Publications

Abstract not provided.

The Arsenic Water Technology Partnership program is a multi-year program funded by a congressional appropriation through the Department of Energy. The program is designed to move technologies from benchscale tests to field demonstrations. It will enable water utilities, particularly those serving small, rural communities and Indian tribes, to implement the most cost-effective solutions to their arsenic treatment needs. As part of the Arsenic Water Technology Partnership program, Sandia National Laboratories is carrying out field demonstration testing of innovative technologies that have the potential to substantially reduce the costs associated with arsenic removal from drinking water. The scope for this work includes: (1) Selection of sites and identification of technologies for pilot demonstrations; (2) Laboratory studies to develop rapid small-scale test methods; and (3) Pilot-scale studies at community sites involving side-by-side tests of innovative technologies. The goal of site selection is to identify sites that allow examination of treatment processes and systems under conditions that are relevant to different geochemical settings throughout the country. A number of candidate sites have been identified through reviews of groundwater quality databases, conference proceedings and discussions with state and local officials. These include sites in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, Michigan, and California. Candidate technologies for the pilot tests are being reviewed through vendor forums, proof-of-principle benchscale studies managed by the American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AwwaRF) and the WERC design contest. The review considers as many potential technologies as possible and screens out unsuitable ones by considering data from past performance testing, expected costs, complexity of operation and maturity of the technology. The pilot test configurations will depend on the site-specific conditions such as access, power availability, waste disposal options and availability of permanent structures to house the test. Conducting pilot tests for media comparison at all sites in need of arsenic treatment would be extremely time consuming and costly. Laboratory studies are being conducted using rapid small-scale column tests (RSSCTs) to predict the performance of pilot-scale adsorption columns. RSSCTs are a rapid and inexpensive method of investigating innovative technologies while varying water quality and/or system design. RSSCTs are scaled down columns packed with smaller diameter adsorption media that receive higher hydraulic loading rates to significantly reduce the duration of experiments. Results for RSSCTs can be obtained in a matter of days to a few weeks, whereas pilot tests can take a number of months to over a year. In the pilot tests, the innovative technologies will be evaluated in terms of adsorptive capacity for arsenic; robustness of performance with respect to water quality parameters including pH, TDS, foulants such as Fe, Mn, silica, and organics, and other metals and radionuclides; and potentially deleterious effects on the water system such as pipe corrosion from low pH levels, fluoride removal, and generation of disinfection by-products. The new arsenic MCL will result in modification of many rural water systems that otherwise would not require treatment. Simultaneous improvement of water quality in systems that will require treatment for other contaminants such as uranium, radon and radium would be an added benefit of this program.

The use of rotational echo adiabatic passage double resonance (REAPDOR) solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to determine the site location of an adsorbed polar molecule in a zeolite cage is presented. Nitrogen-15 labeled ammonia is used as a probe molecule to characterize the initial adsorption site in 3A zeolite molecular sieves. The relative position of the ammonia adsorption site in the cage is determined by measuring the internuclear distance between the N on ammonia and both a Na cation site and an Al framework environment using {sup 15}N/{sup 23}Na and {sup 15}N/{sup 27}Al REAPDOR NMR experiments, respectively. The measured internuclear distances are similar to a specific ammonia adsorption site for the zeolite 4A ammonia sorption complex located using X-ray diffraction. Additional details regarding the ammonia hydrogen-bonding environment can be extracted from {sup 1}H/{sup 23}Na and {sup 1}H/{sup 27}Al REAPDOR NMR measurements.

