In this paper the authors present the current status of an unsteady 3D parachute simulation code which is being developed at Sandia National Laboratories under the Department of Energy's Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI). The Vortex Inflation PARachute code (VIPAR) which embodies this effort will eventually be able to perform complete numerical simulations of ribbon parachute deployment, inflation, and steady descent. At the present time they have a working serial version of the uncoupled fluids code which can simulate unsteady 3D incompressible flows around bluff bodies made up of triangular membrane elements. A parallel version of the code has just been completed which will allow one to compute flows over complex geometries utilizing several thousand processors on one of the new DOE teraFLOP computers.
In conjunction with ongoing high-current experiments on Sandia National Laboratories' Z accelerator, the authors have revisited a problem first described in detail by Heinz Knoepfel. Unlike the 1-Tesla MITLs of pulsed power accelerators used to produce intense particle beams, Z's disc transmission line (downstream of the current addition) is in a 100--1,200 Tesla regime, so its conductors cannot be modeled simply as static infinite conductivity boundaries. Using the MHD code MACH2 they have been investigating the conductor hydrodynamics, characterizing the joule heating, magnetic field diffusion, and material deformation, pressure, and velocity over a range of current densities, current rise-times, and conductor materials. Three purposes of this work are (1) to quantify power flow losses owing to ultra-high magnetic fields, (2) to model the response of VISAR diagnostic samples in various configurations on Z, and (3) to incorporate the most appropriate equation of state and conductivity models into the MHD computations. Certain features are strongly dependent on the details of the conductivity model.
The authors discuss their new implementation of the Adaptive Coordinate Real-space Electronic Structure (ACRES) method for studying the atomic and electronic structure of infinite periodic as well as finite systems, based on density functional theory. This improved version aims at making the method widely applicable and efficient, using high performance Fortran on parallel architectures. The scaling of various parts of an ACRES calculation is analyzed and compared to that of plane-wave based methods. The new developments that lead to enhanced performance, and their parallel implementation, are presented in detail. They illustrate the application of ACRES to the study of elemental crystalline solids, molecules and complex crystalline materials, such as blue bronze and zeolites.
As more complex and functionally diverse requirements are placed on high consequence embedded applications, ensuring safe and secure operation requires an execution environment that is ultra reliable from a system viewpoint. In many cases the safety and security of the system depends upon the reliable cooperation between the hardware and the software to meet real-time system throughput requirements. The selection of a microprocessor and its associated development environment for an embedded application has the most far-reaching effects on the development and production of the system than any other element in the design. The effects of this choice ripple through the remainder of the hardware design and profoundly affect the entire software development process. While state-of-the-art software engineering principles indicate that an object oriented (OO) methodology provides a superior development environment, traditional programming languages available for microprocessors targeted for deeply embedded applications do not directly support OO techniques. Furthermore, the microprocessors themselves do not typically support nor do they enforce an OO environment. This paper describes a system level approach for the design of a microprocessor intended for use in deeply embedded high consequence applications that both supports and enforces an OO execution environment.
