Publications

The success of technology transfer agreements depends not just on the technical work, but on how well the arrangements to protect and dispose of the intellectual properties that make up the technologies are handled. Pertinent issues that impact the protection and disposition of intellectual properties during the technology transfer process at Sandia National Laboratories, a multiprogram laboratory operated for the Department of Energy by the Martin Marietta Corporation, are discussed. Subjects addressed include the contracting mechanisms (including the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement [CRADA] and the Work-for-Others agreement), proprietary information, The Freedom of Information Act, patents and copyrights, the statement of work, Protected CRADA Information, licensing considerations, title to intellectual properties, march-in rights, and nondisclosure agreements.

An evaluation of the key elements affecting Direct Containment Heating (DCH) was performed for the Surry plant. This involved determining the dominant high pressure core damage sequences, the probability of proceeding to vessel breach at high pressure, the DCH loads, and the containment strength. Each of these factors was evaluated separately, and then the results were combined to give the overall threat from DCH. The maximum containment failure probability by DCH for Surry is 10{sup {minus}3} when considering four base DCH scenarios and using the two-cell equilibrium (TCE) model. However, higher contamination failure probabilities are estimated in sensitivity cases. When the depressurization and containment loads aspects are combined, the containment failure probability (conditional on station blackout sequence) is less than 19{sup {minus}2}. CONTAIN calculations were performed to provide insights regarding DCH phenomenological uncertainties and potential conservatisms in the TCE model. The CONTAIN calculations indicated that the TCE calculations were conservative for Surry and that the dominant factors were neglect of heat transfer to surroundings and complete combustion of hydrogen on DCH time scales.

A major obstacle to understanding of unsaturated fracture flow is the paucity of physical data on both fracture aperture structure and the effects of phase structure on permeability. An experimental procedure is developed for collecting detailed data on aperture and phase structure from a transparent analog fracture. Stable phase structures of varying complexity are creating within the horizontal analog fracture. Wetting phase permeability is measured under steady-state conditions. A process based model for wetting phase relative permeability is explored. Average distribution of the wetting phase is shown to provide insufficient information for modeling relative permeability; descriptive models must account for spatial structure of the phases.

Migration of hazardous contaminants within geologic settings depends on natural processes. Climatic fluctuations can affect the magnitudes and rates of many of these processes. In any long-term environmental evaluation of natural processes, responses to climatic change must be considered. Four generalized categories of natural responses to Quaternary climatic change are recognized for the Nevada Test Site (NTS) region of southwestern Nevada and adjacent California: (1) biologic, (2) geomorphic, (3) hydrologic (including surface and subsurface) and (4) pedologic/diagenetic. Specific examples that correspond to the four categories illustrate the broad range of complex natural processes the are affected by climatic change. These responses dictate the potential effects of climatic change on contaminant transport, effects that are being examined by existing and planned environmental-restoration and waste-management programs within the region. Regulatory requirements for many of these programs include long-term (>10,000-year) waste isolation because of radiologic components. The purpose here is not to be exhaustive in documenting all known natural responses to climatic change in the NTS region, but rather to give a flavor of the scope of interdisciplinary and interrelated fields of Quaternary science that must be considered in evaluating the possible effects of climatic change on long-term environmental programs.

The variance of an estimate of an autospectral density (power spectral density) obtained using Welch`s method is examined This error is examined in terms of a normalized error measure. Particular attention is given to the temporal windows and overlap processing.

Shock physics codes for armor analysis and the computers used to run them have improved dramatically over the last five years. Improved algorithms and material models allow accurate and efficient modeling of conventional armors. Desktop workstations routinely perform production two-dimensional calculations and massively parallel computers perform three-dimensional calculations. New developments in codes and computers promise improved accuracy, increased capabilities and faster simulation. This paper describes the current state of armor analysis codes and computers. Armor analysis code features fall into one of five categories: mesh, solution algorithm, material model, heuristic or computer. This paper discusses the current state of each of these categories and discusses the additional work needed.

The X Window System was originally developed in 1984 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It provides client-server computing functionality and also facilitates the establishment of a distributed computing environment. Since its inception the X Window System has undergone many enhancements. Despite these enhancements there will always be a functionality desired in the standard released version of X that is not supported or commercially or academically available. The developers of the X Window System have designed it in such a way that it is possible to add functionality that is not included in the standard release. This is called an extension. Extensions are one method used to develop a customized version of the X Window System to support a specialized application. This report presents the mechanics of adding an extension and examines a particular extension that was developed at Sandia National Laboratories to support data compression in X Windows which was one aspect of the Desktop Video and Collaborative Engineering Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD).

