Publications

The six-cell RITS-6 accelerator is an upgrade of the existing RITS-3 accelerator and is next in the sequence of Sandia IVA accelerators built to investigate/validate critical accelerator and radiographic diode issues for scaling to the Radiographic Integrated Test Stand (RITS) (nominally 16 MV, 156 kA, and 70 ns). In the RITS-6 upgrade to RITS-3 the number of cells/cavities, PFLs, laser triggered gas switches and intermediate stores is being doubled. A rebuilt single 61-nF Marx generator will charge the two intermediate storage capacitors. The RITS-3 experiments have demonstrated a MITL configuration matched to the PFL/induction cell impedance and a higher impedance MITL. RITS-6 is designed to utilize the higher impedance MITL providing a 10.5-MV, 123-kA output. The three years of pulsed power performance data from RITS-3 will be summarized and the design improvements being incorporated into RITS-6 will be outlined. The predicted output voltage and current for RITS-6 as a function of diode impedance will be shown. Particle-in-cell simulations of the vacuum power flow from the cell to the load for a range of diode impedances from matched to ∼40 Ohms will be shown and compared with the re-trapped parapotential flow predictions. The status of the component fabrication and system integration will be given. Another potential upgrade under consideration is RITS-62. In this case the RITS-6 Marx, intermediate stores, gas switches, and PFLs would be duplicated and a tee would replace the elbow that now connects a single PFL to a cell thereby allowing two PFLs to be connected to one cell. The output of RITS-62 matched to the cell/PFL impedance would then be 8 MV, 312 kA or 25.6 ohms. The predicted operating curves for RITS-62 with other non-matched MITLs will be shown. The power delivered to a radiographic diode can be maximized by the correct choice of MITL impedance given the cell/PFL and radiographic diode impedances. If the radiated output for a given diode has a stronger than linear voltage dependence this dependence can also be included in the correct choice of MITL impedance. The optimizations and trade-offs will be shown for RITS-6 and RITS-62 for diode impedances characteristic of radiographic diodes. © 2005 IEEE.

The University of Missouri Terawatt Test Stand (MUTTS) has conducted many untriggered experiments on a Rimfire gas switch scaled to 2.5 MV. The focus of these experiments was to evaluate what methods may be used to control the distribution of cascade arcs. The untriggered data indicates that the rise time of switch current does not statistically improve, as expected, as the number of cascade arcs per gap increased beyond two channels. For the same data, the number of arcs in the cascade section more dramatically affects the output current period. This indicates that in late time increased multichanneling has a more pronounced effect than in early time. The switch is triggered with a frequency quadrupled Nd:YAG laser at 30 mJ with a 3-5 ns pulse width. Since the focused laser does not ionize the full length of the trigger section, there is little effect on current rise time when compared to untriggered data, but more channels form in the cascade section for an air filled switch. The cascade section was shorted and data are presented describing the contribution of the single channeling trigger section to overall switch impedance. The electrical effects of multichanneling using a laser trigger, the formation of arc channels in the cascade section, and the implications the results have on the future design of fast gas switches are discussed. © 2005 IEEE.

The ZR gas switch, located between the Intermediate Store capacitor (I-Store) and the Pulsed Forming Line (PFL), requires a laser pulse for its triggering. There are several routes for the beam to reach the gas switch but all of them cross over the high voltage regions. The Z laser tube crosses over the outer to inner PFL electrodes with a voltage difference no larger than 3.5 MV. The ZR gas switch was designed to be in oil, given the higher operational voltages, as a consequence the laser tube is in the oil side of the PFL interface. The ZR laser tube is required to hold in excess of 5 MV across it using high pressure SF6 gas, the ID is 2.5″ to accommodate the laser beam, mechanically should tolerate the non-axial shock loading during the water switches firing. After a couple of iterations it was decided to use Polyurethane, it provided most of the desired mechanical properties, except that it outgases ether and ether based compounds. The effect of just a few ppm of ether on SF6 is a significant reduction on the HV hold off especially surface tracking or flashover. As a consequence the final design is such that the electric field distribution on the tube is as conservative as it was possible due to space constrains. We present the basic design, the field distribution, its relationship with available SF6 breakdown data and the present performance. © 2005 IEEE.

