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The mechanics of network polymers with thermally reversible linkages

Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids

Long, Kevin N.

Network polymers with thermally reversible linkages include functionalities that continuously break and form covalent bonds. These processes dynamically change the network connectivity, which produces three distinct behaviors compared with conventional thermosetting polymers (in which the network connectivity is static): permanent shape evolution in the rubbery state; dependence of the number density of chains and associated thermal and mechanical properties on temperature and chemical composition; and a gel-point transition temperature above which the connectivity of the network falls below the percolation threshold, and the material response changes from a solid to liquid. This last property allows such materials to be non-mechanically removed, which is an attractive material capability for encapsulation in specialized electronics packaging applications wherein system maintenance is required. Given their complex, multi-physics behavior, appropriate simulation tools are needed to aid in their use. To meet this need, a thermodynamically consistent constitutive model is developed that accounts for the thermal-chemical- mechanical behavior of such materials. This model includes a representation for the permanent shape evolution that accompanies the dynamic network connectivity as well as non-equilibrium viscoelastic behavior to represent the material's glassy response. Analytic solutions in the rubbery state are derived to show the effects of competing time scales in the material, and the model is calibrated and validated against experimental data published in the literature. Finally, simple encapsulation scenarios are examined that demonstrate a substantial difference in behavior between conventional polymer networks and those with thermally reversible linkages under thermal-mechanical cycling. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

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An embedded level set method for sharp-interface multiphase simulations of Diesel injectors

International Journal of Multiphase Flow

Arienti, M.; Sussman, M.

We propose a comprehensive approach for treating complex wall boundaries in two-phase, free-surface flow simulations on a Cartesian adaptive grid. The external gas-liquid interface is handled by the well-known combined level-set volume-of-fluid (CLSVOF) method. The new element is the coupling with the wall boundary representation using a second level-set function. The no-slip boundary condition at the walls is enforced by properly populating the ghost cells of a narrow band inside the solid body, using a simple and numerically robust treatment of the contact line. In this framework, merging and separation of multiple solid bodies are easily accommodated. Verification tests with grid convergence analysis are presented for a stationary/oscillating body in single-phase flow and for a drop on an inclined plane. Two examples demonstrate the suitability of the proposed approach to study liquid injection. The first is a validation study with data from a scaled-up Diesel injector, to demonstrate how the seamless calculation of internal flow and jet primary atomization can be accomplished. The second is a demonstration of transient atomization response to a measured three-dimensional needle displacement of the injector. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

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Milestones for Selection, Characterization, and Analysis of the Performance of a Repository for Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain

Rechard, Robert P.

This report presents a concise history in tabular form of events leading up to site identification in 1978, site selection in 1987, subsequent characterization, and ongoing analysis through 2008 of the performance of a repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada. The tabulated events generally occurred in five periods: (1) commitment to mined geologic disposal and identification of sites; (2) site selection and analysis, based on regional geologic characterization through literature and analogous data; (3) feasibility analysis demonstrating calculation procedures and importance of system components, based on rough measures of performance using surface exploration, waste process knowledge, and general laboratory experiments; (4) suitability analysis demonstrating viability of disposal system, based on environment-specific laboratory experiments, in-situ experiments, and underground disposal system characterization; and (5) compliance analysis, based on completed site-specific characterization. Because the relationship is important to understanding the evolution of the Yucca Mountain Project, the tabulation also shows the interaction between four broad categories of political bodies and government agencies/institutions: (a) technical milestones of the implementing institutions, (b) development of the regulatory requirements and related federal policy in laws and court decisions, (c) Presidential and agency directives and decisions, and (d) critiques of the Yucca Mountain Project and pertinent national and world events related to nuclear energy and radioactive waste.

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A non-linear elastic constitutive framework for replicating plastic deformation in solids

Roberts, Scott A.; Schunk, Peter R.