This research investigates the relationship between execution discipline and performance. The hypothesis has two parts: 1. Different execution disciplines exhibit different performance for different computations, and 2. These differences can be effectively predicted by heuristics. A machine model is developed that can vary its execution discipline. That is, the model can execute a given program using either the control-driven, data-driven or demand-driven execution discipline. This model is referred to as a ``variable-execution-discipline`` machine. The instruction set for the model is the Program Dependence Web (PDW). The first part of the hypothesis will be tested by simulating the execution of the machine model on a suite of computations, based on the Livermore Fortran Kernel (LFK) Test (a.k.a. the Livermore Loops), using all three execution disciplines. Heuristics are developed to predict relative performance. These heuristics predict (a) the execution time under each discipline for one iteration of each loop and (b) the number of iterations taken by that loop; then the heuristics use those predictions to develop a prediction for the execution of the entire loop. Similar calculations are performed for branch statements. The second part of the hypothesis will be tested by comparing the results of the simulated execution with the predictions produced by the heuristics. If the hypothesis is supported, then the door is open for the development of machines that can vary execution discipline to increase performance.

This paper describes a collision avoidance system using Whole Arm Proximity (WHAP) sensors on an articulated robot arm. The capacitance-based sensors generate electric fields which completely encompass the robot arm and detect obstacles as they approach from any direction. The robot is moved through the workspace using a velocity command generated either by an operator through a force-sensing input device or a preprogrammed sequence of motions. The directional obstacle information gathered by the WHAP sensors is then used in a matrix column maximization algorithm that automatically selects the sensor closest to an obstacle during each robot controller cycle. The distance from this sensor to the obstacle is used to reduce the component of the command input velocity along the normal axis of the sensor, allowing graceful perturbation of the velocity command to prevent a collision. By scaling only the component of the velocity vector in the direction of the nearest obstacle, the control system restricts motion in the direction of an obstacle while permitting unconstrained motion in other directions. The actual robot joint positions and the WHAP sensor readings are communicated to an operator interface consisting of a graphical model of the Puma robot and its environment. Circles are placed on the graphical robot surface at positions corresponding to the locations of the WHAP sensor. As the individual sensors detect obstacles, the associated circles change color, providing the operator with visual feedback as to the location and relative size of the obstacle. At the same time, the graphical robot position is updated to reflect the actual state of the robot. This information, coupled with the selective constraints imposed by the WHAP control system, permit the operator to plan alternative paths around unmodeled, but sensed, obstacles.

This video cassette and its corresponding script describe efforts at Sandia Laboratories to develop surveillance equipment to include geophone sensors, point sensors, line sensors, and video surveillance cameras.

Four photovoltaic-powered lighting systems were installed in a National Forest Service campground in June of 1991. These systems have identical arrays, loads and charge controllers. The only difference was in the rated capacity of the battery bank for each system. The battery banks all use the same basic battery as a building block with four systems utilizing either one battery, two batteries, three batteries or four batteries. The purpose of the experiment is to examine the effect of the various battery sizes on the ability of the system to charge the battery, energy available to the load, and battery lifetime. Results show an important trend in system performance concerning the impact of charge controllers on the relation between array size and battery size which results in an inability to achieve the days of battery storage originally designed for.

During 1989-90, a refluxing liquid-metal pool-boiler solar receiver designed for dish/Stirling application at 75 kWt throughput was successfully demonstrated at Sandia National Laboratories. Significant features of this receiver included (1) boiling sodium as the heat transfer medium and (2) electric-discharge-machined (EDM) cavities as artificial nucleation sites to stabilize boiling. Following this first demonstration, a second-generation pool-boiler receiver that brings the concept closer to commercialization has been designed, constructed, and successfully tested. For long life, the new receiver is built from Haynes Alloy 230. For increased safety factors against film boiling and flooding, the absorber area and vapor-flow passages have been enlarged. To eliminate the need for trace heating, sodium has been replaced by the sodium-potassium alloy NaK-78. To reduce manufacturing costs, the receiver has a powdered-metal coating instead of EDM cavities for stabilization of boiling. To control incipient-boiling superheats, especially during hot restarts, it contains a small amount of xenon. In this paper, we present the receiver design and report the results of on-sun tests using a nominal 75 kWt test-bed concentrator to characterize boiling stability, hot-restart behavior, and thermal efficiency at temperatures up to 750°C. We also report briefly on late results from an advanced-concepts pool-boiler receiver.

