Publications

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

The optically segmented single volume scatter camera (OS-SVSC) aims to image neutron sources for nuclear nonproliferation applications using the kinematic reconstruction of elastic double-scatter events. We report on the design, construction, and calibration of one module of a new prototype. The module includes 16 EJ-204 organic plastic scintillating bars individually wrapped in Teflon tape, each measuring 0.5 {\mathrm {cm}}\times 0.5 {\mathrm {cm}}\times 20 {\mathrm {cm}}. The scintillator array is coupled to two custom silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) boards consisting of a 2\times 8 array of SensL J-Series-60035 SiPMs, which are read out by a custom 16 channel DRS4 based digitizer board. The electrical crosstalk between SiPMs within the electronics chain is measured as 0.76\% \,\pm \,0.11\% among all 16 channels. We report the detector response of one module including interaction position, time, and energy, using two different optical coupling materials: EJ-560 silicone rubber optical coupling pads and EJ-550 optical coupling grease. We present results in terms of the overall mean and standard deviation of the z -position reconstruction and interaction time resolutions for all 16 bars in the module. We observed the 1\sigma z -position resolution for gamma interactions in the 0.3-0.4 MeVee range to be 2.24 cm ± 1.10 cm and 1.45 cm ± 0.19 cm for silicone optical coupling pad and optical grease, respectively. The observed 1\sigma interaction time resolution is 265 ps ± 29 ps and 235 ps ± 10 ps for silicone optical coupling pad and optical grease, respectively.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

To mitigate adverse effects from molten corium following a reactor pressure vessel failure (RPVF), some new reactor designs employ a core catcher and a sacrificial material (SM), such as ceramic or concrete, to stabilize the molten corium and avoid containment breach. Existing reactors cannot easily be modified to include these SMs but could be modified to allow injectable cooling materials. Current reactor designs are limited to using water to stabilize the corium, but this can create other issues such as reaction of water with the concrete forming hydrogen gas. The novel SM proposed here is a granular carbonate mineral that can be used in existing light water reactor plants. The granular carbonate will decompose when exposed to heat, inducing an endothermic reaction to quickly solidify the corium in place and producing a mineral oxide and carbon dioxide. Corium spreading is a complex process strongly influenced by coupled chemical reactions, including decay heat from the corium, phase change, and reactions between the concrete containment and available water. A recently completed Sandia National Laboratories laboratory directed research and development (LDRD) project focused on two research areas: experiments to demonstrate the feasibility of the novel SM concept, and modeling activities to determine the potential applications of the concept to actual nuclear plants. Small-scale experiments using lead oxide (PbO) as a surrogate for molten corium demonstrate that the reaction of the SM with molten PbO results in a fast solidification of the melt due to the endothermic carbonate decomposition reaction and the formation of open pore structures in the solidified PbO from CO2 released during the decomposition. A simplified carbonate decomposition model was developed to predict thermal decomposition of carbonate mineral in contact with corium. This model was incorporated into MELCOR, a severe accident nuclear reactor code. A full-plant MELCOR simulation suggests that by the introduction of SM to the reactor cavity prior to RPVF ex-vessel accident progression, e.g., core-concrete interaction and core spreading on the containment floor, could be delayed by at least 15 h; this may be enough for additional accident management to be implemented to alleviate the situation.

Abstract not provided.

Errors in quantum logic gates are usually modeled by quantum process matrices (CPTP maps). But process matrices can be opaque and unwieldy. We show how to transform the process matrix of a gate into an error generator that represents the same information more usefully. We construct a basis of simple and physically intuitive elementary error generators, classify them, and show how to represent the error generator of any gate as a mixture of elementary error generators with various rates. Finally, we show how to build a large variety of reduced models for gate errors by combining elementary error generators and/or entire subsectors of generator space. We conclude with a few examples of reduced models, including one with just 9N2 parameters that describes almost all commonly predicted errors on an N-qubit processor.