Ductile metals and other materials typically deform plastically under large applied loads; a behavior most often modeled using plastic deformation constitutive models. However, it is possible to capture some of the key behaviors of plastic deformation using only the framework for nonlinear elastic mechanics. In this paper, we develop a phenomenological, hysteretic, nonlinear elastic constitutive model that captures many of the features expected of a plastic deformation model. This model is based on calculating a secant modulus directly from a materials stress-strain curve. Scalar stress and strain values are obtained in three dimensions by using the von Mises invariants. Hysteresis is incorporated by tracking an additional history variable and assuming an elastic unloading response. This model is demonstrated in both single- and multi-element simulations under varying strain conditions.

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Susceptibility Study of Audio Recording Devices to Electromagnetic Stimulations

Halligan, Matthew S.; Beetner, Daryl G.; Grant, Steven L.

Little research has been performed to study how intentional electromagnetic signals may couple into recording devices. An electromagnetic susceptibility study was performed on an analog tape recorder, a digital video camera, a wired computer microphone, and a wireless microphone system to electromagnetic interference. Devices were subjected to electromagnetic stimulations in the frequency range of 1-990 MHz and field strengths up to 4.9 V/m. Carrier and message frequencies of the stimulation signals were swept, and the impacts of device orientation and antenna polarization were explored. Message signals coupled into all devices only when amplitude modulated signals were used as stimulation signals. Test conditions that produced maximum sensitivity were highly specific to each device. Only narrow carrier frequency ranges could be used for most devices to couple messages into recordings. A basic detection technique using cross-correlation demonstrated the need for messages to be as long as possible to maximize message detection and minimize detection error. Analysis suggests that detectable signals could be coupled to these recording devices under realistic ambient conditions.

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Numerical Implementation of Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory for Extended Systems in Extreme Environments

Baczewski, Andrew D.; Shulenburger, Luke N.; Desjarlais, Michael P.; Magyar, Rudolph J.

In recent years, DFT-MD has been shown to be a useful computational tool for exploring the properties of WDM. These calculations achieve excellent agreement with shock compression experiments, which probe the thermodynamic parameters of the Hugoniot state. New X-ray Thomson Scattering diagnostics promise to deliver independent measurements of electronic density and temperature, as well as structural information in shocked systems. However, they require the development of new levels of theory for computing the associated observables within a DFT framework. The experimentally observable x-ray scattering cross section is related to the electronic density-density response function, which is obtainable using TDDFT - a formally exact extension of conventional DFT that describes electron dynamics and excited states. In order to develop a capability for modeling XRTS data and, more generally, to establish a predictive capability for first principles simulations of matter in extreme conditions, real-time TDDFT with Ehrenfest dynamics has been implemented in an existing PAW code for DFT-MD calculations. The purpose of this report is to record implementation details and benchmarks as the project advances from software development to delivering novel scientific results. Results range from tests that establish the accuracy, efficiency, and scalability of our implementation, to calculations that are verified against accepted results in the literature. Aside from the primary XRTS goal, we identify other more general areas where this new capability will be useful, including stopping power calculations and electron-ion equilibration.

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Geomechanical Analysis to Predict the Oil Leak at the Wellbores in Big Hill Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Park, Byoung

Oil leaks were found in wellbores of Caverns 105 and 109 at the Big Hill Strategic Petroleum Reserve site. According to the field observations, two instances of casing damage occurred at the depth of the interbed between the caprock bottom and salt top. A three dimensional finite element model, which contains wellbore element blocks and allows each cavern to be configured individually, is constructed to investigate the wellbore damage mechanism. The model also contains element blocks to represent interface between each lithology and a shear zone to examine the interbed behavior in a realistic manner. The causes of the damaged casing segments are a result of vertical and horizontal movements of the interbed between the caprock and salt dome. The salt top subsides because the volume of caverns below the salt top decrease with time due to salt creep closure, while the caprock subsides at a slower rate because the caprock is thick and stiffer. This discrepancy yields a deformation of the well. The deformed wellbore may fail at some time. An oil leak occurs when the wellbore fails. A possible oil leak date of each well is determined using the equivalent plastic strain failure criterion. A well grading system for a remediation plan is developed based on the predicted leak dates of each wellbore.

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Electromagnetic Coupling Into Two Standard Calibration Shields On The Sandia Cable Tester

Warne, Larry K.; Basilio, Lorena I.; Langston, William L.; Chen, Kenneth C.

