Finite element analysis is becoming an increasingly important part of biomechanics and orthopedic research, as computational resources become more powerful, and data handling algorithms become more sophisticated. Until recently, tools with sufficient power did not exist or were not accessible to adequately model complicated, three-dimensional, nonlinear biomechanical systems. In the past, finite element analyses in biomechanics have often been limited to two-dimensional approaches, linear analyses, or simulations of single tissue types. Today, we have the resources to model fully three-dimensional, nonlinear, multi-tissue, and even multi-joint systems. The authors will present the process of developing these kinds of finite element models, using human hand and knee examples, and will demonstrate their software tools.

This document reports status and technical progress for Los Alamos 94-1 Research and Development projects. Updated schedule charts are shown in the appendix. This is the fourth status report published for Los Alamos National Laboratory 94-1 Research and Development Project Support. The Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE/EM) funds these projects in order to support the storage or disposal of legacy plutonium and plutonium-bearing materials resulting from weapons production throughout the DOE complex. This document also serves as an end-for-year review of projects and positions the program for FY97.

The 241-SY-101 waste storage tank at the Hanford-Site has been known to accumulate and release significant quantities of hydrogen gas. An analysis was performed to assess the tank`s structural integrity when subjected to postulated hydrogen deflagration loads. The analysis addressed many nonlinearities and appealed to a strain-based failure criteria. The model used to predict the global response of the tank was not refined enough to confidently predict local peak strains. Strain concentration factors were applied at structural discontinuities that were based on steel-lined reinforced-concrete containment studies. The discontinuities included large penetrations, small penetrations, springline geometries, stud/liner connections, and the {1/2} inch to 3/8 inch liner thickness transition. The only tank specific strain concentration factor applied in the evaluation was for the {1/2} inch to 3/8 inch liner thickness change in the dome. Review of the tank drawings reveals the possibility that a 4 inches Sch. 40 pipe penetrates the dome thickness transition region. It is not obvious how to combine the strain concentration factors for a small penetration with that of a thickness transition to arrive at a composite strain concentration factor. It is the goal of this effort to make an approximate determination of the relative significance of the …

Steam to support process operations and facility heating is currently produced by a centralized oil-fired plant located in the 300 Area and piped to approximately 26 facilities in the 300 Area. This plant was constructed during the 1940s and, because of tis age, is not efficient, requires a relatively large operating and maintenance staff, and is not reliable. The US Department of Energy is proposing an energy conservation measure for a number of buildings in the 300 Area of the Hanford Site. This action includes replacing the centralized heating system with heating units for individual buildings or groups of buildings, constructing new natural gas pipelines to provide a fuel source for many of these units and constructing a central control building to operate and maintain the system. A new steel-sided building would be constructed in the 300 Area in a previously disturbed area at least 400 m (one-quarter mile) from the Columbia River, or an existing 300 Area building would be modified and used. This Environmental Assessment evaluates alternatives to the proposed actions. Alternatives considered are: (1) the no action alternative; (2) use of alternative fuels, such as low-sulfur diesel oil; (3) construction of a new central steam plant, piping …

This report is a description of the Hanford site's annual dangerous waste in 1996.

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Cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) is a complicated disease that is dependent on a number of factors that influence its incidence in ways that are quantitatively uncertain. The incidence of CMM increases with proximity to the Equator -- an observation in line with the conclusion that sun exposure is the most important etiologic agent. However, the latitude effect does not implicate UVB because the intensities of all spectral regions increase toward the Equator. An understanding of the useful public health measures to lower the incidence of CMM would benefit greatly if the spectral region of sunlight implicated in melanoma incidence were known. Such knowledge requires animal models to evaluate the incidence as a function of wavelength. There are marsupial models, a transgenic mouse model, and a fish model. To date, only the fish model has been employed to obtain an action spectrum. The paper describes a fish model, implications of the fish spectrum, and epidemiological data.