The mission of the Architectural Surety{trademark} program at Sandia National Laboratories is to assure the performance of buildings, facilities, and other infrastructure systems under normal, abnormal, and malevolent threat conditions. Through educational outreach efforts in the classroom, at conferences, and presentations such as this one, public and professional awareness of the need to defuse and mitigate such threats is increased. Buildings, airports, utilities, and other kinds of infrastructure deteriorate over time, as evidenced most dramatically by the crumbling cities and aging buildings, bridges, and other facility systems. Natural disasters such as tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and flooding also stress the materials and structural elements of the built environment. In addition, criminals, vandals, and terrorists attack federal buildings, dams, bridges, tunnels, and other public and private facilities. Engineers and architects are beginning to systematically consider these threats during the design, construction, and retrofit phases of buildings and infrastructures and are recommending advanced research in new materials and techniques. Existing building codes and standards do not adequately address nor protect the infrastructure or the public from many of these emerging threats. The activities in Sandia National Laboratories' Architectural Surety{trademark} efforts take a risk management approach to enhancing the safety, security, and reliability of the constructed environment. The technologies and techniques developed during Sandia's 50 years as the nation's lead laboratory for nuclear weapons surety are now being applied to assessing and reducing the vulnerability of dams, to enhancing the safety and security of staff in foreign embassies, and assuring the reliability of other federal facilities. High consequence surety engineering and design brings together technological advancements, new material requirements, systems integration, and risk management to improve the safety, security, and reliability of the as-built environment. The thrust of this paper is the role that new materials can play in protecting the infrastructure. Retrofits of existing buildings, innovative approaches to the design and construction of new facilities, and the mitigation of consequences in the event of an unpreventable disaster are some of the areas that new construction materials can benefit the Architectural Surety{trademark} of the constructed environment.
Sandia has recently completed the flight certification test series for the Multi-Spectral Thermal Imaging satellite (MTI), which is a small satellite for which Sandia was the system integrator. A paper was presented at the 16th Aerospace Testing Seminar discussing plans for performing the structural dynamics certification program for that satellite. The testing philosophy was originally based on a combination of system level vibroacoustic tests and component level shock and vibration tests. However, the plans evolved to include computational analyses using both Finite Element Analysis and Statistical Energy Analysis techniques. This paper outlines the final certification process and discuss lessons learned including both things that went well and things that should/could have been done differently.
Many Sandia components for military applications are designed for a 20-year life. In order to determine if magnetic components meet that requirement, the parts are subjected to selected destructive tests. This paper reviews the re-design of a power transformer and the tests required to prove-in the re-design. The re-design included replacing the Epon 828/Mica/methylenedianiline (curing agent Z) epoxy encapsulant with a recent Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) developed epoxy encapsulant. The new encapsulant reduces the Environmental Safety and Health (ES and H) hazards. Life testing of this re-designed transformer generated failures; an open secondary winding. An experimental program to determine the cause of the broken wires and an improved design to eliminate the problem was executed. This design weakness was corrected by reverting to the hazardous epoxy system.
Thirteen segmented aluminum honeycomb samples (5 in. diameter and 1.5 in. height) have been crushed in an experimental configuration that uses a drop table impact machine. The 38.0 pcf bulk density samples are a unique segmented geometry that allows the samples to be crushed while maintaining a constant cross-sectional area. A crush weight of 175 lb was used to determine the rate sensitivity of the honeycomb's highest strength orientation, T-direction, in a dynamic environment of {approx}50 fps impact velocity. Experiments were conducted for two honeycomb manufacturers and at two temperatures, ambient and +165 F. Independent measurements of the crush force were made with a custom load cell and a force derived from acceleration measurements on the drop table using the Sum of Weighted Accelerations Technique with a Calibrated Force (SWAT-CAL). Normalized stress-strain curves for all thirteen experiments are included and have excellent repeatability. These data are strictly valid for material characteristics in the T orientation because the cross-sectional area of the honeycomb did not change during the crush. The dynamic crush data have a consistent increase in crush strength of {approximately}7--19% as compared to quasi-static data and suggest that dynamic performance may be inferred from static tests. An uncertainty analysis estimates the error in these data is {+-} 11%.