The article presents the use of Monte Carlo simulations or incoherent scattering model to calculate profiles from precipitates embedded at different depths in thin specimens and then compared the simulations with experimental data measured from embedded particles. Incoherent scattering models is believed to be the best simulation for spatial resolution for x ray microanalysis in the AEM.

The development of UHF spark-switched L-C oscillators is described. L-C oscillators with center frequencies of 450 to 800 MHz were constructed. Q of the oscillators increased when a resonant antenna or antenna-reflector combination was added. Prototypes with simple fat-dipole antennas and small parabolic reflectors radiated normalized electric field strengths of 60 kV/m. The L-C oscillator, fat dipole, and small parabolic cylinder reflector were mounted in a way that will maximize the radiated power.

Codes and standards have served remarkably well in reducing both the frequency and consequences of pressure vessel and piping system failures. Past successful uses of safety standards show that safety can indeed be designed into potentially hazardous systems. Operational maintenance and inspection programs can also ensure and perpetuate design and manufactured reliability. However, as more advanced and challenging applications with high pressure systems and potentially hazardous operations are encountered we need to sharpen our technology, estimate reliability, quantify consequences, and manage risks with cost-effective process. Practical systems are constructed of several components, and design standards are not always available for every component. A variable level of safety is, therefore, admitted within a system and some assessment of the overall safety is desired. Additionally, when potential personnel safety consequences are large but isolated, secondary protective steps should be considered such as barricading, protective enclosures, or remote operation. This paper discusses rationale and activates that are based on probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) methods. While general application of PRA is not advocated at this time, certain derivative parts are suggested for use in closed-loop, risk management activities. Risk management process developments such as development of probabilistic data for threats to system safety and system response, component design requirements, system safety rules, distributed safety goals and technical derivations of numerical criteria are encouraged. Suggested activities are proposed as topics for future High Pressure Technology Development Activities.

The JPL Micro-Precision Interferometer (MPI) is a testbed for studying the use of control-structure interaction technology in the design of space-based interferometers. A layered control architecture will be employed to regulate the interferometer optical system to tolerances in the nanometer range. This paper summarizes coordinated test and analysis efforts aimed at producing such a model for the MPI structure. Pretest analysis, modal testing and test-analysis reconciliation results are summarized for a series of tests at both the component and full system levels.

Demonstrated in this study is the phase identification through a combination of backscattered electron Kikuchi patterns (BEKP) and energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (EDS) by the identification of crystals present on ruthenium oxide thin films on Si. The crystals were identified as RuO2, a tetragonal phase. The charge coupled device (CCD)-based detector is also briefly described. The ability of the CCD-based detector to collect high quality patterns without the use of photographic emulsions enables on-line analysis of the BEKP's.

Hazardous operations which in the past have been completed by technicians are under increased scrutiny due to high costs and low productivity associated with providing protective clothing and environments. As a result, remote systems are needed to accomplish many hazardous materials handling tasks such as the clean up of waste sites in which the exposure of personnel to radiation, chemical, explosive, and other hazardous constituents is unacceptable. Traditional remote operations have proven to have very low productivity when compared with unencumbered humans. Computer models augmented by sensing and structured, modular computing environments are proving to be effective in automating many unstructured hazardous tasks.

Photoconductive Semiconductor Switches (PCSS) are being used in, or tested for, many different pulsed power applications as diverse as ultrawideband (UWB) transmitters and high current pulsers. Some aspects of the switches that are relevant to most of the applications are: switch lifetime (longevity), switch opening time (related to the lifetime of carriers in the semiconductor), switching jitter, and the required laser energy. This paper will emphasize the results that we have obtained with Si switches for UWB applications. These include: measurement of switch longevity (a total of 80 Coulombs or 40 C/cm for a 2 cm wide switch and 18.4 Coulombs or 73 Coulombs/cm for a 0.25 cm wide switch), switching at high repetition rates (up to 540 Hz), measurement of carrier lifetime decay rates (a fast one of a few μs, and a slow one of about 330 μs), and measurements on the effect of neutron irradiation on carrier lifetimes. The total charge switched seems to be the highest ever reported for a PCSS. We have used these Si switches in a variety of circuits to produce: a monocycle with a period of about 10 ns corresponding to a center frequency of about 84 MHz, and ringing (many pulse) waveforms with periods of about 1 ns and 7.5 ns corresponding to center frequencies of 770 MHz and 133 MHz. We will also discuss recent studies on the switching properties of GaP.