This report presents analytic transmission line models for calculating the shielding effectiveness of two common calibration standard cables. The two cables have different canonical aperture types, which produce the same low frequency coupling but different responses at resonance. The dominant damping mechanism is produced by the current probe loads at the ends of the cables, which are characterized through adaptor measurements. The model predictions for the cables are compared with experimental measurements and good agreement between the results is demonstrated. This setup constitutes a nice repeatable geometry that nevertheless exhibits some of the challenges involved in modeling non-radio frequency geometries.

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Statistical Analyses of Plume Composition and Deposited Radionuclide Mixture Ratios

Kraus, Terry; Sallaberry, Cedric J.; Eckert, Aubrey; Brito, Roxanne; Hunt, Brian D.; Osborn, Douglas M.

A proposed method is considered to classify the regions in the close neighborhood of selected measurements according to the ratio of two radionuclides measured from either a radioactive plume or a deposited radionuclide mixture. The subsequent associated locations are then considered in the area of interest with a representative ratio class. This method allows for a more comprehensive and meaningful understanding of the data sampled following a radiological incident.

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Bayesian calibration of the Community Land Model using surrogates

Ray, Jaideep; Swiler, Laura P.

We present results from the Bayesian calibration of hydrological parameters of the Community Land Model (CLM), which is often used in climate simulations and Earth system models. A statistical inverse problem is formulated for three hydrological parameters, conditional on observations of latent heat surface fluxes over 48 months. Our calibration method uses polynomial and Gaussian process surrogates of the CLM, and solves the parameter estimation problem using a Markov chain Monte Carlo sampler. Posterior probability densities for the parameters are developed for two sites with different soil and vegetation covers. Our method also allows us to examine the structural error in CLM under two error models. We find that surrogate models can be created for CLM in most cases. The posterior distributions are more predictive than the default parameter values in CLM. Climatologically averaging the observations does not modify the parameters' distributions significantly. The structural error model reveals a correlation time-scale which can be used to identify the physical process that could be contributing to it. While the calibrated CLM has a higher predictive skill, the calibration is under-dispersive.

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Manufacturing process modeling for composite materials and structures, Sandia blade reliability collaborative

Guest, Daniel A.; Cairns, Douglas S.

The increased use and interest in wind energy over the last few years has necessitated an increase in the manufacturing of wind turbine blades. This increase in manufacturing has in many ways out stepped the current understanding of not only the materials used but also the manufacturing methods used to construct composite laminates. The goal of this study is to develop a list of process parameters which influence the quality of composite laminates manufactured using vacuum assisted resin transfer molding and to evaluate how they influence laminate quality. Known to be primary factors for the manufacturing process are resin flow rate and vacuum pressure. An incorrect balance of these parameters will often cause porosity or voids in laminates that ultimately degrade the strength of the composite. Fiber waviness has also been seen as a major contributor to failures in wind turbine blades and is often the effect of mishandling during the lay-up process. Based on laboratory tests conducted, a relationship between these parameters and laminate quality has been established which will be a valuable tool in developing best practices and standard procedures for the manufacture of wind turbine blade composites.

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Thermophysical properties of BKC 44306 and BKC 44307 PMDI urethane solid and foams

Bauer, Stephen; Flint, Gregory M.; Mondy, Lisa A.

Accurate knowledge of thermophysical properties of urethane foam is considered extremely important for meaningful models and analyses to be developed of scenarios wherein the foam is heated. Its performance at temperature requires a solid understanding of the foam material properties at temperature. Also, foam properties vary with density/porosity. An experimental program to determine the thermal properties of the two foams and their parent solid urethane was developed in order to support development of a predictive model relating density and thermal properties from first principles. Thermal properties (thermal conductivity, diffusivity, and specific heat) of the foam were found to vary with temperatures from 26°C to 90°C. Thermal conductivity generally increases with increasing temperature for a given initial density and ranges from .0433 W/mK at 26°C to .0811 W/mK at 90°C; thermal diffusivity generally decreases with increasing temperature for a given initial density and ranges from .4101 mm2/s at 26°C to .1263 mm2/s at 90°C; and specific heat generally increases with increasing temperature for a given initial density and ranges from .1078 MJ/m3K at 26°C to .6323 MJ/m3K at 90°C. Thermal properties of the solid urethane were also found to vary with temperatures from 26°C to 90°C. Average thermal conductivity generally increases with increasing temperature for a given initial density and ranges from 0.126 to 0.131 W/mK at 26°C to 0.153 to 0.157 W/mK at 90°C; average thermal diffusivity generally decreases with increasing temperature for a given initial density and ranges from 0.142 to 0.147 mm2/s at 26°C to 0.124 to 0.125 mm2/s at 90°C; and average specific heat generally increases with increasing temperature for a given initial density and ranges from 0.889 to 0.899 MJ/m3K to 1.229 to 1.274 MJ/m3K at 90°C. The density of both foam and solid urethane decreased with increasing temperature.

