-0320.

An original computational technique to generate close-to-equilibrium dense polymeric structures is proposed. Diffusion of small gases are studied on the equilibrated structures using massively parallel molecular dynamics simulations running on the Intel Teraflops (9216 Pentium Pro processors) and Intel Paragon(1840 processors). Compared to the current state-of-the-art equilibration methods this new technique appears to be faster by some orders of magnitude.The main advantage of the technique is that one can circumvent the bottlenecks in configuration space that inhibit relaxation in molecular dynamics simulations. The technique is based on the fact that tetravalent atoms (such as carbon and silicon) fit in the center of a regular tetrahedron and that regular tetrahedrons can be used to mesh the three-dimensional space. Thus, the problem of polymer equilibration described by continuous equations in molecular dynamics is reduced to a discrete problem where solutions are approximated by simple algorithms. Practical modeling applications include the constructing of butyl rubber and ethylene-propylene-dimer-monomer (EPDM) models for oxygen and water diffusion calculations. Butyl and EPDM are used in O-ring systems and serve as sealing joints in many manufactured objects. Diffusion coefficients of small gases have been measured experimentally on both polymeric systems, and in general the diffusion coefficients in EPDM are an order of magnitude larger than in butyl. In order to better understand the diffusion phenomena, 10, 000 atoms models were generated and equilibrated for butyl and EPDM. The models were submitted to a massively parallel molecular dynamics simulation to monitor the trajectories of the diffusing species.

Under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Utility Technologies, the Energy Storage Systems Analysis and Development Department at Sandia National Laboratories conducted a series of dialogs with industry regarding the uses and value of storage in stationary applications. The dialogs consisted of meetings with industry executives in which Energy Storage Systems (ESS) Program management solicited input regarding expected changes in the electric utility industry and the long-term research and development in storage technologies and systems that would be most appropriate for the emerging competitive business environment. This report is a compilation of the findings from this Executive Meetings Project.

Since the discovery of piezoresistivity in silicon in the mid 1950s. silicon-based pressure sensors have been widely produced. Micromachining technology has greatly benefited from the success of the integrated circuit industry, borrowing materials, processes, and toolsets. Because of this, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are now poised to capture large segments of existing sensor markets and to catalyse the development of new markets. Given the emerging importance of MEMS, it is instructive to review the history of micromachined pressure sensors, and to examine new developments in the field. Pressure sensors will be the locus of this paper, starting from metal diaphragm sensors with bonded silicon strain gauges, and moving to present developments of surface-micromachined, optical, resonant, and smart pressure sensors. Considerations for diaphragm design will be discussed in detail, as well as additional considerations for capacitive and piezoresistive devices. Results from surface-micromachined pressure sensors developed by the authors will be presented. Finally, advantages of micromachined sensors will be discussed.

Non-linear electromagnetic inversion schemes have been developed to produce 2D and 3D images of subsurface conductivity structure from electromagnetic geophysical data. The solutions are obtained by successive linearized model updates where full forward modeling is employed at each iteration to compute model sensitivities and predicted data. Regularization is applied to the problem to provide stability. The use of the inversion is demonstrated on a data set collected with the Apex Parametrics MaxMin I-8S over a section of conductive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory`s Cold Test Pit. The out-of -phase data are of very good quality while the in-phase are rather noisy due to slight mispositioning errors. A resolution study on synthetic data indicates that the error present in the in-phase data causes images of far lower resolution with more artifacts than if the in-phase and out-of-phase components are of similar quality. Better resolution images result if the data are weighted proportional to frequency; this gives each frequency equal importance. The loss of resolution due to poor quality in-phase data is demonstrated in a 3D inversion of the MaxMin data which shows both artifacts forming outside of the area known to contain the buried waste, as well as an inability to resolve depths.

This paper discusses criteria for selecting analytical support tools for manufacturing engineering in the early phases of product development, and the lessons learned at Sandia National Laboratories in selecting and applying these tools. The IPPD (Integrated Product and Process Design) process requires manufacturing process developers to be involved earlier than ever before in product development. Operating in an IPPD environment, Sandia`s manufacturing engineers were required to develop early estimates of the cost and performance of manufacturing plans. In early pre-production, there are very little actual data on manufacturing processes and almost no detailed data on the performance of various manufacturing process steps. The manufacturing engineer needs the capability to analyze various manufacturing process flows over a large set of assumptions involving capacity, resource requirements (equipment, labor, material, utilities,...), yields, product designs, etc. If the manufacturing process involves many process steps, or if there are multiple products in a single manufacturing area that share resources, or there are multiple part starts resulting in merged flow for final assembly, then this analysis capability must somehow be mechanized. This situation led them to look to modeling and simulation tools for a solution. Example analyses of manufacturing issues for two product sets in the early phases of product development are presented.