The use of focused laser beams and fiber optics to control the location and density of current filaments in GaAs photoconductive semiconductor switches (PCSS) is described in this paper. An intensified CCD camera is used to monitor the infrared photoluminescence of the filaments during fast initiation of high gain switching for several sizes of lateral GaAs PCSS (e.g. 0.5×5, 1×5, 2.5×5, 2×30, and 15×20 mm2). The switches are triggered with either a focused, mode-locked, Nd:YAG laser (532 and 1064 nm) or fiber-optically coupled semiconductor laser diodes (approximately 900 nm). The dependencies of the size, location, and density of the current filaments on the optical trigger, switch voltage, and switch current will be discussed. The impact of optically controlled current filaments on device design and lifetime is emphasized. Electro-optical switching amplification is demonstrated using the high gain switching mode of GaAs (lock-on). A single semiconductor laser diode is used to trigger a small GaAs PCSS. This PCSS is used to drive a 15-element laser diode array. Both electrical and optical pulse compression, sharpening, and amplification are achieved. Estimates for electrical and optical power gains are 8000 and 750 respectively.

A gridless numerical technique called smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) has been coupled the transient dynamics finite element code, PRONTO. In this paper, a new weighted residual derivation for the SPH method will be presented, and the methods used to embed SPH within PRONTO will be outlined. Example SPH-PRONTO calculations will also be presented. Smooth particle hydrodynamics is a gridless Lagrangian technique. Requiring no mesh, SPH has the potential to model material fracture, large shear flows, and penetration. SPH computes the strain rate and the stress divergence based on the nearest neighbors of a particle, which are determined using an efficient particle sorting technique. Embedding the SPH method within PRONTO allows part of the problem to be modeled with quadrilateral finite elements while other parts are modeled with the gridless SPH method. SPH elements are coupled to the quadrilateral elements through a contact like algorithm.

The response of thickness shear mode (TSM) resonators in liquids is examined. Smooth-surface devices, which viscously entrain a layer of contacting liquid, respond to the product of liquid density and viscosity. Textured-surface devices, which also trap liquid in surface features, exhibit an additional response that depends on liquid density alone. Combining smooth and textured resonators in a monolithic sensor allows simultaneous measurement of liquid density and viscosity.

The Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project is studying Yucca Mountain in southwestern Nevada as a potential site for a high-level nuclear waste repository. Site characterization includes surface-based and underground testing. Analyses have been performed to support the design of site characterization activities so to have minimal impact on the ability of the site to isolate waste, and on tests performed as part of the characterization process. Two examples of site characterization activities are the construction of an Exploratory Studies Facility, which may include underground shafts, drifts, and ramps, and surface-based testing activities, which may require borehole drilling, excavation of test pits, and road watering for dust control. The information in this report pertains to two-dimensional numerical calculations modeling the movement of surficially applied water and the potential effects of that water on repository performance and underground experiments. This document contains information that has been used in preparing recommendations for two Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project documents: Appendix I of the Exploratory Studies Facility Design Requirements document, and the Surface-Based Testing Field Requirements Document.

The Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project is studying Yucca Mountain in southwestern Nevada as a potential site for a high-level radioactive waste repository. Analyses reported herein were performed to support the design of site characterization activities so that these activities will have a minimal impact on the ability of the site to isolate waste and a minimal impact on underground tests performed as part of the characterization process. These analyses examine the effect of water to be used in the underground construction and testing activities for the Exploratory Studies Facility on in situ conditions. Underground activities and events where water will be used include construction, expected but unplanned spills, and fire protection. The models used predict that, if the current requirements in the Exploratory Studies Facility Design Requirements are observed, water that is imbibed into the tunnel wall rock in the Topopah Springs welded tuff can be removed over the preclosure time period by routine or corrective ventilation, and also that water imbibed into the Paintbrush Tuff nonwelded tuff will not reach the potential waste storage area.

Synthesis of hybrid organic-inorganic materials with ionic functionality within the polymer backbone has been achieved. A new family of hypervalent spiro anionic polysiliconates and polygermylates has been prepared. These materials were shown to be thermally stable to moderate temperatures and are completely air and moisture stable. Analysis by solution and solid state NMR verified the presence of the hypervalent functionality. We are currently examining the effect that alteration of the condensing reagent and/or the counterion may have on bulk properties of the ionomeric material.