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Reflectors for SAR Performance Testing – second edition

Doerry, Armin W.

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) performance testing and estimation is facilitated by observing the system response to known target scene elements. Trihedral corner reflectors and other canonical targets play an important role because their Radar Cross Section (RCS) can be calculated analytically. However, reflector orientation and the proximity of the ground and mounting structures can significantly impact the accuracy and precision with which measurements can be made. These issues are examined in this report.

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Cost Estimate for a Proposed GDF Suez LNG Testing Program

Brady, Patrick D.; Jernigan, Dann A.; Lopez, Carlos; Luketa, Anay J.; Nissen, Mark R.; Hightower, Marion M.

At the request of GDF Suez, a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate was prepared for the design, construction, testing, and data analysis for an experimental series of large-scale (Liquefied Natural Gas) LNG spills on land and water that would result in the largest pool fires and vapor dispersion events ever conducted. Due to the expected cost of this large, multi-year program, the authors utilized Sandia's structured cost estimating methodology. This methodology insures that the efforts identified can be performed for the cost proposed at a plus or minus 30 percent confidence. The scale of the LNG spill, fire, and vapor dispersion tests proposed by GDF could produce hazard distances and testing safety issues that need to be fully explored. Based on our evaluations, Sandia can utilize much of our existing fire testing infrastructure for the large fire tests and some small dispersion tests (with some modifications) in Albuquerque, but we propose to develop a new dispersion testing site at our remote test area in Nevada because of the large hazard distances. While this might impact some testing logistics, the safety aspects warrant this approach. In addition, we have included a proposal to study cryogenic liquid spills on water and subsequent vaporization in the presence of waves. Sandia is working with DOE on applications that provide infrastructure pertinent to wave production. We present an approach to conduct repeatable wave/spill interaction testing that could utilize such infrastructure.

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A Laboratory Exposure System to Study the Effects of Aging on Super-micron Aerosol Particles

Santarpia, Joshua; Sanchez, Andres L.; Servantes, Brandon L.; Hubbard, Josh

A laboratory system was constructed that allows the super-micron particles to be aged for long periods of time under conditions that can simulate a range of natural environments and conditions, including relative humidity, oxidizing chemicals, organics and simulated solar radiation. Two proof-of-concept experiments using a non-biological simulant for biological particles and a biological simulant demonstrate the utility of these types of aging experiments. Green Visolite®, which is often used as a tracer material for model validation experiments, does not degrade with exposure to simulated solar radiation, the actual biological material does. This would indicate that Visolite® should be a good tracer compound for mapping the extent of a biological release using fluorescence as an indicator, but that it should not be used to simulate the decay of a biological particle when exposed to sunlight. The decay in the fluorescence measured for B. thurengiensis is similar to what has been previously observed in outdoor environments.

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State of the Research Environment – 2013

Phillips, Julia M.; Simmons, Jerry A.; Weaver, Karla

This report describes the condition of the research environment at Sandia National Laboratories and outlines key environment improvement activities undertaken by the Office of the Chief Technology Officer and the Sandia Research Leadership Team during fiscal year 2013. The report also outlines Lab-level objectives related to the research environment for fiscal year 2014.

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Radar Channel Balancing with Commutation

Doerry, Armin W.

When multiple channels are employed in a pulse-Doppler radar, achieving and maintaining balance between the channels is problematic. In some circumstances the channels may be commutated to achieve adequate balance. Commutation is the switching, trading, toggling, or multiplexing of the channels between signal paths. Commutation allows modulating the imbalance energy away from the balanced energy in Doppler, where it can be mitigated with filtering.

