Publications

The crystalline silico-titanates developed by the Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, Sandia National Laboratories and UOP exhibits extremely high ion exchange selectivity for removing cesium from aqueous defense wastes. Based on experimental data and structure studies, a competitive ion exchange model was proposed to predict the ion exchange performance in different simulated waste solutions. The predicted distribution coefficients were within 10% of the experimentally determined values.

In late 1994, Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, (SNL/NM), was instructed by the Department of Energy (DOE) Isotope Production and Distribution Program (IPDP) to examine the feasibility of producing medically useful radioisotopes using the Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR) and the Hot Cell Facility (HCF). Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) would be expected to supply the targets to be irradiated in the ACRR. The intent of DOE would be to provide a capability to satisfy the North American health care system demand for {sup 99}Mo, the parent of {sup 99m}Tc, in the event of an interruption in the current Canadian supply. {sup 99m}Tc is used in 70 to 80% of all nuclear medicine procedures in the US. The goal of the SNL/NM study effort is to determine the physical plant capability, infrastructure, and staffing necessary to meet the North American need for {sup 99}Mo and to identify and examine all issues with potential for environmental impact.

This report presents a two-year LDRD research effort into multisensor data fusion. We approached the problem by addressing the available types of data, preprocessing that data, and developing fusion algorithms using that data. The report reflects these three distinct areas. First, the possible data sets for fusion are identified. Second, automated registration techniques for imagery data are analyzed. Third, two fusion techniques are presented. The first fusion algorithm is based on the two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform. Using test images, the wavelet algorithm is compared against intensity modulation and intensity-hue-saturation image fusion algorithms that are available in commercial software. The wavelet approach outperforms the other two fusion techniques by preserving spectral/spatial information more precisely. The wavelet fusion algorithm was also applied to Landsat Thematic Mapper and SPOT panchromatic imagery data. The second algorithm is based on a linear-regression technique. We analyzed the technique using the same Landsat and SPOT data.

This document describes the processes to be used for creating corporate information systems within the scope of the Integrated Information Services (IIS) Center. Issue B describes all phases of the life cycle, with strong emphasis on the interweaving of the Analysis and Design phases. This Issue B supersedes Issue A, which concentrated on the Analysis and Implementation phases within the context of the entire life cycle. Appendix A includes a full set of examples of the deliverables, excerpted from the Network Database. Subsequent issues will further develop these life cycle processes as we move toward enterprise-level management of information assets, including information meta-models and an integrated corporate information model. The phases described here, when combined with a specifications repository, will provide the basis for future reusable components and improve traceability of information system specifications to enterprise business rules.

The RADTRAN 4 computer code, which calculates estimates of accident dose-risk corresponding to specified transportation scenarios, ascribes doses to potentially exposed members of the public. These persons are modeled as not being evacuated from the affected area for 24 hours following a release of radioactive material. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that this value may be unnecessarily conservative; consequently risk estimates are unnecessarily high. An initial survey of recent trucking accidents, reported in newspapers and other periodicals (1988 through 1994), that involved evacuation of the general population in the affected areas was undertaken to establish the actual time required for such evacuations. Accidents involving hazardous materials other than those which are radioactive (e.g., gasoline, insecticides, other chemicals) but also requiring evacuations of nearby residents were included in the survey. However, the resultant set of sufficiently documented trucking incidents yielded rather sparse data [1]. When the probability density distribution of the truck accident data was compared with that resulting from addition of four other (rail and fixed site) incidents, there was no statistically significant difference between them. Therefore, in order to improve the statistical significance of the data set, i.e., maximize the number of pertinent samples, a search for evacuations resulting from all types of accidents was performed. This resulted in many more references; a set of 48 incidents which could be adequately verified was compiled and merged with the original two data sets for a total of 66 evacuation accounts.

This paper presents a nonlocal analysis of the dynamic damage accumulation processes in brittle solids. A nonlocal formulation of a microcrack based continuum damage model is developed and implemented into a transient dynamic finite element computer code. The code is then applied to the study of the damage accumulation process in a concrete plate with a central hole and subjected to the action of a step tensile pulse applied at opposite edges of the plate. Several finite element discretizations are used to examine the mesh size effect. Comparisons between calculated results based on local and nonlocal formulations are made and nonlocal effects are discussed.

Cables have been identified as critical components requiring detailed technical evaluation for extending the lifetime of Light Water Reactors beyond 40 years. This paper highlights some of the DOE-sponsored cable aging studies currently underway at Sandia. These studies are focused on two important issues: the validity of the often-used Arrhenius thermal aging prediction method and methods for predicting lifetimes in combined thermal-radiation environments. Accelerated thermal aging results are presented for three cable jacket and insulation materials, which indicate that hardening of the outside surface has an Arrhenius temperature dependence and correlates well with reductions in ultimate tensile elongation. This suggests that the indentor approach is a promising NDE technique for cable jacket and unjacketed insulation materials installed in thermally-dominated regions of nuclear power plants.