There has been considerable progress in recent years towards developing a stress intensity factor-based method for predicting crack initiation at a sharp, bimaterial comer. There is now a comprehensive understanding of the nature of multi-material, two-dimensional, linear-elastic, wedge-tip stress fields. In general, the asymptotic stress state at the apex of dissimilar bonded elastic wedges (i.e. at an interface comer) can have one or more power-law singularities of differing strength and with exponents that can be real or complex. There are, however; many configurations of practical importance, (e.g. adhesively bonded butt joints, hi-material beams, etc.) where interface-comer stresses are described by one, real-valued power-law singularity. In such cases, one can reasonably hypothesize that failure occurs at a critical value of the stress intensity factor: when K{sub a}=K{sub ac}.This approach is completely analogous to LEFM except that the critical stress intensity factor is associated with a discontinuity other than a crack. To apply the K{sub ac} criterion, one must be able to accurately calculate K{sub a} for arbitrary geometries. There are several well-established methods for calculating K{sub a}. These include matching asymptotic and detailed finite element results, evaluation of a path-independent contour integral, and general finite element methods for calculating K. for complex geometries. A rapidly expanding catalog of K{sub a} calibrations is now available for a number of geometries of practical interest. These calibrations provide convenient formulas that can be used in a failure analysis without recourse to a detailed numerical analysis. The K{sub ac} criterion has been applied with some notable successes. For example, the variation in strength of adhesively bonded butt joints with bond thickness and the dependence of this relationship on adhered stiffness is readily explained. No other one-parameter fracture criterion is able to make this sort of prediction. Nevertheless, the interface-corner fracture toughness approach is just in its initial states of development, and its strengths and limitations must be more clearly defined. There are still numerous issues yet to be resolved, including the development of methods for treating time-dependent response, three-dimensional comers, large-scale yielding, and the development of a criterion that can be applied when the comer stress state is not characterized by a single K{sub a}.
Assuring hard real-time characteristics of I/O associated with embedded software is often a difficult task. Input-Output related statements are often intermixed with the computational code, resulting in I/O timing that is dependent on the execution path and computational load. One way to mitigate this problem is through the use of interrupts. However, the non-determinism that is introduced by interrupt driven I/O may be so difficult to analyze that it is prohibited in some high consequence systems. This paper describes a balanced hardware/software solution to obtain consistent interrupt-free I/O timing, and results in software that is much more amenable to analysis.
The Simulation Intranet/Product Database Operator (SI/PDO) project has developed a Web-based distributed object architecture for high performance scientific simulation. A Web-based Java interface guides designers through the design and analysis cycle via solid and analytical modeling, meshing, finite element simulation, and various forms of visualization. The SI/PDO architecture has evolved in steps towards satisfying Sandia's long-term goal of providing an end-to-end set of services for high fidelity full physics simulations in a high-performance, distributed, and distance computing environment. This paper describes the continuing evolution of the architecture to provide high-performance visualization services. Extensions to the SI/PDO architecture allow web access to visualization tools that run on MP systems. This architecture makes these tools more easily accessible by providing web-based interfaces and by shielding the user from the details of these computing environments. The design is a multi-tier architecture, where the Java-based GUI tier runs on a web browser and provides image display and control functions. The computation tier runs on MP machines. The middle tiers provide custom communication with MP machines, remote file selection, remote launching of services, load balancing, and machine selection. The architecture allows middleware of various types (CORBA, COM, RMI, sockets, etc.) to connect the tiers depending upon the situation. Testing of constantly developing visualization tools can be done in an environment where there are only two tiers which both run on desktop machines. This allows fast testing turnaround and does not use compute cycles on high-performance machines. Once the code and interfaces are tested, they are moved to high-performance machines, and new tiers are added to handle the problems of using these machines. Uniform interfaces are used throughout the tiers to allow this flexibility. Experiments test the appropriate level of interface: either a large set of specific function calls or a small set of generic function calls. This architecture is based on the goals and constraints of the environment: huge data volumes (that cannot be easily moved), use of multiple middleware protocols, MP platform portability, rapid development of the visualization tools, distributed resource management (of MP resources), and the use of existing visualization tools.