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Statistically significant relational data mining :

Berry, Jonathan; Leung, Vitus J.; Phillips, Cynthia A.; Pinar, Ali P.; Robinson, David G.

This report summarizes the work performed under the project (3z(BStatitically significant relational data mining.(3y (BThe goal of the project was to add more statistical rigor to the fairly ad hoc area of data mining on graphs. Our goal was to develop better algorithms and better ways to evaluate algorithm quality. We concetrated on algorithms for community detection, approximate pattern matching, and graph similarity measures. Approximate pattern matching involves finding an instance of a relatively small pattern, expressed with tolerance, in a large graph of data observed with uncertainty. This report gathers the abstracts and references for the eight refereed publications that have appeared as part of this work. We then archive three pieces of research that have not yet been published. The first is theoretical and experimental evidence that a popular statistical measure for comparison of community assignments favors over-resolved communities over approximations to a ground truth. The second are statistically motivated methods for measuring the quality of an approximate match of a small pattern in a large graph. The third is a new probabilistic random graph model. Statisticians favor these models for graph analysis. The new local structure graph model overcomes some of the issues with popular models such as exponential random graph models and latent variable models.

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Band Limited Correlation Estimates for A(ξω/U) and B(ηω/U) Using Beresh et. al. 2013 Data Sets

Dechant, Lawrence; Smith, Justin

Here we discuss an improved Corcos (Corcos (1963), (1963)) style cross spectral density utilizing zero pressure gradient, supersonic (Beresh et. al. (2013)) data sets. Using the connection between narrow band measurements with broadband cross-spectral density, i.e. Γ(ξ ,η ,ω )= Φ (ω) A(ωη/U )exp (-i ωξ/U) we focus on estimating coherence expressions of the form: A (ξω nb/U) and B (ηω nb/ U) where ωnb denotes the narrow band frequency, i.e. the band center frequency value and ξ and η are sensors spacing in streamwise/longitudinal and cross-stream/lateral directions, respectively. A methodology to estimate the parameters which retains the Corcos exponential functional form, A(ξω/U)=exp(-klat ηω/U) but identifies new parameters (constants) consistent with the Beresh et. al. data sets is discussed. The Corcos result requires that the data be properly explained by self-similar variable: ξω/U and ηω/U. The longitudinal (streamwise) variable ξω/U tends to provide a better data collapse, while, consistent with the literature the lateral ηω/U is only successful for higher band center frequencies. Assuming the similarity variables provide a useful description of the data, the longitudinal coherence decay constant result using the Beresh et. al. data sets yields a value for the longitudinal constant klong≈0.36-0.28 that is approximately 3x larger than the “traditional” (low speed, large Reynolds number and zero pressure gradient) of klong≈0.11. We suggest that the most likely reason that the Beresh et. al. data sets incur increased longitudinal decay which results in reduced coherence lengths is due to wall shear induced compression causing an adverse pressure gradient. Focusing on the higher band center frequency measurements where the frequency dependent similarity variables are applicable, the lateral or transverse coherence decay constant klat≈0.7 is consistent with the “traditional” (low speed, large Reynolds number and zero pressure gradient). It should be noted, that the longitudinal/streamwise coherence decay deviates from the value observed by other researchers while the lateral/ cross-stream value is consistent has been observed by other researchers. We believe that while the measurements used to obtain new decay constant estimates are from internal wind tunnel tests, they likely provide a useful estimate expected reentry flow behavior and are therefore recommended for use. These data could also be useful in determining the uncertainty of correlation length for a uncertainty quantification (UQ) analysis.

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Proposed Method to Calculate FRMAC Intervention Levels for the Assessment of Radiologically Contaminated Food and Comparison of the Proposed Method to the U.S. FDA’s Method to Calculate Derived Intervention Levels

Kraus, Terry; Hunt, Brian D.

