Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Subcommittee on Government Efficiency and Financial Management, House Committee on Government Reform asked GAO to testify on the implementation of the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (PL 107-300) and related Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance, and on GAO's strategies to reduce improper payments."

The primary goal of the research being conducted this summer is to investigate the role of initial conditions in the development of a two fluid mix driven by Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The effects of initial conditions will be studied through the use of experimental facilities located at the Buoyancy-Driven Mixing Lab at Texas A&M University and through high resolution direct numerical simulations of the experiment by the MIRANDA code developed at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. The Experimental Objectives are: (1) Analyze the early time development of a two fluid Rayleigh-Taylor driven mix between two miscible fluids at low Atwood numbers. (2) Quantify the initial conditions of the unstably stratified fluids by means of statistical mixing parameters and spectral analysis of the centerline density fluctuations. (3) Capture PLIF images of initial development of the flow for use in simulation setup. (Wayne Kraft) (4) Determine exactly what component of the experimental mixing data (position downstream from the splitter plate) most accurately represents the initial conditions of the experiment. The Simulation Objectives are: (1) Perform two dimensional and three dimensional simulations of the experimental setup. Analyze the results of these simulations for comparison to the experimental results. (2) Various methods of implementing the initial …

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Modern HENP experiments such as CMS and Atlas involve as many as 2000 collaborators around the world. Collaborations this large will be unable to meet often enough to support working closely together. Many of the tools currently available for collaboration focus on heavy-weight applications such as videoconferencing tools. While these are important, there is a more basic need for tools that support connecting physicists to work together on an ad hoc or continuous basis. Tools that support the day-to-day connectivity and underlying needs of a group of collaborators are important for providing light-weight, non-intrusive, and flexible ways to work collaboratively. Some example tools include messaging, file-sharing, and shared plot viewers. An important component of the environment is a scalable underlying communication framework. In this paper we will describe our current progress on building a dynamic and ad hoc collaboration environment and our vision for its evolution into a HENP collaboration environment.

A wide variety of seismic methods covering the spectrum from DC to kilohertz have been employed at one time or the other in geothermal environments. The reasons have varied from exploration for a heat source to attempting to find individual fractures producing hot fluids. For the purposes here we will assume that overall objective of seismic imaging is for siting wells for successful location of permeable pathways (often fracture permeability) that are controlling flow and transport in naturally fractured reservoirs. The application could be for exploration of new resources or for in-fill/step-out drilling in existing fields. In most geothermal environments the challenge has been to separate the ''background'' natural complexity and heterogeneity of the matrix from the fracture/fault heterogeneity controlling the fluid flow. Ideally one not only wants to find the fractures, but the fractures that are controlling the flow of the fluids. Evaluated in this work is current state-of-the-art surface (seismic reflection) and borehole seismic methods (Vertical Seismic Profiling (VSP), Crosswell and Single Well) to locate and quantify geothermal reservoir characteristics. The focus is on active methods; the assumption being that accuracy is needed for successful well siting. Passive methods are useful for exploration and detailed monitoring for in-fill …

This report discusses the accomplishments of the environmental protection program at Argonne National Laboratory-East (ANL-E) for calendar year 2002. The status of ANL-E environmental protection activities with respect to the various laws and regulations that govern waste handling and disposal is discussed, along with the progress of environmental corrective actions and restoration projects. To evaluate the effects of ANL-E operations on the environment, samples of environmental media collected on the site, at the site boundary, and off the ANL-E site were analyzed and compared with applicable guidelines and standards. A variety of radionuclides were measured in air, surface water, on-site groundwater, and bottom sediment samples. In addition, chemical constituents in surface water, groundwater, and ANL-E effluent water were analyzed. External penetrating radiation doses were measured, and the potential for radiation exposure to off-site population groups was estimated. Results are interpreted in terms of the origin of the radioactive and chemical substances (i.e., natural, fallout, ANL-E, and other) and are compared with applicable environmental quality standards. A U.S. Department of Energy dose calculation methodology, based on International Commission on Radiological Protection recommendations and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's CAP-88 (Clean Air Act Assessment Package-1988) computer code, was used in preparing this …