The Z Refurbishment project is designed to increase the peak current to the load on Z to ∼26 MA in a 100-ns wide power pulse. This current is achieved by summing the current from 36 independent pulse-power modules. To meet these requirements, we have designed and constructed an SF6-insulated gas switch that can hold off 5.5 MV and conduct a peak current of 600 kA for over a hundred shots. The gas switch is charged by a Marx generator in ∼1 microsecond and transfers about 200-kilojoules of energy and 0.25 Coulombs of charge to a pulse-forming line in a ∼150-ns-wide power pulse peaking at 2.5 TW. The gas switch oonsists of a laser-triggered section holding off 15% of the voltage followed by 25 self-breakdown gaps. The self-breaking gaps are designed to provide multiple breakdown arcs in order to lower the overall inductance of the switch. The gas switch is submerged in transformer oil during operation. In this work, we show how simulation and experiment have worked together, first to verify proper operation of the switch, and then to solve problems with the switch design that arose during testing. © 2005 IEEE.

Sandia National Laboratories is investigating and developing high-dose, high-brightness flash radiographic sources. The immersed-Bz diode employs large-bore, high-field solenoid magnets to help guide and confine an intense electron beam from a needle-like cathode "immersed" in the axial field of the magnet. The electron beam is focused onto a high-atomic-number target/anode to generate an intense source of bremsstrahlung X-rays. Historically, these diodes have been unable to achieve high dose (> 500 rad @ m) from a small spot (< 3 mm diameter). It is believed that this limitation is due in part to undesirable effects associated with the interaction of the electron beam with plasmas formed at either the anode or the cathode. Previous research concentrated on characterizing the behavior of diodes, which used untreated, room temperature (RT) anodes. Research is now focused on improving the diode performance by modifying the diode behavior by using cryogenic anodes that are coated in-situ with frozen gases. The objective of these cryogenically treated anodes is to control and limit the ion species of the anode plasma formed and hence the species of the counter-streaming ions that can interact with the electron beam. Recent progress in the development, testing and fielding of the cryogenically cooled immersed diodes at Sandia is described. ©2005 IEEE.

The dimensionless extinction coefficient, Ke, was measured for soot produced in 2m JP-8 pool fires. Light extinction and gravimetric sampling measurements were performed simultaneously at 635 and 1310nm wavelengths at three heights in the flame zone and in the overfire region. Measured average Ke values of 8.41.2 at 635nm and 8.71.1 at 1310nm in the overfire region agree well with values from 8-10 recently reported for different fuels and flame conditions. The overfire Ke values are also relatively independent of wavelength, in agreement with recent findings for JP-8 soot in smaller flames. Ke was nearly constant at 635nm for all sampling locations in the large fires. However, at 1310nm, the overfire Ke was higher than in the flame zone. Chemical analysis of physically sampled soot shows variations in carbon-to-hydrogen (C/H) ratio and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentration that may account for the smaller Ke values measured in the flame zone. Rayleigh-Debye-Gans theory of scattering for polydisperse fractal aggregate (RDG-PFA) was applied to measured aggregate fractal dimensions and found to under-predict the extinction coefficient by 17-30% at 635nm using commonly accepted refractive indices of soot, and agreed well with the experiments using the more recently published refractive index of 1.99-0.89i. This study represents the first measurements of soot chemistry, morphology, and optical properties in the flame zone of large, fully-turbulent pool fires, and emphasizes the importance of accurate measurements of optical properties both in the flame zone and overfire regions for models of radiative transport and interpretation of laser-based diagnostics of soot volume fraction and temperature.