The 1994 Fernald field characterization demonstration program, hosted by Fernald Environmental Management Project, was established to investigate technologies that are applicable to the characterization and remediation of soils contaminated with uranium. An important part of this effort was evaluating field-screening tools potentially capable of acquiring high-resolution information on uranium contamination distribution in surface soils. Further-more, the information needed to be obtained in a cost- and time-efficient manner. Seven advanced field-screening technologies were demonstrated at a uranium-contaminated site at Fernald, located 29 kilometers northwest of Cincinnati, Ohio. The seven technologies tested were: (1) alpha-track detectors, (2) a high-energy beta scintillometer, (3) electret ionization chambers, (4) and (5) two variants of gamma-ray spectrometry, (6) laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy, and (7) long-range alpha detection. The goals of this field demonstration were to evaluate the capabilities of the detectors and to demonstrate their utility within the US Department of Energy`s Environmental Restoration Program. Identical field studies were conducted using four industry-standard characterization tools: (1) a sodium-iodide scintillometer, (2) a low-energy FIDLER scintillometer, (3) a field-portable x-ray fluorescence detector, and (4) standard soil sampling coupled with laboratory analysis. Another important aspect of this program was the application of a cost/risk decision model to guide characterization of the site. This document is a compilation of raw data submitted by the technologies and converted total uranium data from the 1994 Fernald field characterization demonstration.

Prosperity Games are an outgrowth and adaptation of move/countermove and seminar War Games. Prosperity Games are simulations that explore complex issues in a variety of areas including economics, politics, sociology, environment, education and research. These issues can be examined from a variety of perspectives ranging from a global, macroeconomic and geopolitical viewpoint down to the details of customer/supplier/market interactions in specific industries. All Prosperity Games are unique in that both the game format and the player contributions vary from game to game. This report documents the Environmental Prosperity Game conducted under the sponsorship of the Silicon Valley Environmental Partnership. Players were drawn from all stakeholders involved in environmental technologies including small and large companies, government, national laboratories, universities, environmentalists, the legal profession, finance, and the media. The primary objectives of this game were to: investigate strategies for developing a multi-agency (national/state/regional), one-step regulatory approval process for certifying and implementing environmental technologies and evaluating the simulated results; identify the regulatory hurdles and requirements, and the best approaches for surmounting them; identify technical problems and potential resources (environmental consultants, labs, universities) for solving them. The deliberations and recommendations of these players provided valuable insights as to the views of this diverse group of decision makers concerning environmental issues, including the development, licensing, and commercialization of new technologies.

The LRSTF report for Phase I of its evaluation of low-residue soldering was issued in June 1995. This Appendix summarizes the results of follow-on testing performed in Phase II and compares electrical test results for both phases. Deliberate decisions were made by the LRSTF in Phase I to challenge the design guideline limits in MILSTD-275, Printed Wiring for Electronic Equipment The LRSTF considered this approach to produce a ``worst case`` design and provide useful information about the robustness of LR soldering processes. As such, good design practices were sometimes deliberately violated in designing the LRSTF board. This approach created some anomalies for both LR boards and RMA/cleaned controls. Phase II testing verified that problems that affected both RMA/cleaned and LR boards in Phase I were design related.

This report summarizes the technical progress made in the past three years on CRADA No. 1078, Molecular Engineering of Polymer Alloys. The thrust of this CRADA was to start with the basic ideas of PRISM theory and develop it to the point where it could be applied to modeling of polymer alloys. In this program, BIOSYM, Sandia and the University of Illinois worked jointly to develop the theoretical techniques and numerical formalisms necessary to implement the theoretical ideas into commercial software aimed at molecular engineering of polymer alloys. This CRADA focused on developing the techniques required to make the transition from theory to practice. These techniques were then used by BIOSYM to incorporate PRISM theory and other new developments into their commercial software.

