Publications

This report consists of one engineering drawing showing modifications to the Fifth Wheel System for a semi-tractor trailer truck. Notes give instructions for installation of some items, where other items may be purchased, testing instructions, and shipping instructions.

This report consists on one engineering drawing showing the wiring scheme for the Fifth Wheel System for a semi-tracker trailer truck. A note explains what wire is specified.

The development of software for use in high-consequence systems mandates rigorous (formal) processes, methods, and techniques to improve the safety characteristics of those systems. This paper provides a brief overview of current research and practices in high-consequence software, including applied design methods. Some of the practices that are discussed include: fault tree analysis, failure mode effects analysis, petri nets, both hardware and software interlocks, n-version programming, Independent Vulnerability Analyses, and watchdogs. Techniques that offer improvement in the dependability of software in high-consequence systems applications are identified and discussed. Limitations of these techniques are also explored. Research in formal methods, the cleanroom process, and reliability models are reviewed. In addition, current work by several leading researchers as well as approaches being used by leading practitioners are examined.

The five Solar Electric Generating Systems (SEGS) at Kramer Junction, California, now have nearly 30 years of cumulative operating experience. These 30 MW plants employ parabolic trough technology originally deployed by LUZ International in the late 1980`s and are now managed, operated and maintained by the Kramer Junction Company. In this paper, Sandia National Laboratories performed an analysis of the annual energy production from the five plants. Annual solar-to-electric conversion efficiencies are calculated and the major factors that influenced the results are presented. The generally good efficiencies are primarily attributed to the excellent equipment availabilities achieved at all plants.

This paper describe a system that was added to an existing satellite-borne telescope design for the purpose of compensating the boresight errors that had been observed in earlier flights of similar instruments. Those errors had been found to be caused by thermal distortion of the spaceframe. This retrofit design was subject to severe volume restrictions because it was fitted into an already tightly-packaged instrument envelope. It was found practical to improve the basic design by converting a redundant structure into a statically-determinate one. It was also possible to use portions of the mechanical actuation system to facilitate the position encoding needed for computer interfacing.

A sinkhole was first observed in May 1992 over the outer edge of the two-tiered former salt mine that was converted for oil storage by the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Results of diagnostic studies which included geophysical, geochemical, drilling, and hydrological methods suggest a direct connection exists between the surface collapse area and the underground mine. The connection was confirmed by correlative measurements of sediment slump rates, piezometric surface deflection, and brine influx rates into the mine. The dissolution of salt below the sinkhole that initiated the leak into the mine was likely caused by several confluent geologic processes, and exacerbated by mining-induced stresses that created fractures which severed as hydrologic flowpaths. Modeling studies of mine stresses show that years of tensional stresses may be required before cracking begins to occur, but once begun can continue to develop, and relieve the stress in that specific regime. The crack regime creates the avenue for incursion of groundwater, very slowly initially, but gradually enlarging as undersaturated groundwater dissolves salt on the sides of the crack. Mitigative measures include increasing the mine pressurization, slowing the dissolution by injecting brine into the sinkhole throat, and permeation grouting in hydrologic flowpaths.

The intent of the WIPP, being constructed in the bedded geologic salt deposits of Southeastern New Mexico, is to provide the technological basis for the safe disposal of radioactive Transuranic (TRU) wastes generated by the defense programs of the United States. In determining this technological basis, advanced reliability and structural analysis techniques are used to determine the probability of time-to-closure of a hypothetical underground shaft located in an argillaceous salt formation and filled with compacted crushed salt. Before being filled with crushed salt for sealing, the shaft provides access to an underground facility. Reliable closure of the shaft depends upon the sealing of the shaft through creep closure and recompaction of crushed backfill. Appropriate methods are demonstrated to calculate cumulative distribution functions of the closure based on laboratory determined random variable uncertainty in salt creep properties.

In a time when many companies are trying to find a way to do more with less, they are missing the ``solution`` that is right before their eyes. Rather than trying to decide on whether to reengineer or process improve, they should be focused on their most valuable resource: people. This paper discusses the elements of leadership and how it applies to all individuals in an organization. To get outstanding results from people, they need to begin by making leadership everybody`s business.

