Publications

Sandia National Labs has been investigating concepts for high power lasers pumped directly by fission energy. The direct pumping of laser media with fission fragments offers the potential advantages of scaling to high powers and very long run times in a compact, self powered system. To investigate the potential of this concept, extensive experiments have been conducted in the Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR) and the Sandia Pulsed Reactor (SPR-III). These experiments include laser physics tests, radiation effects tests on optical materials, and experiments to examine the scaling of reactor pumped lasers to high powers. The SPR-III is a U-10%Mo fast burst reactor which is used for laser physics experiments. SPR-III is capable of 70 to 1500 {mu}s FWHM pulses generating up to several kW/cc excitation in a liter size laser cavity. The pulse widths greater than a few hundred microseconds are achieved using a pulse stretcher consisting of gram amounts of fissile material surrounded by moderator. The ACRR is a UO{sub 2}BeO fueled epithermal reactor which is used for larger volume scaling and beam quality experiments. ACRR operates in both steady state and pulsed modes with pulse widths of 7 to 250 ms resulting in excitation rates of {approximately}2 to 100 W/cc in excitation volumes of up to 50 1. Experimental configurations on both reactors have included central cavity and external cavity locations. The experiments on SPR-III have defined optimum conditions for efficient reactor pumping of rare gas lasers. This information has been used to define scaling experiments now in progress in the ACRR.

The safety and security of foreign nuclear facilities is an important topic for intelligence services. This has been made more important by the breakup of the Former Soviet Union. The major requirement of intelligence analysts is rapid information retrieval after the report of an incident at a foreign facility. Sandia National Laboratories is developing a GIS-based Energy Intelligence Information System (EIIS) to help analysts at The Office of Energy Intelligence of the Department of Energy formulate a response to a nuclear incident. The Vital Issues process was used to determine which information might be the most important to collect. Joint Applications Design and prototyping sessions were held to establish EIIS requirements and refine the user interface. EIIS was built to access any point on the globe or to move directly to a site, facility, or city. The EIIS version 1.0 concentrates on commercial reactors, version 2.0 will include other nuclear fuel cycle sites and release 3.0 will include waste and disposal information. The system runs on a SUN workstation using ARC/INFO{trademark} and Informix as the RDBMS. The map system relies upon the Digital Chart of the World from the Defense Mapping Agency.

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Distributed point-focusing solar concentrators are being developed for dish-Stirling systems and other applications. Many of these concentrators make use of faceted mirrors that have to be accurately aligned. Some of the solar concentrator designs use stretched-membrane facets that also require focusing. Accurate mirror alignment and focus of faceted solar concentrators have two benefits. First, the concentration ratio of the concentrator/receiver (collector) system is improved with accurate alignment and focus. The receiver aperture diameter can therefore be smaller, thereby reducing thermal losses from the receiver and improving the overall efficiency of the collector. Second, and perhaps more importantly, flux intensities on the receiver can be sensitive to facet alignment and focus. In this paper, the theory and practical application of an alignment and focusing technique are presented. In the technique, light from an artificial source is reflected from the concentrator`s facets to a target. From basic geometric principles, the shape and location of the reflected light on the target can be predicted. Alignment is accomplished by adjusting the facets aim so that the reflected image falls on the predetermined location. To focus a stretched-membrane facet, the reflected image size is adjusted to match that of the target. The governing equations used to draw the alignment targets are developed and the practical application of the technique to the alignment and focus of the Cummins Power Generation, Inc. CPG-460 are presented. Alignment uncertainty associated with this technique on the CPG-460 is also discussed.

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This report gives a brief description of the development activities for the MC3994 and MC3994A relays, including their mechanical and electrical characteristics. The basic details of the design were presented in SAND85-1288, {open_quotes}Characteristics and Development Report for the MC3593 and MC3594 Relays.{close_quotes} This report also summarizes test results and describes the tests that were performed to ensure that the MC3994 and MC3994A had adequate design margin in accordance with the capability drawing requirements.

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In this paper, we report on a project to develop a unified approach for building a library of collective communication operations that performs well on a cross-section of problems encountered in real applications. The target architecture is a two-dimensional mesh with worm-hole routing, but the techniques also apply to higher dimensional meshes and hypercubes. The approach differs from traditional library implementations in that we address the need for implementations that perform well for various sized vectors and grid dimensions, including non-power-of-two grids. We show how a general approach to hybrid algorithms yields performance across the entire range of vector lengths. Moreover, many scalable implementations of application libraries require collective communication within groups of nodes. Our approach yields the same kind of performance for group collective communication. Results from the Intel Paragon system are included.