Constitutive models describing the deformation of crushed salt are presented in this report. Ten constitutive models with potential to describe the phenomenological and micromechanical processes for crushed salt were selected from a literature search. Three of these ten constitutive models, termed Sjaardema-Krieg, Zeuch, and Spiers models, were adopted as candidate constitutive models. The candidate constitutive models were generalized in a consistent manner to three-dimensional states of stress and modified to include the effects of temperature, grain size, and moisture content. A database including hydrostatic consolidation and shear consolidation tests conducted on Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and southeastern New Mexico salt was used to determine material parameters for the candidate constitutive models. Nonlinear least-squares model fitting to data from the hydrostatic consolidation tests, the shear consolidation tests, and a combination of the shear and hydrostatic tests produces three sets of material parameter values for the candidate models. The change in material parameter values from test group to test group indicates the empirical nature of the models. To evaluate the predictive capability of the candidate models, each parameter value set was used to predict each of the tests in the database. Based on the fitting statistics and the ability of the models to predict the test data, the Spiers model appeared to perform slightly better than the other two candidate models. The work reported here is a first-of-its kind evaluation of constitutive models for reconsolidation of crushed salt. Questions remain to be answered. Deficiencies in models and databases are identified and recommendations for future work are made. 85 refs.

To properly characterize the transport of contaminants from the sediments beneath the Hanford Site into the Columbia River, a suite of In Situ Permeable Flow Sensors was deployed to accurately characterize the hydrologic regime in the banks of the river. The three dimensional flow velocity was recorded on an hourly basis from mid May to mid July, 1994 and for one week in September. The first data collection interval coincided with the seasonal high water level in the river while the second interval reflected conditions during relatively low seasonal river stage. Two flow sensors located approximately 50 feet from the river recorded flow directions which correlated very well with river stage, both on seasonal and diurnal time scales. During time intervals characterized by falling river stage, the flow sensors recorded flow toward the river while flow away from the river was recorded during times of rising river stage. The flow sensor near the river in the Hanford Formation recorded a component of flow oriented vertically downward, probably reflecting the details of the hydrostratigraphy in close proximity to the probe. The flow sensor near the river in the Ringold Formation recorded an upward component of flow which dominated the horizontal components most of the time. The upward flow in the Ringold probably reflects regional groundwater flow into the river. The magnitudes of the flow velocities recorded by the flow sensors were lower than expected, probably as a result of drilling induced disturbance of the hydraulic properties of the sediments around the probes. The probes were installed with resonant sonic drilling which may have compacted the sediments immediately surrounding the probes, thereby reducing the hydraulic conductivity adjacent to the probes and diverting the groundwater flow away from the sensors.

Cavity type receivers are used extensively in concentrating solar thermal energy collecting systems. The Solar Total Energy Project (STEP) in Shenandoah, Georgia is a large scale field test for the collection of solar thermal energy. The STEP experiment consists of a large field array of solar collectors used to supplement the process steam, cooling and other electrical power requirements of an adjacent knitwear manufacturing facility. The purpose of the tests, conducted for this study, was to isolate and quantify the radiative, conductive, and convective components of total heat loss, and to determine the effects of operating temperature, receiver angle, and aperture size on cavity heat loss. An analytical model for radiative heat loss was developed and compared with two other methods used to determine radiative heat loss. A proposed convective heat loss correlation, including effects of aperture size, receiver operating temperature, and receiver angle is presented. The resulting data is a source to evaluate the STEP measurements.

The light ion impurities C, 0 and H have been implanted or diffused into GaN and related compounds and their effect on the electrical properties of these materials measured by Hall, C-V and SIMS as a function of annealing temperatures from 300--11OO{degree}C. While C in as-grown GaN appears to create an acceptor under MOMBE conditions, implanted C shows no measurable activity. Similarly, implanted 0 does not show any shallow donor activity after annealing at {le}700{degree}C, but can create high resistivity regions (10{sup 6} {Omega}/{open_square}) in GaN, AlInN and InGaN for device isolation when annealed at 500--70O{degree}C. Finally, hydrogen is found to passivate shallow donor and acceptor states in GaN, InN. InAlN and InGaN, with dissociation of the neutral complexes at >450{degree}C. The liberated hydrogen does not leave the nitride films until much higher annealing temperatures (>800{degree}C). Typical reactivation energies are {approximately}2.0 eV for impurity-hydrogen complexes.

This document represents a summary of 58 technologies that are being developed by the Department of Energy`s (DOE`s) Office of Science and Technology (OST) to provide site, waste, and process characterization and monitoring solutions to the DOE weapons complex. The information was compiled to provide performance data on OST-developed technologies to scientists and engineers responsible for preparing Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Studies (RI/FSs) and preparing plans and compliance documents for DOE cleanup and waste management programs. The information may also be used to identify opportunities for partnering and commercialization with industry, DOE laboratories, other federal and state agencies, and the academic community. Each technology is featured in a format that provides: (1) a description, (2) technical performance data, (3) applicability, (4) development status, (5) regulatory considerations, (6) potential commercial applications, (7) intellectual property, and (8) points-of-contact. Technologies are categorized into the following areas: (1) Bioremediation Monitoring, (2) Decontamination and Decommissioning, (3) Field Analytical Laboratories, (4) Geophysical and Hydrologic Characterization, (5) Hazardous Inorganic Contaminant Analysis, (6) Hazardous Organic Contaminant Analysis, (7) Mixed Waste, (8) Radioactive Contaminant Analysis, (9) Remote Sensing,(10)Sampling and Drilling, (11) Statistically Guided Sampling, and (12) Tank Waste.