OAK A271 Hydroacoustic Studies Using HydroCAM - Station-centric Integration of Models and Observations Quarterly Report No. 3 April 2003 - June 2003. BBN's work from April through June of 2003 was focused on the testing and release of HydroCAM 4.0, development of HydroCAM 4.1 software, continued data collection and analysis, and initial preparations for the 2003 Seismic Research Review. HydroCAM 4.0 was released and sent to DOE and AFTAC on June 9. This is the first release of new software on this contract. The code addresses the problems and issues that BBN and AFTAC had identified in the Fall of 2003. HydroCAM 4.1 is under development. A description of that development is shown in section 3.2. We continued our efforts to collect ground truth hydroacoustic data from sub-sea earthquakes in the Indian Ocean. To date, we have collected over 130 events. These data are recorded on the International Monitoring System stations at Diego Garcia and Cape Leeuwin. Finally, BBN submitted an abstract for the 2003 Seismic Research Review meeting. However, after discussions with Phil Harben at Lawrence Livermore Labs, we have decided to collaborate on one program-wide paper for the meeting.

Third harmonic hydrogen cyclotron fast wave heating studies are planned in the near term on CDX-U to investigate the potential for bulk ion heating. In preparation for these studies, the available radio-frequency power in CDX-U has been increased to 0.5 MW. The operating frequency of the CDX-U radio-frequency transmitter was lowered to operate in the range of 8-10 MHz, providing access to the ion harmonic range 2* {approx} 4* in hydrogen. A similar regime is accessible for the 30 MHz radio-frequency system on the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), at 0.6 Tesla in hydrogen. Preliminary computational studies over the plasma regimes of interest for NSTX and CDX-U indicate the possibility of strong localized absorption on bulk ion species.

Hot gas particulate filtration is a basic component in advanced power generation systems such as Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) and Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustion (PFBC). These systems require effective particulate removal to protect the downstream gas turbine and also to meet environmental emission requirements. The ceramic barrier filter is one of the options for hot gas filtration. Hot gases flow through ceramic candle filters leaving ash deposited on the outer surface of the filter. A process known as surface regeneration removes the deposited ash periodically by using a high pressure pulse of gas to back flush the filter. After this cleaning process has been completed there may be some residual ash on the filter surface. This residual ash may grow and this may then lead to mechanical failure of the filter. A Room Temperature Test Facility (RTTF) and a High Temperature Test Facility (HTTF) were built to investigate the ash characteristics during surface regeneration at room and selected high temperatures. The RTTF system was used to gain experience with the selected instrumentation and develop an operating procedure to be used later at elevated temperatures. The HTTF system is capable of conducting surface regeneration tests of a single candle filter …

Layered substituted lithium manganese oxides suitable for use as lithium ion battery electrodes may be prepared from the corresponding sodium manganese metal oxide compounds by ion-exchange. Stacking arrangements (O2, O3, or O2/O3 intergrowths) in the lithiated materials are dependent upon the Na/transition metal ratio in the sodium-containing precursors, the degree of substitution, and the identity of the substituting metal. O3 layered materials deliver up to 200 mAh/g at moderate current densities in lithium cell configurations, but convert rapidly to spinels upon cell cycling, while O2 compounds are more stable but deliver less capacity. Intergrowths show intermediate behavior, with higher capacities than pure O2 materials and better phase stability than O3 compounds. Some intergrowth structures do not appear to convert to spinel during normal cycling, suggesting it may be possible to tailor high energy density, phase stable layered manganese oxide electrodes for lithium batteries.

The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Organometallic Chemistry was held at Salve Regina, Newport, Rhode Island, 7/21-26/02. Emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field.

To support evaluations of the direct disposal of Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory calcines to the repository at Yucca Mountain, an evaluation of the performance of the calcine in the repository environment must be performed. This type of evaluation demonstrates, through computer modeling and analysis, the impact the calcine would have on the ability of the repository to perform its function of containment of materials during the repository lifetime. This report discusses parameters that were used in the scoping evaluation conducted in FY 2003. It provides nominal values for the parameters, with explanation of the source of the values, and how the values were modified for use in repository analysis activities.

In the process of backward Raman amplification (BRA), the leading layers of the seed laser pulse can shadow the rear layers, thus weakening the effective seeding power and affecting parameters of output pulses in BRA. We study this effect numerically and also analytically by approximating the pumped pulse by the ''*-pulse'' manifold of self-similar solutions. We determine how the pumped pulse projection moves within the *-pulse manifold, and describe quantitatively the effective seeding power evolution. Our results extend the quantitative theory of BRA to regimes where the effective seeding power varies substantially during the amplification. These results might be of broader interest, since the basic equations, are general equations for resonant 3-wave interactions.