Tax loads and required revenues are estimated for current and future solar central receiver and gas-fired plants competing in the same market. An economic measure of tax equity is used to evaluate the equity of the tax loads under past and present tax codes. The same measure is used to devise a tax strategy which produces the following two types of equitable taxation: (1) the two plants carry nearly equal tax loads, and (2) local, state and federal governments receive the same distribution of revenues from the solar plant as from the gas-fired plant `Me results show that central receivers (and likely other capital-intensive technologies) carry higher tax loads compared to competing gasfired generation, that tax loads are highly correlated with competitiveness, and that equitable taxation is feasible within the boundaries of the study.

Recent Sandia support of the Solar Two project has included the analysis of optical performance issues related to heliostat field improvements. Two types of heliostats will be used for the Solar Two project: The 1818 original 38.4 m{sup 2} Martin Marietta Co. heliostats, and 108 new 95 m{sup 2} Lugo heliostats. Carrisa Plains mirror modules will be used to construct the Lugo heliostats and refurbish original heliostats. Baseline, clean reflectivity measurements of 0.90 and 0.94 are recomended for the original heliostat and the Carrisa Plains modules, respectively. Sandia`s Beam Characterization System provided beam quality information for representative configurations of both heliostats. This showed that the replacement of two facets with Carrisa Plains modules on an original heliostat led to a slight increase in spillage, but also increased beam power. As expected, the large beam of the Lugo heliostat showed poorer beam quality and significant spillage, but proved to be an economical addition of reflective area. The Carrisa Plains modules were found to be nominally flat, although the focal length changed slightly with temperature. An analysis of the canting options for both types of heliostats was performed. It was recommended the original heliostats be canted with an on-axis, lookback method, whereas a two-step method using first on-, then off-axis approaches was recommended for the Lugo heliostats. Finally, measurements performed at the Daggett site showed that despite the 1992 Landers earthquake, heliostat pedestal tilt and the associated tracking errors are expected to be within acceptable limits.

Reflux heat-pipe receivers have been identified as a desirable interface to couple a Stirling-cycle engine with a parabolic dish solar concentrator. The reflux receiver provides power nearly isothermally to the engine heater heads while decoupling the heater head design from the solar absorber surface design. The independent design of the receiver and engine heater head leads to higher system efficiency. Heat pipe reflux receivers have been demonstrated at approximately 65 kW{sub t} power throughput. Several 25 to 30-kW{sub e} Stirling-cycle engines are under development, and will soon be incorporated in commercial dish-Stirling systems. These engines will require reflux receivers with power throughput limits reaching 90-kW{sub t}. The extension of heat pipe technology from 60 kW{sub t} to 100 kW{sub t} is not trivial. Current heat pipe wick technology is pushed to its limits. It is necessary to develop and test advanced wick structure technologies to perform this task. Sandia has developed and begun testing a Bekaert Corporation felt metal wick structure fabricated by Porous Metal Products Inc. This wick is about 95% porous, and has liquid permeability a factor of 2 to 8 times higher than conventional technologies for a given maximum pore radius. The wick has been successfully demonstrated in a bench-scale heat pipe, and a full-scale on-sun receiver has been fabricated. This report details the wick design, characterization and installation into a heat pipe receiver, and the results of the bench-scale tests are presented. The wick performance is modeled, and the model results are compared to test results.

The ecological risk assessment process in its ideal form is an unbiased approach for assessing the probability of harm to the environment as a consequence of a given action. This information can then be combined with other societal values and biases in the management of such risks. However, as the process currently is understood, decision makers often are accused of manipulating information in order to generate decisions or achieve buy in from the public in support of a particular political agenda. A clear understanding of the nature of the risk management process can help define areas where information should be free from social or personal bias, and areas where values and judgments are critical. The authors do not propose to discuss the individual`s decision-making process, but rather to address the social process of risk communication and environmentally-related decision-making, identifying which parts of that process require bias-free, scientifically generated information about the consequences of various actions and which parts need an understanding of the social values which underlie the informed choices among those possible actions.

Mass transport properties are important in polycrystalline materials used as protective films. Traditionally, such properties have been studied by examining model polycrystalline structures, such as a regular array of straight grain boundaries. However, these models do not account for a number of features of real grain ensembles, including the grain size distribution and variations in grain shape. In this study, a finite difference scheme is developed to study transient and steady-state mass transport through realistic two dimensional polycrystalline microstructures. Comparisons with the transport properties of traditional model microstructures provide regimes of applicability of such models. The effects of microstructural parameters such as average grain size are examined.