The characteristics Of ion-induced charge collection and single-event upset are studied in SOI transistors and circuits with various body tie structures. Impact ionization effects including single-event snapback are shown to be very important. Focused ion microbeam experiments are used to find single-event snapback drain voltage thresholds in n-channel SOI transistors as a function of device width. Three-Dimensional device simulations are used to determine single-event upset and snapback thresholds in SOI SRAMS, and to study design tradeoffs for various body-tie structures. A window of vulnerability to single-event snapback is shown to exist below the single-event upset threshold. The presence of single-event snapback in commercial SOI SRAMS is confirmed through broadbeam ion testing, and implications for hardness assurance testing of SOI integrated circuits are discussed.
Metal-oxide-silicon capacitors fabricated in a bi-polar process were examined for densities of oxide trapped charge, interface traps and deactivated substrate acceptors following high-dose-rate irradiation at 100 C. Acceptor neutralization near the Si surface occurs most efficiently for small irradiation biases in depletion. The bias dependence is consistent with compensation and passivation mechanisms involving the drift of H{sup +} ions in the oxide and Si layers and the availability of holes in the Si depletion region. Capacitor data from unbiased irradiations were used to simulate the impact of acceptor neutralization on the current gain of an npn bipolar transistor. Neutralized acceptors near the base surface enhance current gain degradation associated with radiation-induced oxide trapped charge and interface traps by increasing base recombination. The additional recombination results from the convergence of carrier concentrations in the base and increased sensitivity of the base to oxide trapped charge. The enhanced gain degradation is moderated by increased electron injection from the emitter. These results suggest that acceptor neutralization may enhance radiation-induced degradation of linear circuits at elevated temperatures.
Legislative and marketing forces both abroad and in the US are causing the electronics industry to consider the use of Pb-free solders in place of traditional Sn-Pb alloys. Previous case studies have demonstrated the satisfactory manufacturability and reliability of several Pb-free compositions for printed circuit board applications. Those data, together with the results of fundamental studies on Pb-free solder materials, have indicated the general feasibility of their use in the broader range of present-day, electrical and electronic components.
The development of liquid metal heat-pipes for use in solar powered Stirling engines has led to an in-depth analysis of heat-pipe wick properties. To model the flow of liquid sodium through the wick its two-phase permeability measurement is of interest. The permeability will be measured by constructing a test cell made up of a wick sample sintered to a manifold. Measuring the volumetric flow rate through the wick will allow for a determination of the wick's permeability as a function of pressure. Currently, simple estimates of permeability as a function of vapor fraction of a porous media are being used as a model to calculate the two-phase permeability. The above mentioned experiment will be used to test the existing formulas validity. The plan is to make use of a known procedure for testing permeability and apply those techniques to a felt-metal wick. The results will be used to verify and/or modify the two-phase permeability estimates. With the increasing desire to replace directly illuminated engines with the much more efficient heat-pipe apparatus it is inherently clear that the usefulness of known wick properties will make wick permeability design a simpler process.
From the results of the different bacterial cells seen, it is fairly certain that Gallionella is present because of the bean-shaped cells and twisted stalks found with the TEM. The authors cannot confirm, though, what other iron-oxidizing genera exist in the tubes, since the media was only preferential and not one that isolated a specific genus of bacteria. Based on the environment in which they live and the source of the water, they believe their cultures contain Gallionella, Leptothrix, and possibly Crenothrix and Sphaerotilus. They believe the genus Leptothrix rather than Sphaerotilus exist in the tubes because the water source was fresh, unlike the polluted water in which Sphaerotilus are usually found. The TEM preparations worked well. The cryogenic method rapidly froze the cells in place and allowed them to view their morphology. The FAA method, as stated previously, was the best of the three methods because it gave the best contrast. The gluteraldehyde samples did not come out as well. It is possible that the gluteraldehyde the authors prepared was still too concentrated and did not mix well. Although these bacteria were collected from springs and then cultured in an environment containing a presumably pure iron-bearing metal, it seems the tube already containing Manganese Gradient Medium could be used with a piece of metal containing these bacteria. A small piece of corroding metal could then be inserted into the test tube and cultured to study the bacteria.