This report reviews the method recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for calculating Derived Intervention Levels (DILs) and identifies potential improvements to the DIL calculation method to support more accurate ingestion pathway analyses and protective action decisions. Further, this report proposes an alternate method for use by the Federal Emergency Radiological Assessment Center (FRMAC) to calculate FRMAC Intervention Levels (FILs). The default approach of the FRMAC during an emergency response is to use the FDA recommended methods. However, FRMAC recommends implementing the FIL method because we believe it to be more technically accurate. FRMAC will only implement the FIL method when approved by the FDA representative on the Federal Advisory Team for Environment, Food, and Health.

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Transport-reaction model for defect and carrier behavior within displacement cascades in gallium arsenide

Wampler, William R.

A model is presented for recombination of charge carriers at displacement damage in gallium arsenide, which includes clustering of the defects in atomic displacement cascades produced by neutron or ion irradiation. The carrier recombination model is based on an atomistic description of capture and emission of carriers by the defects with time evolution resulting from the migration and reaction of the defects. The physics and equations on which the model is based are presented, along with details of the numerical methods used for their solution. The model uses a continuum description of diffusion, field-drift and reaction of carriers and defects within a representative spherically symmetric cluster. The initial radial defect profiles within the cluster were chosen through pair-correlation-function analysis of the spatial distribution of defects obtained from the binary-collision code MARLOWE, using recoil energies for fission neutrons. Charging of the defects can produce high electric fields within the cluster which may influence transport and reaction of carriers and defects, and which may enhance carrier recombination through band-to-trap tunneling. Properties of the defects are discussed and values for their parameters are given, many of which were obtained from density functional theory. The model provides a basis for predicting the transient response of III-V heterojunction bipolar transistors to pulsed neutron irradiation.

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Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 Uncertainty Analysis -- Preliminary Selection of Uncertain Parameters and Analysis Methodology

Cardoni, Jeffrey; Kalinich, Donald

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) plans to conduct uncertainty analyses (UA) on the Fukushima Daiichi unit (1F1) plant with the MELCOR code. The model to be used was developed for a previous accident reconstruction investigation jointly sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). However, that study only examined a handful of various model inputs and boundary conditions, and the predictions yielded only fair agreement with plant data and current release estimates. The goal of this uncertainty study is to perform a focused evaluation of uncertainty in core melt progression behavior and its effect on key figures-of-merit (e.g., hydrogen production, vessel lower head failure, etc.). In preparation for the SNL Fukushima UA work, a scoping study has been completed to identify important core melt progression parameters for the uncertainty analysis. The study also lays out a preliminary UA methodology.

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Plastic cap evolution law derived from induced transverse isotropy in dilatational triaxial compression

Macon, David J.; Brannon, Rebecca M.; Strack, Otto E.

Mechanical testing of porous materials generates physical data that contain contributions from more than one underlying physical phenomenon. All that is measurable is the "ensemble" hardening modulus. This thesis is concerned with the phenomenon of dilatation in triaxial compression of porous media, which has been modeled very accurately in the literature for monotonic loading using models that predict dilatation under triaxial compression (TXC) by presuming that dilatation causes the cap to move outwards. These existing models, however, predict a counter-intuitive (and never validated) increase in hydrostatic compression strength. This work explores an alternative approach for modeling TXC dilatation based on allowing induced elastic anisotropy (which makes the material both less stiff and less strong in the lateral direction) with no increase in hydrostatic strength. Induced elastic anisotropy is introduced through the use of a distortion operator. This operator is a fourth-order tensor consisting of a combination of the undeformed stiffness and deformed compliance and has the same eigenprojectors as the elastic compliance. In the undeformed state, the distortion operator is equal to the fourth-order identity. Through the use of the distortion operator, an evolved stress tensor is introduced. When the evolved stress tensor is substituted into an isotropic yield function, a new anisotropic yield function results. In the case of the von Mises isotropic yield function (which contains only deviatoric components), it is shown that the distortion operator introduces a dilatational contribution without requiring an increase in hydrostatic strength. In the thesis, an introduction and literature review of the cap function is given. A transversely isotropic compliance is presented, based on a linear combination of natural bases constructed about a transverse-symmetry axis. Using a probabilistic distribution of cracks constructed for the case of transverse isotropy, a compliance expression is presented that demonstrated a decrease in lateral stiffness, but leaves axial stiffness unchanged. A demonstration of how the distortion operator could be used in the elastic/plastic analysis of a von Mises surface loaded in TXC is also presented.