Non-toxic aqueous foams are being developed by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) for use in crowd control, cell extractions, and group disturbances in the criminal justice prison systems. The potential for aspiration of aqueous foam during its use and the resulting adverse effects associated with complete immersion in aqueous foam is of major concern to the NIJ when examining the effectiveness and safety of using this technology as a Less-Than-Lethal weapon. This preliminary study was designed to evaluate the maximum quantity of foam that might be aspirated by an individual following total immersion in an SNL-developed aqueous foam. A.T.W. Reed Breathing simulator equipped with a 622 Silverman cam was used to simulate the aspiration of an ammonium laureth sulfate aqueous foam developed by SNL and generated at expansion ratios in the range of 500:1 to 1000:1. Although the natural instinct of an individual immersed in foam is to cover their nose and mouth with a hand or cloth, thus breaking the bubbles and decreasing the potential for aspiration, this study was performed to examine a worst case scenario where mouth breathing only was examined, and no attempt was made to block foam entry into the breathing port. Two breathing rates were examined: one that simulated a sedentary individual with a mean breathing rate of 6.27 breaths/minute, and one that simulated an agitated or heavily breathing individual with a mean breathing rate of 23.7 breaths/minute. The results of this study indicate that, if breathing in aqueous foam without movement, an air pocket forms around the nose and mouth within one minute of immersion.

The finite-volume hybrid-grid (FVHG) technique uses both structured and unstructured grid regions in obtaining a solution to the time-domain Maxwell`s equations. The method is based on explicit time differencing and utilizes rectilinear finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) and nonorthogonal finite-volume time-domain (FVTD). The technique directly couples structured FDTD grids with unstructured FVTD grids without the need for spatial interpolation across grid interfaces. In this paper, the FVHG method is applied to simple planar microelectronic devices. Local tetrahedron grids are used to model portions of the device under study, with the remainder of the problem space being modeled with cubical hexahedral cells. The accuracy of propagating microstrip-guided waves from a low-density hexahedron region through a high-density tetrahedron grid is investigated.

This paper describes an algorithm for determining the optimal placement of a robotic manipulator within a workcell for minimum time coordinated motion. The algorithm uses a simple principle of coordinated motion to estimate the time of a joint interpolated motion. Specifically, the coordinated motion profile is limited by the slowest axis. Two and six degrees of freedom examples are presented. In experimental tests on a FANUC S-800 arm, the optimal placement of the robot can improve the cycle time of a robotic operation by as much as 25%. In high volume processes where the robot motion is currently the limiting factor, this increased throughput can result in substantial cost savings.

This report describes an experimental study that supported the LDRD program ``A General Approach for Analyzing Composite Structures``. The LDRD was a tightly coupled analytical / experimental effort to develop models for predicting post-yield progressive failure in E-glass fabric/polyester composites subjected to a variety of loading conditions. Elastic properties, fracture toughness parameters, and failure responses were measured on flat laminates, rings and tubes to support the development and validation of material and structural models. Test procedures and results are presented for laminates tested in tension, compression, flexure, short beam shear, double cantilever beam Mode I fracture toughness, and end notched flexure Mode II fracture toughness. Structural responses, including failure, of rings loaded in diametral compression and tubes tested in axial compression, are also documented.

In this report, we present a simple and somewhat preliminary numerical model of a sinusoidal lobed injector. The lobed (corrugated) injector is being considered by several investigators as a potentially efficient device to mix fuel and air for combustion purposes. In this configuration, air flows parallel to the troughs and valleys of corrugations which grow in amplitude in the stream-wise direction. These ramped corrugations produce stream-wise vortices which enhance the downstream mixing. For the lobed injector, the corrugations are actually double walled which allows one to inject fuel through the space between them into the flow downstream of the ramp. The simulation model presented herein is based on a vorticity formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations and is solved using an unsteady viscous vortex method. In order to demonstrate the utility of this method we have simulated the three-dimensional cold mixing process for injection of methane gas into air. The vorticity and fuel concentration field downstream of the injector are simulated for two different injector geometries. We observe from these two simulations that variation of the amplitude of the corrugations can be used to achieve considerably different mixing patterns downstream of the injector.