As Sandia National Laboratories and the Physical and Chemical Sciences Center develop an increasingly diverse set of customers, research partners, and Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADA`s) with industry, there is a need for providing more concise information describing the technical achievements and capabilities. This publication, Research Briefs, is designed to inform the present and potential partners in research and technology advancement. The research emphasizes semiconductor physics, electronic materials, surface physics and chemistry, plasma and chemical processing sciences, lasers and optics, vision science, ion-solid interactions and defect physics, and advanced materials physics. The specific programs pursued are driven by the research goals which are greatly influenced by interactions with the government and industrial customers.

The peak thermal power generated in microelectronics assemblies has risen from less than 1 W/cm{sup 2} in 1980 to greater than 40 W/cm{sup 2} today, due primarily to increasing densities at both the IC and packaging levels. The authors have demonstrated enhanced heat transfer in a prototype Si substrate with a backside micro heat channel structure. Unlike conventional micro heat pipes, these channels are biaxial with a greater capacity for fluid transfer. Thermal modeling and preliminary experiments have shown an equivalent increase in substrate thermal conductivity to over 500 W/m{center_dot}K, or a four times improvement. Optimization of the structure and alternative liquids will further increase the thermal conductivity of the micro heat channel substrate with the objective being polycrystalline diamond, or about 1,200 W/m{center_dot}K. The crucial design parameters for the micro heat channel system and the thermal characteristics of the system will be covered.

More than 300 sinkholes, fissures, depressions, and other collapse features occur along a 70 km (45 mi) dissolution front of the Permian Supai Formation, dipping northward into the Holbrook Basin, also called the Supai Salt Basin. The dissolution front is essentially coincident with the so-called Holbrook Anticline showing local dip reversal; rather than being of tectonic origin, this feature is likely a subsidence-induced monoclinal flexure caused by the northward migrating dissolution front. Three major areas are identified with distinctive attributes: (1) The Sinks, 10 km WNW of Snowflake, containing some 200 sinkholes up to 200 m diameter and 50 m depth, and joint controlled fissures and fissure-sinks; (2) Dry Lake Valley and contiguous areas containing large collapse fissures and sinkholes in jointed Coconino sandstone, some of which drained more than 50 acre-feet ({approximately}6 {times} 10{sup 4} m{sup 3}) of water overnight; and (3) the McCauley Sinks, a localized group of about 40 sinkholes 15 km SE of Winslow along Chevelon Creek, some showing essentially rectangular jointing in the surficial Coconino Formation. Similar salt karst features also occur between these three major areas. The range of features in Supai salt are distinctive, yet similar to those in other evaporate basins. The wide variety of dissolution/collapse features range in development from incipient surface expression to mature and old age. The features began forming at least by Pliocene time and continue to the present, with recent changes reportedly observed and verified on airphotos with 20 year repetition. The evaporate sequence along interstate transportation routes creates a strategic location for underground LPG storage in leached caverns. The existing 11 cavern field at Adamana is safely located about 25 miles away from the dissolution front, but further expansion initiatives will require thorough engineering evaluation.

We performed neutron powder diffraction on solution-derived lead zirconate titanates (PZT). Three compositions, PZT 45/55, PZT 20/80 and PbTiO{sub 3}, were investigated. The materials were annealed so that the perovskite phase had just begun to grow from the precursor phase. In our materials this precursor phase is the pyrochlore rather than fluorite phase. The results show that in the pyrochlore phase, the (Ti,Zr) and the Pb are ordered in their crystallographic sites while the O are essentially disordered in both of the two usual pyrochlore anion sites.

A conversion coating method has been developed based on precipitation of Li{sub 2}[Al{sub 2}(OH){sub 6}]{sub 2}{center_dot}CO{sub 3}{center_dot}3H{sub 2}O from alkaline lithium salt solutions. The process is procedurally similar to chromate conversion coating but does not use or produce hazardous chemicals. The coating that forms is polycrystalline, continuous and conformal. The coating meets the MIL-C-5541E corrosion resistance, electrical contact resistance and paint adhesion requirements for certain aluminum alloys, but does not match the levels of performance exhibited by chromate conversion coatings. In this paper, methods for producing the coating are described. Corrosion resistance has been characterized using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and salt spray exposure. The structural, compositional and property changes attending post-coating thermal exposure are discussed. Performance in standardized corrosion, electrical and paint adhesion tests is also presented.