Approximately a hundred years ago the petrochemical industry was in its infancy, while the chemical industry was already well established. Today, both of these industries, which are almost indistinguishable, are a substantial part of the makeup of the U.S. economy and the lifestyle we enjoy. It is difficult to identify a single segment of our daily lives that isn`t affected by these industries and the products or services they make available for our use. Their survival and continued function in a competitive world market are necessary to maintain our current standard of living. The occurrence of accidents in these industries has two obvious effects: (1) the loss of product during the accident and future productivity because of loss of a portion of a facility or transport medium, and (2) the potential loss of life or injury to individuals, whether workers, emergency responders, or members of the general public. A great deal of work has been conducted at the Liquefied Gaseous Fuels Spill test Facility (LGFSTF) on hazardous spills. WRI has conducted accident investigations as well as provided information on the research results via the internet and bibliographies.

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This paper describes the development of an adaptive computer control routine for a robotically, deployed focused, ultrasonic hyperthermia cancer treatment system. The control algorithm developed herein uses physiological models of a tumor and the surrounding healthy tissue regions and transient temperature data to estimate the treatment region`s blood perfusion. This estimate is used to vary the specific power profile of a scanned, focused ultrasonic transducer to achieve a temperature distribution as close as possible to an optimal temperature distribution. The controller is evaluated using simulations of diseased tissue and using limited experiments on a scanned, focused ultrasonic treatment system that employs a 5-Degree-of-Freedom (D.O.F.) robot to scan the treatment transducers over a simulated patient. Results of the simulations and experiments indicate that the adaptive control routine improves the temperature distribution over standard classical control algorithms if good (although not exact) knowledge of the treated region is available. Although developed with a scanned, focused ultrasonic robotic treatment system in mind, the control algorithm is applicable to any system with the capability to vary specific power as a function of volume and having an unknown distributed energy sink proportional to temperature elevation (e.g., other robotically deployed hyperthermia treatment methods using different heating …

Commercially available admixtures have been developed for placing traditional concrete products under water. This paper evaluates adapting anti-washout admixture (AWA) and high range water reducing admixture (HRWRA) products to enhance controlled low-strength materials (CLSMs) for underwater placement. A simple experimental scale model (based on dynamic and geometric similitude) of typical grout pump emplacement equipment has been developed to determine the percentage of cementing material washed out. The objective of this study was to identify proportions of admixtures and underwater CLSM emplacement procedures which would minimize the cross-contamination of the displaced water while maintaining the advantages of CLSM. Since the displaced water from radioactively contaminated systems must be subsequently treated prior to release to the environment, the amount of cross-contamination is important for cases in which cementing material could form hard sludges in a water treatment facility and contaminate the in-place CLSM stabilization medium.

Conventional commercial and military turbo-jet aircraft engines use capacitive discharge ignition systems to initiate fuel combustion. The fuel-rich conditions required to ensure engine re-ignition during flight yield less than optimal engine performance, which in turn reduces fuel economy and generates considerable pollution in the exhaust. Los Alamos investigated two approaches to advanced ignition: laser based and microwave based. The laser based approach is fuel ignition via laser-spark breakdown and via photo-dissociation of fuel hydrocarbons and oxygen. The microwave approach involves modeling, and if necessary redesigning, a combustor shape to form a low-Q microwave cavity, which will ensure microwave breakdown of the air/fuel mixture just ahead of the nozzle with or without a catalyst coating. This approach will also conduct radio-frequency (RF) heating of ceramic elements that have large loss tangents. Replacing conventional systems with either of these two new systems should yield combustion in leaner jet fuel/air mixtures. As a result, the aircraft would operate with (1) considerable less exhaust pollution, (2) lower engine maintenance, and (3) significantly higher fuel economy.