For decades, it has been observed that the commonly used Borgnakke-Larsen method for energy redistribution in Direct Simulation Monte Carlo codes fails to satisfy the principle of detailed balance when coupled to a wide variety of temperature dependent relaxation models, while seemingly satisfying detailed balance when coupled to others. Many attempts have been made to remedy the issue, yet much ambiguity remains, and no consensus appears in the literature regarding the root cause of the intermittent compatibility of the Borgnakke-Larsen method with temperature dependent relaxation models. This paper alleviates that ambiguity by presenting a rigorous theoretical derivation of the Borgnakke-Larsen method's requirement for satisfying detailed balance. Specifically, it is shown that the Borgnakke-Larsen method maintains detailed balance if and only if the probability of internal-energy exchange during a collision depends only on collision invariants (e.g., total energy). The consequences of this result are explored in the context of several published definitions of relaxation temperature, including translational, total, and cell-averaged temperatures. Of particular note, it is shown that cell-averaged temperatures, which have been widely discussed in the literature as a way to ensure equilibrium is reached, also fail in a similar, although less dramatic, fashion when the aforementioned relationship is not enforced. The developed theory can be used when implementing existing or new relaxation models and will ensure that detailed balance is satisfied.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

We present a computational study and framework that allows us to study and understand the crack nucleation process from forging flaws. Forging flaws may be present in large steel rotor components commonly used for rotating power generation equipment including gas turbines, electrical generators, and steam turbines. The service life of these components is often limited by crack nucleation and subsequent growth from such forging flaws, which frequently exhibit themselves as non-metallic oxide inclusions. The fatigue crack growth process can be described by established engineering fracture mechanics methods. However, the initial crack nucleation process from a forging flaw is challenging for traditional engineering methods to quantify as it depends on the details of the flaw, including flaw morphology. We adopt the peridynamics method to describe and study this crack nucleation process. For a specific industrial gas turbine rotor steel, we present how we integrate and fit commonly known base material property data such as elastic properties, yield strength, and S-N curves, as well as fatigue crack growth data into a peridynamic model. The obtained model is then utilized in a series of high-performance two-dimensional peridynamic simulations to study the crack nucleation process from forging flaws for ambient and elevated temperatures in a rectangular simulation cell specimen. The simulations reveal an initial local nucleation at multiple small oxide inclusions followed by micro-crack propagation, arrest, coalescence, and eventual emergence of a dominant micro-crack that governs the crack nucleation process. The dependence on temperature and density of oxide inclusions of both the details of the microscopic processes and cycles to crack nucleation is also observed. The results are compared with fatigue experiments performed with specimens containing forging flaws of the same rotor steel.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

This report presents a specification for the Portals 4 network programming interface. Portals 4 is intended to allow scalable, high-performance network communication between nodes of a parallel computing system. Portals 4 is well suited to massively parallel processing and embedded systems. Portals 4 represents an adaption of the data movement layer developed for massively parallel processing platforms, such as the 4500-node Intel TeraFLOPS machine. Sandia's Cplant cluster project motivated the development of Version 3.0, which was later extended to Version 3.3 as part of the Cray Red Storm machine and XT line. Version 4 is targeted to the next generation of machines employing advanced network interface architectures that support enhanced offload capabilities.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Response to elongational flow is fundamental to soft matter and directly impacts new developments in a broad range of technologies form polymer processing and microfluidics to controlled flow in biosystems. Of particular significance are the effects of elongational flow on self-assembled systems where the interactions between the fundamental building blocks control their adaptation. Here we probe the effects of associating groups on the structure and dynamics of linear polymer melts in uniaxial elongation using molecular dynamics simulations. We study model polymers with randomly incorporated backbone associations with interaction strengths varying from 1kBT to 10kBT. These associating groups drive the formation of clusters in equilibrium with an average size that increases with interaction strength. Flow drives these clusters to continuously break and reform as chains stretch. These flow-driven cluster dynamics drive a qualitative transition in polymer elongation dynamics from homogeneous to nanoscale localized yield and cavitation as the association strength increases.