Hexylene-bridged polysilsesquioxanes can be prepared as mesoporous or non-porous xerogels simply by switching from basic to acidic polymerization conditions. In this study, we looked at the effect of monomer concentration on porosity of hexylene-bridged xerogels prepared under acidic and basic conditions. 1, 6-Hexylene-bridged polysilsesquioxanes were prepared by sol-gel polymerizations of 1, 6-bis(triethoxysilyl)hexane 1 with concentrations between 0. 1 to 1.2 M in ethanol. Gelation times ranged from seconds for 1.2 M concentration to months for 0.2 M. The gels were processed into xerogels by an aqueous work-up and the dry gels characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), solid state {sup 13}C and {sup 29}Si CP MAS NMR spectroscopy, and gas sorption porosimetry.

Hydrocarbon-bridged polysilsesquioxanes are prepared by the sol-gel polymerization of monomers with more than one trialkoxysilyl group attached directly to the bridging group by Si-C bonds. While the effects of varying the identity of the bridging group (length, rigidity, etc.), monomer concentration, and type of catalyst have been studied, the effect of different alkoxy ligands on the silicon atoms has not been investigated. For this study, 1, 6-- bis(triethoxysilyl)hexane 1 and 1, 6-bis(trimethoxysilyl)hexane 2 were polymerized under acidic and basic conditions in ethanol and methanol, respectively, and in tetrahydrofuran (THF). The resulting gels were processed to afford xerogels that were characterized by SEM, solid state {sup 13}C and {sup 29}Si Cross Polarization Magic Angle Spinning (CP MAS) NMR spectroscopy, and nitrogen sorption porosimetry.

The flat panel display development activities underway at Sandia National Laboratories are described. Research is being conducted in the areas of glass substrates, phosphors, large area processes, and electron emissions. Projects are focused on improving process yield, developing large area processes, and using modeling techniques to predict design performance.

Optical prossesses in nanostructured fractal composites are shown to be strongly enhanced. The enhancement occurs because of a localization of dipolar eigenmodes in subwavelength areas.

I{sub DDQ} testing of CMOSICs is a technique for production quality and reliability improvement, design validation, and failure analysis. The origin and basic concepts of I{sub DDQ} testing are reviewed. The relationship of I{sub DDQ} testing to other test methods is considered in the context of the whole IC life cycle from design, fabrication, and test through end use. A comprehensive test strategy is described that uses defect classes based on defect electrical properties rather than traditional fault models.

Despite intensive efforts in the area of dynamic graph algorithms, no efficient algorithms are known for the dynamic versions of some basic graph problems such as strong connectivity and transitive closure. We provide some explanation for this lack of success by presenting quadratic lower bounds on the strong certificate complexity of such problems, thereby establishing the inapplicability of the only known general technique for designing dynamic graph algorithms, viz., sparsification. These results also provide evidence of the inherent intractability of such dynamic graph problems. Some of our results are based on a general technique for obtaining lower bounds on the strong certificate complexity for a class of graph properties by establishing a relationship with the witness complexity. In many real applications of dynamic graph problems, a certain amount of lookahead is available. Specifically, we consider the problems of assembly planning in robotics and the maintenance of relations in databases which, respectively, give rise to dynamic strong connectivity and transitive closure. We exploit the (naturally available) lookahead in these two applications to circumvent the inherent complexity of the dynamic graph problems. We propose a variant of sparsification, viz., lookahead based sparsification, and apply it to obtain the first efficient fully dynamic algorithms for strong connectivity and transitive closure.

The photo-destruction of the high explosives HMX, RDX and TNT was investigated using two systems (ozone versus titanium dioxide), two reactors (pot vs annular reactor), and two types of lamps (1000 Watt Hg-Xe vs 25 Watt LP Hg). A mass balance was performed on reactions executed under pseudo-solar conditions, and relative reaction rates and products were compared for ozone and titanium dioxide based processes. The ratios of relative product formation is also discussed. Results show that there was little difference in the reactions performed in the annular reactor when either ozone or titanium oxide were used. The chemistry of RDX and HMX are very similar, as expected. Future work involving the mechanism is also discussed.