A research program at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) which deals with the development and application of processes for the treatment of geothermal brines and sludges has led to the identification and design of cost-efficient and environmentally friendly treatment methodology. Initially the primary goal of the processing was to convert geothermal wastes into disposable materials whose chemical composition would satisfy environmental regulations. An expansion of the R&D effort allowed to identify a combination of biochemical and chemical processes which became a basis for the development of a technology for the treatment of geothermal brines and sludges. The new technology satisfies environmental regulatory requirements and concurrently converts the geothermal brines and sludges into commercially promising products. Because the chemical composition of geothermal wastes depends on the type of the resource and therefore differs, the emerging technology has to be also flexible so that it can be readily modified to suit the needs of a particular type of resource. Recent conceptional designs for the processing of hypersaline and low salinity brines and sludges will be discussed.

More than 170 wet scrubber systems applied, to 72,000 MW of U.S., coal-fired, utility boilers are in operation or under construction. In these systems, the sulfur dioxide removed from the boiler flue gas is permanently bound to a sorbent material, such as lime or limestone. The sulfated sorbent must be disposed of as a waste product or, in some cases, sold as a byproduct (e.g. gypsum). Due to the abundance and low cost of naturally occurring gypsum, and the costs associated with producing an industrial quality product, less than 7% of these scrubbers are configured to produce usable gypsum (and only 1% of all units actually sell the byproduct). The disposal of solid waste from each of these scrubbers requires a landfill area of approximately 200 to 400 acres. In the U.S., a total of 19 million tons of disposable FGD byproduct are produced, transported and disposed of in landfills annually. The use of regenerable sorbent technologies has the potential to reduce or eliminate solid waste production, transportation and disposal. In a regenerable sorbent system, the sulfur dioxide in the boiler flue gas is removed by the sorbent in an adsorber. The S0{sub 2}s subsequently released, in higher concentration, in …

A model-based flotation control scheme is being implemented to achieve optimal performance in the handling and treatment of fine coal. The control scheme monitors flotation performance through on- line analysis of ash content. Then, based on the economic and metallurgical performance of the circuit, variables such as reagent dosage, pulp density and pulp level are adjusted using model-base control algorithms to compensate for feed variations and other process disturbances. Recent developments in sensor technology are being applied for on-line determination of slurry ash content. During the fifth quarter of this project, all work was on hold pending the final novation of the contract to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

A model-based flotation control scheme is being implemented to achieve optimal performance in the handling and treatment of fine coal. The control scheme monitors flotation performance through on-line analysis of ash content. Then, based on the economic and metallurgical performance of the circuit, variables such as reagent dosage, pulp density and pulp level are adjusted using model-based control algorithms to compensate for feed variations and other process disturbances. Recent developments in sensor technology are being applied for on-line determination of slurry ash content. During the fourth quarter of this project, a final attempt was made to calibrate a video-based ash analyzer for use in this application. It was concluded that the low ash content and the coarse particle size of the flotation tailings slurry at the Maple Meadow plant site made the video-based system unsuitable for this application. Plans are now underway to lease a nuclear-based analyzer as the primary sensor for this project.

The Oak Ridge Centers for Manufacturing Technology (ORCMT) and Apeiron Incorporated have collaborated on an effort to develop a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) fiber lidar system for dimensional metrology of internal threads, gears, and splines. The purpose of this effort was to assist a small company in developing an instrument that would exceed the performance of competing foreign instruments and provide measurement capabilities necessary to assure compliance for NASA facilities and other industrial facilities. The two parties collaborated on design, assembly, and bench testing of the prototype instrument. The prototype system was targeted to have the capability of profiling internally machined gears and threads to an accuracy of less than a micron.

The performance, economics and technical feasibility of heavy duty combustion turbine power systems incorporating two advanced power generation schemes have been estimated to assess the potential merits of these advanced technologies. The advanced technologies considered were: Thermochemical Recuperation (TCR), and Partial Oxidation (PO). The performance and economics of these advanced cycles are compared to conventional combustion turbine Simple-Cycles and Combined-Cycles. The objectives of the Westinghouse evaluation were to: (1) simulate TCR and PO power plant cycles, (2) evaluate TCR and PO cycle options and assess their performance potential and cost potential compared to conventional technologies, (3) identify the required modifications to the combustion turbine and the conventional power cycle components to utilize the TCR and PO technologies, (4) assess the technical feasibility of the TCR and PO cycles, (5) identify what development activities are required to bring the TCR and PO technologies to commercial readiness. Both advanced technologies involve the preprocessing of the turbine fuel to generate a low-thermal-value fuel gas, and neither technology requires advances in basic turbine technologies (e.g., combustion, airfoil materials, airfoil cooling). In TCR, the turbine fuel is reformed to a hydrogen-rich fuel gas by catalytic contact with steam, or with flue gas (steam and carbon …