Improved understanding of the plastic deformation of metals during high strain rate shock loading is key to predicting their resulting material properties. This paper presents the results of molecular dynamics simulations that identify the deformation modes of aluminum over a range of applied shear stresses and examines the interaction between dislocations and irradiation induced obstacles. These simulations show that while super-sonic dislocation motion can occur during impact loading, the finite dimensions of the materials render this motion transient. Larger applied loads do not stabilize supersonic dislocations, but instead lead an alternate deformation mode, namely twinning. Finally, the atomistic mechanisms that underlie the observed changes in the mechanical properties of metals as a function of irradiation are examined. Specifically, simulations of the interactions between moving edge dislocations and nanometer-sized helium bubbles provide insight into increases of the critical shear stresses but also reveal the effect of internal gas pressure on the deformation mode. The information gained in these studies provides fundamental insight into materials behavior, as well as important inputs for multi-scale models of materials deformation.

We present preliminary results from a parameter study investigating the stability of underground structures in response to explosion-induced strong ground motions. In practice, even the most sophisticated site characterization may lack key details regarding precise joint properties and orientations within the rock mass. Thus, in order to place bounds upon the predicted behavior of a given facility, an extensive series of simulations representing different realizations may be required. The influence of both construction parameters (reinforcement, rock bolts,liners) and geological parameters (joint stiffness, joint spacing and orientation, and tunnel diameter to block size ratio) must be considered. We will discuss the distinct element method (DEM) with particular emphasis on techniques for achieving improved computational efficiency, including the handling of contact detection and approaches to parallelization. We also outline the continuum approaches we employ to obtain boundary conditions for the distinct element simulations. Finally, our DEM code is used to simulate dynamic loading of a generic subterranean facility in hardrock, demonstrating the suitability of the DEM for this application.

The detonation of an energetic material is the result of a complex interaction between kinetic chemical reactions and hydrodynamics. Unfortunately, little is known concerning the detailed chemical kinetics of detonations in energetic materials. CHEETAH uses rate laws to treat species with the slowest chemical reactions, while assuming other chemical species are in equilibrium. CHEETAH supports a wide range of elements and condensed detonation products and can also be applied to gas detonations. A sparse hash table of equation of state values, called the ''cache'' is used in CHEETAH to enhance the efficiency of kinetic reaction calculations. For large-scale parallel hydrodynamic calculations, CHEETAH uses MPI communication to updates to the cache. We present here details of the sparse caching model used in the CHEETAH. To demonstrate the efficiency of modeling using a sparse cache model we consider detonations in energetic materials.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Ground-Based Nuclear Explosion Monitoring Research and Engineering (GNEM R&E) Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has made significant progress populating a comprehensive Seismic Research Database (SRDB) used for deriving seismic calibration parameters for the Middle East, North Africa and Western Eurasia (ME/NA/WE) regions. In addition to an overview of select individual information products, we present an overview of our visualization, integration, validation, and organizational processes. Development of these processes and the LLNL SRDB was necessitated by both the very large amount of data and information involved (over 15 terabytes) and the varied data and research result formats utilized. The LLNL SRDB allows for the collection of raw and contextual seismic data used in research, provides an interface for researchers to access data, provides a framework to store research results and integrate datasets, and supports assembly, integration and dissemination of datasets to the NNSA Knowledge Base (KB). The LLNL SRDB is a flexible and extensible framework consisting of a relational database (RDB), Geographical Information System (GIS), and associated product/data visualization and data management tools. This framework is designed to accommodate large volumes of data in diverse formats from many sources (both in-house-derived research and …

The main objective of this research was to develop new computational tools for the simulation and analysis of plasticity and fracture mechanisms of fusion materials, and to assist in planning and assessment of corresponding radiation experiments.

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Scientific visualization is the transformation of abstract information into images, and it plays an integral role in the scientific process by facilitating insight into observed or simulated phenomena. Visualization as a discipline spans many research areas from computer science, cognitive psychology and even art. Yet the most successful visualization applications are created when close synergistic interactions with domain scientists are part of the algorithmic design and implementation process, leading to visual representations with clear scientific meaning. Visualization is used to explore, to debug, to gain understanding, and as an analysis tool. Visualization is literally everywhere--images are present in this report, on television, on the web, in books and magazines--the common theme is the ability to present information visually that is rapidly assimilated by human observers, and transformed into understanding or insight. As an indispensable part a modern science laboratory, visualization is akin to the biologist's microscope or the electrical engineer's oscilloscope. Whereas the microscope is limited to small specimens or use of optics to focus light, the power of scientific visualization is virtually limitless: visualization provides the means to examine data that can be at galactic or atomic scales, or at any size in between. Unlike the traditional scientific tools …

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