This report revises the original report that was published in 1980. Some of the topics covered in the earlier report were provisional and it is now practicable to reexamine them using new or revised geotechnical data and that obtained from SPR cavern operations, which involves 16 new caverns. Revised structure maps and sections show interpretative differences as compared with the 1980 report and more definition in the dome shape and caprock structural contours, especially a major southeast-northwest trending anomalous zone. The original interpretation was of westward tilt of the dome, this revision shows a tilt to the southeast, consistent with other gravity and seismic data. This interpretation refines the evaluation of additional cavern space, by adding more salt buffer and allowing several more caverns. Additional storage space is constrained on this nearly full dome because of low-lying peripheral wetlands, but 60 MMBBL or more of additional volume could be gained in six or more new caverns. Subsidence values at Bryan Mound are among the lowest in the SPR system, averaging about 11 mm/yr (0.4 in/yr), but measurement and interpretation issues persist, as observed values are about the same as survey measurement accuracy. Periodic flooding is a continuing threat because of the coastal proximity and because peripheral portions of the site are at elevations less than 15 ft. This threat may increase slightly as future subsidence lowers the surface, but the amount is apt to be small. Caprock integrity may be affected by structural features, especially the faulting associated with anomalous zones. Injection wells have not been used extensively at Bryan Mound, but could be a practicable solution to future brine disposal needs. Environmental issues center on the areas of low elevation that are below 15 feet above mean sea level: the coastal proximity and lowland environment combined with the potential for flooding create conditions that require continuing surveillance.

Sandia National Laboratories, mission is to solve important problems in the areas of national defense, energy security, environmental integrity, and industrial technology. The Laboratories` strategy for accomplishing this mission is to conduct research to provide an understanding of the important physical phenomena underlying any problem, and then to construct validated computational models of the phenomena which can be used as tools to solve the problem. In the course of implementing this strategy, Sandia`s technical staff has produced a wide variety of numerical problem-solving tools which they use regularly in the design, analysis, performance prediction, and optimization of Sandia components, systems and manufacturing processes. This report provides the relevant technical and accessibility data on the numerical codes used at Sandia, including information on the technical competency or capability area that each code addresses, code ``ownership`` and release status, and references describing the physical models and numerical implementation.

On August 4, 1994, a Pollution Prevention Opportunity Assessment (PPOA) for the Print Shop was initiated by Print Shop Manager Bruce Fetzer and the Pollution Reduction Group (PRG).

The fatigue analysis of a wind turbine component typically uses representative samples of cyclic loads to determine lifetime loads. In this paper, several techniques currently in use are compared to one another based on fatigue life analyses. The generalized Weibull fitting technique is used to remove the artificial truncation of large-amplitude cycles that is inherent in relatively short data sets. Using data from the Sandia/DOE 34-m Test Bed, the generalized Weibull file technique is shown to be excellent for matching the body of the distribution of cyclic loads and for extrapolating the tail of the distribution However, the data also illustrate that the fitting technique is not a substitute for an adequate data base.

This report summarizes the environmental surveillance activities conducted by Sandia National Laboratories, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company for the Tonopah Test Range operated by Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia National Laboratories` responsibility for environmental monitoring results extend to those activities performed by Sandia National Laboratories or under its direction. Results from other environmental monitoring activities are included to provide a measure of completeness in reporting. Other environmental compliance programs such as the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, environmental permits, and environmental restoration and waste management programs are also included in this report, prepared for the US Department of Energy in compliance with DOE Order 5400.1.

The MELCOR computer code has been used to model four of the large-scale aerosol behavior experiments conducted in the Containment System Test Facility (CSTF) vessel. Tests AB5, AB6 and AB7 of the ABCOVE program simulate the dry aerosol conditions during a hypothetical severe accident in an LMFBR. Test LA2 of the LACE program simulates aerosol behavior in a condensing steam environment during a postulated severe accident in an LWR with failure to isolate the containment. The comparison of code results to experimental data show that MELCOR is able to correctly predict most of the thermal-hydraulic results in the four tests. MELCOR predicts reasonably well the dry aerosol behavior of the ABCOVE tests, but significant disagreements are found in the aerosol behavior modelling for the LA2 experiment. These results tend to support some of the concerns about the MELCOR modelling of steam condensation onto aerosols expressed in previous works. During these analyses, a limitation in the MELCOR input was detected for the specification of the aerosol parameters for more than one component. A Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) sensitivity study of the aerosol dynamic constants is presented for test AB6. The study shows the importance of the aerosol shape factors in the aerosol deposition behavior, and reveals that MELCOR input/output processing is highly labor intensive for uncertainty and sensitivity analyses based on LHS.