Cities without an early warning system of indwelling sensors can consider monitoring their networks manually, especially during times of heightened security levels. We consider the problem of calculating an optimal schedule for manual sampling in a municipal water network. Preliminary computations with a small-scale example indicate that during normal times, manual sampling can provide some benefit, but it is far inferior to an indwelling sensor network. However, given information that significantly constrains the nature of an imminent threat, manual sampling can perform as well as a small sensor network designed to handle normal threats. Copyright ASCE 2006.

We present a theory of impurity states in quantum wells, where the confining potential of the heterostructure and the random impurity potential are treated in a unified theory. After diagonalization of the 3D Hamiltonian we calculate the infrared absorption spectrum. We discuss the nature of impurity states that are confined in the quantum wells and their influence on the absorption spectra. We then calculate the absorption spectra for a quadruple quantum well, revealing impurity transitions as well as intersubband transitions. The results are compared to existing experimental data and show a remarkable agreement. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Accurate material models are fundamental to predictive structural finite element models. Because potting foams are routinely used to mitigate shock and vibration of encapsulated components in electro/mechanical systems, accurate material models of foams are needed. A linear-viscoelastic foam constitutive model has been developed to represent the foam's stiffness and damping throughout an application space defined by temperature, strain rate or frequency and strain level. Validation of this linear-viscoelastic model, which is integrated into the Salinas structural dynamics code, is being achieved by modeling and testing a series of structural geometries of increasing complexity that have been designed to ensure sensitivity to material parameters. Both experimental and analytical uncertainties are being quantified to ensure the fair assessment of model validity. Quantitative model validation metrics are being developed to provide a means of comparison for analytical model predictions to observations made in the experiments. This paper is one of several recent papers documenting the validation process for simple to complex structures with foam encapsulated components. This paper specifically focuses on model validation over a wide temperature range and using a simple dumbbell structure for modal testing and simulation. Material variations of density and modulus have been included. A double blind validation process is described that brings together test data with model predictions.

This paper presents computational simulations and experiments of water flow and contaminant transport through pipes with incomplete mixing at pipe joints. The hydraulics and contaminant transport were modeled using computational fluid dynamics software that solves the continuity, momentum, energy, and species equations (laminar and turbulent) using finite-element methods. Simulations were performed of experiments consisting of individual and multiple pipe joints where tracer and clean water were separately introduced into the pipe junction. Results showed that the incoming flow streams generally remained separated within the junction, leading to incomplete mixing of the tracer. Simulations of the mixing matched the experimental results when appropriate scaling of the tracer diffusivity (via the turbulent Schmidt number) was calibrated based on results of single-joint experiments using cross and double-T configurations. Results showed that a turbulent Schmidt number between ∼0.001-0.01 was able to account for enhanced mixing caused by instabilities along the interface of impinging flows. Unequal flow rates within the network were also shown to affect the outlet concentration at each pipe junction, with "enhanced" or "reduced" mixing possible depending on the relative flow rates entering the junction. Copyright ASCE 2006.

In this paper we present the results of a study to quantify uncertainty in experimental modal parameters due to test set-up uncertainty, measurement uncertainty, and data analysis uncertainty. Uncertainty quantification is required to accomplish a number of tasks including model updating, model validation, and assessment of unit-tounit variation. We consider uncertainty in the modal parameters due to a number of sources including force input location/direction, force amplitude, instrumentation bias, support conditions, and the analysis method (algorithmic variation). We compute the total uncertainty due to all of these sources, and discuss the importance of proper characterization of bias errors on the total uncertainty. This uncertainty quantification was applied to modal tests designed to assess modeling capabilities for emerging designs of wind turbine blades. In an example, we show that unit-to-unit variation of the modal parameters of two nominally identical wind turbine blades is successfully assessed by performing uncertainty quantification. This study aims to demonstrate the importance of the proper pre-test design and analysis for understanding the uncertainty in modal parameters, in particular uncertainty due to bias error.