The electrical and chemical properties of insulators produced by codeposition of siloxane compounds or TEOS with oxygen in a focused ion beam (FIB) system were investigated. Metal-insulator-metal capacitor structures were fabricated and tested. Specifically, leakage current and breakdown voltage were measured and used to calculate the effective resistance and breakdown field. Capacitance measurements were performed on a subset of the structures. It was found that the siloxane-based FIB-insulators had superior electrical properties to those based on TEOS. Microbeam Rutherford backscattering spectrometry analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to characterize the films and to help understand the differences in electrical behavior as a function of gas chemistry and deposition conditions. Finally, a comparison is made between the results presented here, previous results for FIB-deposited insulators, and typical thermally-grown gate oxides and interlevel dielectric SiO{sub 2} insulators.

In late 1993, the authors` mission expanded from engineering design to also encompass production of neutron generator devices. They completed a gap analysis of the tools needed to support this emerging production assignment and, as a result, introduced a Product Data Management (PDM) system. This implementation includes basic PDM features, Web access, interfaces to the production floor and suppliers, and other utilities. They carefully strategized, piloted and assessed the integration of the PDM system into their business. Their efforts have prepared them to enter the next tier to further integrate their key operational resources to include their external suppliers.

The temperature dependence of the specific contact resistance of W and WSi{sub 0.44} contacts on n{sup +} In{sub 0.65}Ga{sub 0.35}N and InN was measured in the range -50 {degrees}C to 125 {degrees}C. The results were compared to theoretical values for different conduction mechanisms, to further elucidate the conduction mechanism in these contact schemes for all but as-deposited metal to InN where thermionic emission appears to be the dominant mechanism. The contacts were found to produce low specific resistance ohmic contacts to InGaN at room temperature, e{sup c} {approximately} 10{sup -7} {Omega} {center_dot} cm{sup 2} for W and e{sub c} of 4x 10{sup -7} {Omega} {center_dot} cm{sup 2} for WSi{sub x}. InN metallized with W produced ohmic contacts with e{sub c} {approximately} 10{sup -7} {Omega} {center_dot} cm{sup 2} and e{sub c} {approximately} 10{sup -6} {Omega} {center_dot} cm{sup 2} for WSi{sub x} at room temperature.

Our studies of the shock compression response of PVDF polymer are continuing in order to understand the physical properties under shock loading and to develop high fidelity, reproducible, time-resolved dynamic stress gauges. New PVDF technology, new electrode configurations and piezoelectric analysis have resulted in enhanced precision gauges. Our new standard gauges have a precision of better than 1% in electric charge release under shock up to 15 GPa. The piezoelectric response of shock compressed PVDF gauges 1 mm{sup 2} in active area has been studied and yielded well-behaved reproducible data up to 20 GPa. Analysis of the response of these gauges in the {open_quotes}thin mode regime{close_quotes} using a Lagrangian hydrocode will be presented. P(VDF-TrFE) copolymers exhibit unique piezoelectric properties over a wide range of temperature depending on the composition. Their properties and phase transitions are being investigated. Emphasis of the presentation will be on key results and implications.

The wide gap materials SiC, GaN and to a lesser extent diamond are attracting great interest for high power/high temperature electronics. There are a host of device processing challenges presented by these materials because of their physical and chemical stability, including difficulty in achieving stable, low contact resistances, especially for one conductivity type, absence of convenient wet etch recipes, generally slow dry etch rates, the high temperatures needed for implant activation, control of suitable gate dielectrics and the lack of cheap, large diameter conducting and semi-insulating substrates. The relatively deep ionization levels of some of the common dopants (Mg, in GaN; B, Al in SiC; P in diamond) means that carrier densities may be low at room temperature even if the impurity is electrically active - this problem will be reduced at elevated temperature, and thus contact resistances will be greatly improved provided the metallization is stable and reliable. Some recent work with CoSi{sub x} on SiC and W-alloys on GaN show promise for improved ohmic contacts. The issue of unintentional hydrogen passivation of dopants will also be covered - this leads to strong increases in resistivity of p-SiC and GaN, but to large decreases in resistivity of diamond. Recent work on development of wet etches has found recipes for AlN (KOH), while photochemical etching of SiC and GaN has been reported. In the latter cases p-type materials is not etched, which can be a major liability in some devices. The dry etch results obtained with various novel reactors, including ICP, ECR and LE4 will be compared - the high ion densities in the former techniques produce the highest etch rates for strongly-bonded materials, but can lead to preferential loss of N from the nitrides and therefore to a highly conducting surface. This is potentially a major problem for fabrication of dry etched, recessed gate FET structures.

Sandia National Laboratories has developed a systematic approach for achieving high confidence in major products requiring high reliability for use in high-consequence applications. A high-consequence application is one in which product failure could result in significant loss of life, damage to major systems or to the environment, financial loss, or political repercussions. The application of this process has proven to be of significant benefit in the early identification, verification, and correction of potential product design and manufacturing process failure modes. Early identification and correction of these failures modes and the corresponding controls placed on safety-critical features, ensures product adherence to safety-critical design requirements, and enhances product quality, reliability, and the cost effectiveness of delivered products. Safety-critical features include design features such as materials and dimensions, as well as manufacturing features such as assembly processes, inspections, and testing.