Because of the absence of a nearby, well-defined ground plane, performing electrical tests on unshielded cables installed in conduits is difficult. Experiments were run to develop a preionized gas troubleshooting technique to detect localized degradation of unshielded cables in conduits. This was achieved by introducing a readily ionizable gas like helium (or argon) in the conduit air space and then applying a moderately high voltage to the test cable, thus ionizing the gas surrounding the cable. Breakdown testing was performed on various types of damaged and undamaged cables. Other parameters necessary for practical implementation of the technique were also examined, including gas type, position of the cable with respect to the conduit wall, length of cable, conduit configuration, conduit size, and gas propagation in conduits. High potential testing of cables in the presence of preionized helium gas provides essentially the same information as high potential testing in water. A test criterion of 30 kVdc or 10 kVac would detect when 5-mils of insulation remain on one particular tested cable. No undamaged cable was noted to break down at these voltages. A high concentration of helium is required to perform the test, but this is easily attained with straightforward preparations. A cable with through-wall damage can easily be detected with a test criterion of approximately 1.5 kvac.

Finite element simulations modelling impact of the Generic Accident-Resistant Packaging (GAP) have been performed. The GAP is a nuclear weapon shipping container that will be used by accident response groups from both the United States and the United Kingdom. The package is a thin-walled steel structure filled with rigid polyurethane foam and weighs approximately 5100 lbs when loaded. The simulations examined 250 ft/s impacts onto a rigid target at several orientations. The development of the finite element model included studies of modelling assumptions and material parameters. Upon completion of the simulation series, three full-scale impact tests were performed. A comparison of the simulation results to the test data is given. Differences between the results and data are examined, and possible explanations for the differences are discussed.

A tester was developed to evaluate prototype thermal cells and batteries--especially high-voltage units--under a wide range of constant-current and constant-resistance discharge conditions. Programming of the steady-state and pulsing conditions was by software control or by hardware control via an external pulse generator. The tester was assembled from primarily Hewlett-Packard (H-P) instrumentation and was operated under H-P`s Rocky Mountain Basic (RMB). Constant-current electronic loads rated up to 4 kW (400 V at up to 100 A) were successfully used with the setup. For testing under constant-resistance conditions, power metal-oxide field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) controlled by a programmable pulse generator were used to switch between steady-state and pulse loads. The pulses were digitized at up to a 50 kHz rate (20 {mu} s/pt) using high-speed DVMs; steady-state voltages were monitored with standard DVMs. This paper describes several of the test configurations used and discusses the limitations of each. Representative data are presented for a number of the test conditions.

This report discusses matrixed field emission devices which have been fabricated using a modification of standard integrated circuit fabrication techniques. The emitter-to-gate spacing is fixed by the thickness of a deposited oxide and not by photolithographic techniques. Functioning triodes have been fabricated using this deposited oxide spacer approach. Measured emission current to a collector electrically and physically separated from the matrixed emission array follows Fowler-Nordheim behavior. Modeling of the potential field near the emitter and gate structures as well as the emitted electron trajectories with a two-dimensional, Poisson solver, finite-difference code was used to evaluate and improve field emission structures.

Over the past couple of years the Information Technology Department at Sandia Laboratories has developed software to automatically generate database/4gl procedure code and database maintenance scripts based on database table information. With this software developers simply enter table and referential integrity information and the software generates code and scripts as required. The generated procedure code includes simple insert/delete/update procedures, transaction logging procedures as well as referential integrity procedures. The generated database maintenance scripts include scripts to modify structures, update remote databases, create views, and create indexes. Additionally, the software can generate EPSI representations of Binder diagrams for the tables. This paper will discuss the software application and use of it in real world applications. The automated generation of procedure code and maintenance scripts allows the developers to concentrate on the development of user interface code. The technique involves generating database/4 gl procedure code and maintenance scripts automatically from the database table information. The database/4gl procedure code provides standard insert/update/delete interfaces for upper level code as well as enforces the data constraints defined in the information model. The maintenance scripts provide maintenance scripts and migration scripts. This has resulted in fully updated database applications with complete rules enforcement and database maintenance scripts within days of a database modification.

Maintenance Performance Indicators (PI) specify where the maintenance department is and which direction it is going allowing for a quick and accurate assessment of the performance of the Maintenance Management Program (MMP). Establishing PI`s for the maintenance department will allow a measure of productivity and a means of feedback for methods improvement. Effective performance of the maintenance department directly effects plant profitability. Improvements in the quality and productivity of the maintenance work force will significantly reduce maintenance costs. The level of performance attained by the maintenance work force is usually guessed at. Guessing will not identify areas needing improvement or help to initiate a corrective action. Maintenance PI`s are required for maintenance departments whose goal is to control maintenance costs while increasing productivity. The application of basic statistical methods will allow a maintenance department to know where they are and which direction they are going. The data presented in this paper is a representation of indicators used in industry as well as developed indicators to establish a complete maintenance performance indicator program. The methodology used in developing this program can be used as a way to manage a cost effective maintenance management program.