In order to predict blast damage on structures, it is current industry practice to decouple shock calculations from computational structural dynamics calculations. Pressure-time histories from experimental tests were used to assess computational models developed using a shock physics code (CTH) and a structural dynamics code (PRONTO3D). CTH was shown to be able to reproduce three independent characteristics of a blast wave: arrival time, peak overpressure, and decay time. Excellent agreement was achieved for early times, where the rigid wall assumptions used in the model analysis were valid. A one-way coupling was performed for this blast-structure interaction problem by taking the pressure-time history from the shock physics simulation and applying it to the structure at the corresponding locations in the PRONTO3D simulation to capture the structural deformation. In general, the one-way coupling was shown to be a cost-effective means of predicting the structural response when the time duration of the load was less than the response time of the structure. Therefore, the computational models were successfully evaluated for the internal blast problems studied herein.

The water dynamics in a series of Sandia octahedral molecular sieves (SOMS) were investigated using high speed 1H magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy. For these materials both the 20% Ti-substituted material, Na 2Nb1.6Ti0.4(OH)0.4O 5.6·H2O and the 0% exchanged end member, Na 2Nb2O6·H2O were studied. By combining direct one dimensional (1D) MAS NMR experiments with double quantum (DQ) filtered MAS NMR experiments different water environments within the materials were identified based on differences in mobility. Two dimensional (2D) DQ correlation experiments were used to extract the DQ spinning sideband patterns allowing the residual 1H-1H homonuclear dipolar coupling to be measured. From these DQ experiments the effective order parameters for the different water environments were calculated. The water environments in the two different SOMS compositions investigated revealed very large differences in the water mobility. © 2007 Materials Research Society.

Both the NASA and DOE have programs that are investigating advanced power conversion cycles for planetary surface power on the moon or Mars, and for next generation nuclear power plants on earth. The gas Brayton cycle offers many practical solutions for space nuclear power systems and was selected as the nuclear power system of choice for the NASA Prometheus project. An alternative Brayton cycle that offers high efficiency at a lower reactor coolant outlet temperature is the supercritical Brayton cycle (SCBC). The supercritical cycle is a true Brayton cycle because it uses a single phase fluid with a compressor inlet temperature that is just above the critical point of the fluid. This paper describes the use of a supercritical Brayton cycle that achieves a cycle efficiency of 26.6% with a peak coolant temperature of 750 K and for a compressor inlet temperature of 390 K. The working fluid uses a clear odorless, nontoxic refrigerant C318 perflurocarbon (C4F8) that always operates in the gas phase. This coolant was selected because it has a critical temperature and pressure of 388.38 K and 2.777 MPa. The relatively high critical temperature allows for efficient thermal radiation that keeps the radiator mass small. The SCBC achieves high efficiency because the loop design takes advantage of the non-ideal nature of the coolant equation of state just above the critical point. The lower coolant temperature means that metal fuels, uranium oxide fuels, and uranium zirconium hydride fuels with stainless steel, ferretic steel, or superalloy cladding can be used with little mass penalty or reduction in cycle efficiency. The reactor can use liquid-metal coolants and no high temperature heat exchangers need to be developed. Indirect gas cooling or perhaps even direct gas cooling can be used if the C4F8 coolant is found to be sufficiently radiation tolerant. Other fluids can also be used in the supercritical Brayton cycle including Propane (C3H 8, Tcritical = 369 K) and Hexane (C6H 14, Tcritical = 506.1 K) provided they have adequate chemical compatibility and stability. Overall the use of supercritical Brayton cycles may offer "break through" operating capabilities for space nuclear power plants because high efficiencies can be achieved a very low reactor operating temperatures which in turn allows for the use of available fuels, cladding, and structural materials. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.