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Converting DYNAMO simulations to Powersim Studio simulations

La Jenkins, Tonya N.; Malczynski, Leonard A.

DYNAMO is a computer program for building and running 'continuous' simulation models. It was developed by the Industrial Dynamics Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for simulating dynamic feedback models of business, economic, and social systems. The history of the system dynamics method since 1957 includes many classic models built in DYANMO. It was not until the late 1980s that software was built to take advantage of the rise of personal computers and graphical user interfaces that DYNAMO was supplanted. There is much learning and insight to be gained from examining the DYANMO models and their accompanying research papers. We believe that it is a worthwhile exercise to convert DYNAMO models to more recent software packages. We have made an attempt to make it easier to turn these models into a more current system dynamics software language, Powersim © Studio produced by Powersim AS2 of Bergen, Norway. This guide shows how to convert DYNAMO syntax into Studio syntax.

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SOARCA Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station Long-Term Station Blackout Uncertainty Analysis: Knowledge Advancement

Gauntt, Randall O.; Mattie, Patrick; Bixler, Nathan E.; Ross, Kyle; Cardoni, Jeffrey; Kalinich, Donald; Osborn, Douglas M.; Sallaberry, Cedric J.

This paper describes the knowledge advancements from the uncertainty analysis for the State-of- the-Art Reactor Consequence Analyses (SOARCA) unmitigated long-term station blackout accident scenario at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. This work assessed key MELCOR and MELCOR Accident Consequence Code System, Version 2 (MACCS2) modeling uncertainties in an integrated fashion to quantify the relative importance of each uncertain input on potential accident progression, radiological releases, and off-site consequences. This quantitative uncertainty analysis provides measures of the effects on consequences, of each of the selected uncertain parameters both individually and in interaction with other parameters. The results measure the model response (e.g., variance in the output) to uncertainty in the selected input. Investigation into the important uncertain parameters in turn yields insights into important phenomena for accident progression and off-site consequences. This uncertainty analysis confirmed the known importance of some parameters, such as failure rate of the Safety Relief Valve in accident progression modeling and the dry deposition velocity in off-site consequence modeling. The analysis also revealed some new insights, such as dependent effect of cesium chemical form for different accident progressions. (auth)

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Nuclear energy related capabilities at Sandia National Laboratories

Pickering, Susan Y.

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Apodized RFI Filtering of Synthetic Aperture Radar Images

Doerry, Armin W.

Fine resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems necessarily require wide bandwidths that often overlap spectrum utilized by other wireless services. These other emitters pose a source of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) to the SAR echo signals that degrades SAR image quality. Filtering, or excising, the offending spectral contaminants will mitigate the interference, but at a cost of often degrading the SAR image in other ways, notably by raising offensive sidelobe levels. This report proposes borrowing an idea from nonlinear sidelobe apodization techniques to suppress interference without the attendant increase in sidelobe levels. The simple post-processing technique is termed Apodized RFI Filtering (ARF).

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Encoding and Analyzing Aerial Imagery Using Geospatial Semantic Graphs

Rintoul, Mark D.; Watson, Jean-Paul; Mclendon, William; Parekh, Ojas D.; Martin, Shawn

While collection capabilities have yielded an ever-increasing volume of aerial imagery, analytic techniques for identifying patterns in and extracting relevant information from this data have seriously lagged. The vast majority of imagery is never examined, due to a combination of the limited bandwidth of human analysts and limitations of existing analysis tools. In this report, we describe an alternative, novel approach to both encoding and analyzing aerial imagery, using the concept of a geospatial semantic graph. The advantages of our approach are twofold. First, intuitive templates can be easily specified in terms of the domain language in which an analyst converses. These templates can be used to automatically and efficiently search large graph databases, for specific patterns of interest. Second, unsupervised machine learning techniques can be applied to automatically identify patterns in the graph databases, exposing recurring motifs in imagery. We illustrate our approach using real-world data for Anne Arundel County, Maryland, and compare the performance of our approach to that of an expert human analyst.

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Results 55801–56000 of 100,993
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