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Sandia National Laboratories has previously tested a capability to impose a 7.5 g-rms (30 g peak) radial vibration load up to 2 kHz on a 25 lb object with superimposed 50 g acceleration at its centrifuge facility. This was accomplished by attaching a 3,000 lb Unholtz-Dickie mechanical shaker at the end of the centrifuge arm to create a 'Vibrafuge'. However, the combination of non-radial vibration directions, and linear accelerations higher than 50g's are currently not possible because of the load capabilities of the shaker and the stresses on the internal shaker components due to the combined centrifuge acceleration. Therefore, a new technique using amplified piezo-electric actuators has been developed to surpass the limitations of the mechanical shaker system. They are lightweight, modular and would overcome several limitations presented by the current shaker. They are 'scalable', that is, adding more piezo-electric units in parallel or in series can support larger-weight test articles or displacement/frequency regimes. In addition, the units could be mounted on the centrifuge arm in various configurations to provide a variety of input directions. The design along with test results will be presented to demonstrate the capabilities and limitations of the new piezo-electric Vibrafuge.

The influence of thermal stratification on auto-ignition at constant volume and high pressure is studied by Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) with complex H{sub 2}/air chemistry with a view to providing better understanding of combustion processes in homogeneous charge compression ignition engines. In particular the dependence of overall ignition progress on initial mixture conditions is determined. The propagation speed of ignition fronts that emanate from 'hot spots' given by a temperature spectrum is monitored by using the displacement velocity of a scalar that tracks the location of maximum heat release. The evolution of the front velocity is compared for different initial temperature distributions and the role of scalar dissipation of heat and mass is identified. It is observed that both deagrative as well as spontaneous ignition front propagation occur depending upon the local temperature gradient. It is found that the ratio of the instantaneous front speed to the deflagrative speed is a good measure of the local mode of propagation. This is verified by examining the energy and species balances. A parametric study in the amplitudes of the initial temperature fluctuation is performed and shows that this parameter has a significant influence on the observed combustion mode. Higher levels of stratification lead to more front-like structures. Predictions of the multi-zone model are presented and explained using the diagnostics developed.

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The impacts of small niobium additions to processing, microstructure, and electrical properties in the Zr-rich lead zirconate titanate ceramics (PZT 95/5) were investigated. The influence of niobium content on dielectric responses and the characteristics of ferroelectric behaviors, as well as the relative phase stability and the hydrostatic pressure induced ferroelectric-to- antiferroelectric phase transformation are reported. Results indicate that increasing the niobium concentration in the solid solutions enhances densification, refines the microstructure, decreases dielectric constant and spontaneous polarization, and stabilizes the ferroelectric phase. The stabilization of ferroelectric phase with respect to the antiferroelectric phase near PZT 95/5 composition dramatically increases the pressure required for the ferroelectric-to-antiferroelectric phase transformation. These observations were correlated to the creation of A-site vacancies and a slight modification of the crystal structure. The importance of these composition-property relationships on device application will be presented.

Optical actuation of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is advantageous for applications for which electrical isolation is desired. Thirty-two polycrystalline silicon opto-thermal actuators, optically-powered MEMS thermal actuators, were designed, fabricated, and tested. The design of the opto-thermal actuators consists of a target for laser illumination suspended between angled legs that expand when heated, providing the displacement and force output. While the amount of displacement observed for the opto-thermal actuators was fairly uniform for the actuators, the amount of damage resulting from the laser heating ranged from essentially no damage to significant amounts of damage on the target. The likelihood of damage depended on the target design with two of the four target designs being more susceptible to damage. Failure analysis of damaged targets revealed the extent and depth of the damage.

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A three-dimensional tungsten photonic crystal is thermally excited and shown to emit light at a narrow band, {lambda} = 3.3-4.25 {micro}m. The emission is experimentally observed to exceed that of the free-space Planck radiation over a wide temperature range, T = 475-850 K. it is proposed that an enhanced density of state associated with the propagating electromagnetic Bloch waves in the photonic crystal is responsible for this experimental finding.

This paper provides a brief overview of the fields of biological micro-electromechanical systems (bioMEMs) and associated nanobiotechnologies, collectively denoted as BioMicroNano. Although they are developing at a very rapid pace and still redefining themselves, several stabilized areas of research and development can be identified. Six major areas are delineated, and specific examples are discussed and illustrated. Various applications of the technologies are noted, and potential market sizes are compared.