This paper investigates methods for coupling analytical dynamic models of subcomponents with experimentally derived models in order to predict the response of the combined system, focusing on modal substructuring or Component Mode Synthesis (CMS), the experimental analog to the ubiquitous Craig-Bampton method. While the basic methods for combining experimental and analytical models have been around for many years, it appears that these are not often applied successfully. The CMS theory is presented along with a new strategy, dubbed the Maximum Rank Coordinate Choice (MRCC), that ensures that the constrained degrees of freedom can be found from the unconstrained without encountering numerical ill conditioning. The experimental modal substructuring approach is also compared with frequency response function coupling, sometimes called admittance or impedance coupling. These methods are used both to analytically remove models of a test fixture (required to include rotational degrees of freedom) and to predict the response of the coupled beams. Both rigid and elastic models for the fixture are considered. Similar results are obtained using either method although the modal substructuring method yields a more compact database and allows one to more easily interrogate the resulting system model to assure that physically meaningful results have been obtained. A method for coupling the fixture model to experimental measurements, dubbed the Modal Constraint for Fixture and Subsystem (MCFS) is presented that greatly improves the result and robustness when an elastic fixture model is used.

The detection of anomalous water quality events has become an increased priority for distribution systems, both for quality of service and security reasons. Because of the high cost associated with false detections, both missed events and false alarms, algorithms which aim to provide event detection aid need to be evaluated and configured properly. CANARY has been developed to provide both real-time, and off-line analysis tools to aid in the development of these algorithms, allowing algorithm developers to focus on the algorithms themselves, rather than on how to read in data and drive the algorithms. Among the features to be discussed and demonstrated are: 1) use of a standard data exchange format for input and output of water quality and operations data streams; 2) the ability to "plug in" various water quality change detection algorithms, both in MATLAB® and compiled library formats for testing and evaluation by using a well defined interface; 3) an "operations mode" to simulate what a utility operator will receive; 4) side-by-side comparison tools for different evaluation metrics, including ROC curves, time to detect, and false alarm rates. Results will be shown using three algorithms previously developed (Klise and McKenna, 2006; McKenna, et al., 2006) using test and real-life data sets. © 2007 ASCE.

Like other interfaces, equilibrium grain boundaries are smooth at low temperature and rough at high temperature; however, little attention has been paid to roughening except for faceting boundaries. Using molecular dynamics simulations of face-centered cubic Ni, we studied two closely related grain boundaries with different boundary planes. In spite of their similarity, their boundary roughening temperatures differ by several hundred degrees, and boundary mobility is much larger above the roughening temperature. This has important implications for microstructural development during metallurgical processes.

Abstract not provided.

In order for electric power generating capacity to be supplanted to a meaningful extent by sources smaller than 200 kW, an automated means of managing systems of small sources must be found or their sheer number will overwhelm the power production community. Microgrids - power systems comprising multiple small interconnected generators - are a promising response to this need, but an automated microgrid management system has not been demonstrated. This paper describes the energy management task and its execution in a standardized grid services environment. ©2007 IEEE.

We have discussed the key areas of the IR process that should not be circumvented if an organization is to achieve a high level of assurance in high-dollar, high-risk cost estimates; lessons learned; and possible solutions to improve the process. In summary, the best practices described are to do the following. Develop a corporate policy for review of cost estimates based on TPC and potential financial and reputation risk; Develop a database of qualified, experienced personnel, who can perform well as IR team members; Spell out the process for approval of review team members, including the executive approval process; Address review team availability by developing review team member alternates; Increase lead-time notice on high-dollar, high risk estimates by developing an advanced notice system with internal organizations; Improve coordination of the estimating team's responses to the review team's questions and concerns; and Develop alternatives such as representatives and electronic briefings to alleviate challenges in scheduling executives for cost estimate briefings. Each organization has its own needs, culture, and level of maturity. If you have an IR process that works, great! If not, we hope that we have sparked your interest in developing a process that works for your company. The goal is to continuously improve and further refine the process to meet the needs of both external and internal customers. Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company for the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Accurate material models are fundamental to predictive structural finite element models. Because potting foams are routinely used to mitigate shock and vibration of encapsulated components in electro/mechanical systems, accurate material models of foams are needed. A linear-viscoelastic foam constitutive model has been developed to represent the foam's stiffness and damping throughout an application space defined by temperature, strain rate or frequency and strain level. Validation of this linear-viscoelastic model, which is integrated into the Salinas structural dynamics code, is being achieved by modeling and testing a series of structural geometries of increasing complexity that have been designed to ensure sensitivity to material parameters. Both experimental and analytical uncertainties are being quantified to ensure the fair assessment of model validity. Quantitative model validation metrics are being developed to provide a means of comparison for analytical model predictions to observations made in the experiments. This paper is one of several recent papers documenting the validation process for simple to complex structures with foam encapsulated components. This paper specifically focuses on model validation over a wide temperature range and using a simple dumbbell structure for modal testing and simulation. Material variations of density and modulus have been included. A double blind validation process is described that brings together test data with model predictions.