The conditions and occurrence of gas in crude oil stored in Strategic Petroleum Reserve, SPR, caverns is characterized in this report. Many caverns in the SPR show that gas has intruded into the oil from the surrounding salt dome. Historical evidence and the analyses presented here suggest that gas will continue to intrude into many SPR caverns in the future. In considering why only some caverns contain gas, it is concluded that the naturally occurring spatial variability in salt permeability can explain the range of gas content measured in SPR caverns. Further, it is not possible to make a one-to-one correlation between specific geologic phenomena and the occurrence of gas in salt caverns. However, gas is concluded to be petrogenic in origin. Consequently, attempts have been made to associate the occurrence of gas with salt inhomogeneities including anomalies and other structural features. Two scenarios for actual gas intrusion into caverns were investigated for consistency with existing information. These scenarios are gas release during leaching and gas permeation through salt. Of these mechanisms, the greater consistency comes from the belief that gas permeates to caverns through the salt. A review of historical operating data for five Bryan Mound caverns loosely supports the hypothesis that higher operating pressures reduce gas intrusion into caverns. This conclusion supports a permeability intrusion mechanism. Further, it provides justification for operating the caverns near maximum operating pressure to minimize gas intrusion. Historical gas intrusion rates and estimates of future gas intrusion are given for all caverns.

Densifying non-mined diamond powder precursors with diamond produced by chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) is an attractive approach for forming thick diamond deposits that avoids many potential manufacturability problems associated with predominantly chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes. The authors developed techniques for forming diamond powder precursors and densified these precursors in a hot filament-assisted reactor and a microwave plasma-assisted reactor. Densification conditions were varied following a fractional factorial statistical design. A number of conclusions can be drawn as a result of this study. High density diamond powder green bodies that contain a mixture of particle sizes solidify more readily than more porous diamond powder green bodies with narrow distributions of particle sizes. No composite was completely densified although all of the deposits were densified to some degree. The hot filament-assisted reactor deposited more material below the exterior surface, in the interior of the powder deposits; in contrast, the microwave-assisted reactor tended to deposit a CVD diamond skin over the top of the powder precursors which inhibited vapor phase diamond growth in the interior of the powder deposits. There were subtle variations in diamond quality as a function of the CVI process parameters. Diamond and glassy carbon tended to form at the exterior surface of the composites directly exposed to either the hot filament or the microwave plasma. However, in the interior, e.g. the powder/substrate interface, diamond plus diamond-like-carbon formed. All of the diamond composites produced were grey and relatively opaque because they contained flawed diamond, diamond-like-carbon and glassy carbon. A large amount of flawed and non-diamond material could be removed by post-CVI oxygen heat treatments. Heat treatments in oxygen changed the color of the composites to white.

This paper presents a new algorithm for solving general inequality/equality constrained minimum time problems. The algorithm`s solution time is linear in the number of Runge-Kutta steps and the number of parameters used to discretize the control input history. The method is being applied to a three link redundant robotic arm with torque bounds, joint angle bounds, and a specified tip path. It solves case after case within a graphical user interface in which the user chooses the initial joint angles and the tip path with a mouse. Solve times are from 30 to 120 seconds on a Hewlett Packard workstation. A zero torque history is always used in the initial guess, and the algorithm has never crashed, indicating its robustness. The algorithm solves for a feasible solution for large trajectory execution time t{sub f} and then reduces t{sub f} and then reduces t{sub f} by a small amount and re-solves. The fixed time re- solve uses a new method of finding a near-minimum-2-norm solution to a set of linear equations and inequalities that achieves quadratic convegence to a feasible solution of the full nonlinear problem.

As part of the effort to clean up hazardous waste sites, Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico (SNL/NM) adopted a novel approach to involving stakeholders in a key decision associated with its Environmental Restoration (ER) Project. The decision was where to locate a Corrective Action Management Unit (CAMU), an area designed to consolidate, store, and treat wastes generated from cleanup activities. The decision-making approach was a variation of a technique known as multiattribute utility analysis (MUA). Although MUA has rarely been undertaken during normal Project activities, it proved to be a surprisingly effective means for involving stakeholders in the decision process, generating consensus over a selected site, and enhancing public trust and understanding of Project activities. Requirements and criteria for selecting CAMU sites are provided by the Environmental Protection Agency`s (EPA`s) CAMU Final Rule (EPA 1993). Recognizing the lack of experience with the Rule and the importance of community understanding and support, the ER Project sought an approach that would allow stakeholders to participate in the site-selection process.