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Simplified models that are based on macroscopic force balances and droplet-geometry approximations are presented for predicting the onset of instability leading to removal of water droplets at the gas diffusion layer (GDL)/gas flow channel (GFC) interface. Visualization experiments are carried out to observe the formation, growth, and removal or instability of the water droplets at the GDL/GFC interface of a simulated polymer electrolyte fuel cell cathode. Droplet-instability diagrams or windows computed by the simplified models are compared with those measured experimentally, and good agreement is obtained. Two-dimensional flow simulations employing the finite element method coupled with an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian formulation for determining the liquid/gas interface position are also performed to assess the simplified cylindrical-droplet model. Necessary conditions for preventing fully grown droplets from lodging in the flow channel are derived using the simplified models. It is found that droplet removal can be enhanced by increasing flow channel length or mean gas flow velocity, decreasing channel height or contact angle hysteresis, or making the GDL/GFC interface more hydrophobic.

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Concerns over the illicit trafficking of radiological and nuclear materials were focused originally on the lack of security and accountability of such material throughout the former Soviet states. This is primarily attributed to the frequency of events that have occurred involving the theft and trafficking of critical material components that could be used to construct a Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD) or even a rudimentary nuclear device. However, with the continued expansion of nuclear technology and the deployment of a global nuclear fuel cycle these materials have become increasingly prevalent, affording a more diverse inventory of dangerous materials and dual-use items. To further complicate the matter, the list of nuclear consumers has grown to include: (1) Nation-states that have gone beyond the IAEA agreed framework and additional protocols concerning multiple nuclear fuel cycles and processes that reuse the fuel through reprocessing to exploit technologies previously confined to the more industrialized world; (2) Terrorist organizations seeking to acquire nuclear and radiological material due to the potential devastation and psychological effect of their use; (3) Organized crime, which has discovered a lucrative market in trafficking of illicit material to international actors and/or countries; and (4) Amateur smugglers trying to feed their families in a post-Soviet era. An initial look at trafficking trends of this type seems scattered and erratic, localized primarily to a select group of countries. This is not necessarily the case. The success with which other contraband has been smuggled throughout the world suggests that nuclear trafficking may be carried out with relative ease along the same routes by the same criminals or criminal organizations. Because of the inordinately high threat posed by terrorist or extremist groups acquiring the ingredients for unconventional weapons, it is necessary that illicit trafficking of these materials be better understood as to prepare for the sustained global development of the nuclear fuel cycle. Conversely, modeling and analyses of this activity must not be limited in their scope to loosely organized criminal smuggling, but address the problem as a commercial, industrial project for the covert development of nuclear technologies and unconventional weapon development.

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The nation's electric power sector is highly interdependent with the economic sectors it serves; electric power needs are driven by economic activity while the economy itself depends on reliable and sustainable electric power. To advance higher level understandings of the vulnerabilities that result from these interdependencies and to identify the loss prevention and loss mitigation policies that best serve the nation, the National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center is developing and using N-ABLE{trademark}, an agent-based microeconomic framework and simulation tool that models these interdependencies at the level of collections of individual economic firms. Current projects that capture components of these electric power and economic sector interdependencies illustrate some of the public policy issues that should be addressed for combined power sector reliability and national economic security.

The thermal interdiffusion of AlSb/GaSb multiquantum wells was measured and the intrinsic diffusivities of Al and Ga determined over a temperature range of 823-948 K for 30-9000 s. The 77-K photoluminescence (PL) was used to monitor the extent of interdiffusion through the shifts in the superlattice luminescence peaks. The chemical diffusion coefficient was quantitatively determined by fitting the observed PL peak shifts to the solution of the Schroedinger equation, using a potential derived from the solution of the diffusion equation. The value of the interdiffusion coefficient ranged from 5.2 x 10{sup -4} to 0.06 nm{sup 2}/s over the conditions studied and was characterized by an activation energy of 3.0 {+-} 0.1 eV. The intrinsic diffusion coefficients for Al and Ga were also determined with higher values for Al than for Ga, described by activation energies of 2.8 {+-} 0.4 and 1.1 {+-} 0.1 eV, respectively.

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