A MEMS bulk wave acoustic bandgap has been designed and experimentally verified. The acoustic bandgaps are realized by including tungsten (W) scatterers in a SiO2 matrix. Wide frequency ranges where acoustic waves are forbidden to exist are formed due to the large density and acoustic impedance mismatch between W and SiO2. The acoustic bandgap structures are fabricated in a 7-mask process that features integrated aluminum nitride piezoelectric couplers. Acoustic bandgaps in a square lattice have been measured at 33 and 67 MHz with up to 35 dB of acoustic rejection and bandwidths exceeding 35% of the midgap. ©2007 IEEE.

Even within a well-established systems engineering organization, formalizing the practice of systems engineering can be an arduous task. This paper describes one organization's effort to start this formalization by defining and documenting the very foundation of its practice: its systems engineering principles. Topics include the process for developing principles (augmenting organizational guidance with industry best practices), the final form of the principles (justifying terminology), and the connection to broader formalization efforts (associating the principles diagram to the systems engineering logo). The principles are divided into four categories that tie mainstream systems engineering definitions together: Stakeholder, Systems Engineer, Problem, and Solution. © 2007 by Sandia National Laboratories.

The Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories drives 20 MA in 100 ns through a cylindrical array of fine wires which implodes due to the strong j × B force, generating up to 250 TW of soft x-ray radiation when the z-pinch plasma stagnates on axis. The copious broadband self-emission makes the dynamics of the implosion well suited to diagnosis with soft x-ray imaging and spectroscopy. A monochromatic self-emission imaging instrument has recently been developed on Z which reflects pinhole images from a multilayer mirror onto a 1 ns gated microchannel plate detector. The multilayer can be designed to provide narrowband (∼10 eV) reflection in the 100-700 eV photon energy range, allowing observation of the soft emission from accreting mass as it assembles into a hot, dense plasma column on the array axis. In the present instrument configuration, data at 277 eV photon energy have been obtained for plasmas ranging from Al to W, and the z-pinch implosion and stagnation will be discussed along with > 1 keV self-emission imaging and spectroscopy. Collisional-radiative simulations are currently being pursued in order to link the imaged emissivity to plasma temperature and density profiles and address the role of opacity in interpreting the data. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.

For most orbital maneuvers, small satellites in the sub-10 kg range require thrusters capable of spanning the micro-Newton to milli-Newton force range. At this scale, electrokinetic (EK) pumping offers precise metering of monergolic or hypergolic liquid propellants under purely electrical control at pressures and flow rates well-suited to microthruster applications. We have demonstrated direct and indirect EK pumping for delivery of anhydrous hydrazine and hydrogen peroxide monopropellants, respectively, into capillary-based microthrusters with integrated in-line catalyst beds. Catalytic decomposition generates gases which accelerate through a plasma-formed converging-diverging nozzle, producing thrust. Specific impulses up to 190 s have been shown for hydrazine in non-optimized nozzles. ©2007 IEEE.