This report summarizes work performed under contract No. DE-FC07-94ID13283, {open_quotes}Advanced Power Conversion Based on the Aerocapacitors{trademark}.{close_quotes} Under this contract high power density, high energy density, organic electrolyte Aerocapacitors{trademark} were developed and characterized for power conversion applications. Pilot facilities for manufacturing prototype AA-size Aerocapacitors{trademark} were put in place. The low ESR and good frequency response of these devices show that they are ideal components for high discharge rate and low to moderate frequency (< 10 kHz) applications such as power conversion.

The main objective of this project to develop high-efficiency CdTe solar cells based on processing conditions favorable for manufacturing processes. This report presents the results on work performed during the first phase of this project. One of the major issues addressed is the use of soda-lime glass substrates in place of the borosilicate glass often used for laboratory devices; another task is the preparation of Cu(In, Ga) Se{sub 2} solar cells by selenizing suitable precursor films. Emphasis is placed on processing and how different reaction schemes affect device performance. It was found that different reaction schemes not only change the bulk properties of Cu(In, Ga) Se{sub 2}, but also its surface properties, which critically affect device performance. Although the objective is to optimize processing to meet the manufacturing constraints, work has not been limited within these requirements.

The Buena Vista Hills field is located about 25 miles southwest of Bakersfield, in Kern County, California, about two miles north of the city of Taft, and five miles south of the Elk Hills field. The Antelope Shale zone was discovered at the Buena Vista Hills field in 1952, and has since been under primary production. Little research was done to improve the completion techniques during the development phase in the 1950s, so most of the wells are completed with about 1000 ft of slotted liner. The proposed pilot consists of four existing producers on 20 acre spacing with a new 10 acre infill well drilled as the pilot CO{sub 2} injector. Most of the reservoir characterization of the first phase of the project will be performed using data collected in the pilot pattern wells. This is the first annual report of the project. It covers the period February 12, 1996 to February 11, 1997. During this period the Chevron Murvale 653Z-26B well was drilled in Section 26-T31S/R23E in the Buena Vista Hills field, Kern County, California. The Monterey Formation equivalent Brown and Antelope Shales were continuously cored, the zone was logged with several different kinds of wireline logs, and …

This report covers the progress made on the title project for the project period. The study of coal chemical structure is a vital component of research efforts to develop better chemical utilization of coals, and for furthering our basic understanding of coal geochemistry. In this grant we are addressing several structural questions pertaining to coals with advances in state of the art solids NMR methods. Our goals are twofold. First, we are interested in developing new methods that will enable us to measure important structural parameters in whole coals not directly accessible by other techniques. In parallel with these efforts we will apply these NMR methods in a study of the chemical differences between gas-sourcing and oil-sourcing coals. The NMR methods work will specifically focus on determination of the number and types of methylene groups, determination of the number and types of methane groups, identification of carbons adjacent to nitrogen and sites with exchangeable protons, and methods to more finely characterize the distribution of hydrogen in coals. The motivation for investigating these specific structural features of coals arises from their relevance to the chemical reactivity of coals, and their suitability for possible correlations with the oil sourcing potential of some …

Objective was to develop an improved thermal barrier coating with increased temperature capability and improved reliability relative to current state of the art. Development of such a coating is essential to the ATS engine (gas turbine). Phase II is currently under way: bond coat development, analytical lifing model, manufacturing process development, NDE/maintenance/maintenance, new TBC concepts.

Objectives of this program are to provide an improved thermal barrier coating system with improved reliability and temperature capability. This report describes the manufacturing, bonding, and deposition process.