The changes in hydrogen bonding at the interface of silica-reinforced polysiloxane composites due to aging in gamma radiation environments were examined in this study. Solvent swelling was utilized to determine the individual contributions of the matrix polymer and polymer-filler interactions to the overall crosslink density. The results show how the polymer-filler hydrogen bonding dominates the overall crosslink density of the material. Air irradiated samples displayed decreased hydrogen bonding at the polymer-filler interface, while vacuum irradiation revealed the opposite effect.

An important application of seismic and acoustic unattended ground sensors (UGS) is the estimation of the three dimensional position of an emitting target. Seismic and acoustic data derived from UGS systems provide the taw information to determine these locations, but can be processed and analyzed in a number of ways using varying amounts of auxiliary information. Processing methods to improve arrival time picking for continuous wave sources and methods for determining and defining the seismic velocity model are the primary variables affecting the localization accuracy. Results using field data collected from an underground facility have shown that using an iterative time picking technique significantly improves the accuracy of the resulting derived target location. Other processing techniques show little advantage over simple crosscorrelation along in terms of accuracy, but may improve the ease with which time picks can be made. An average velocity model found through passive listening or a velocity model determined from a calibration source near the target source both result in similar location accuracies, although the use of station correction severely increases the location error.

The author discusses two variations on the completeness theme in atomic modeling: missing lines as they affect the performance of spectral synthesis codes, and missing configurations as they affect the theoretical emissivities of bright lines, with emphasis on the latter. It is shown that the detrimental effects of working with incomplete atomic models can overshadow those brought about by working with less-than-perfect atomic rates. Atomic models can be brought up to an acceptable level of completeness in a fairly straightforward manner, and on a reasonably short timescale, whereas the long-term goal of comprehensive accuracy is unlikely to be reached on the timescale of the current generation of X-ray observatories. A near-term, albeit imperfect, solution is to hybridize atomic models used to synthesize spectra. A hybrid atomic model is one for which a large-scale atomic model, in which completeness is achieved at the expense of accuracy, is augmented with more accurate atomic quantities as they become available.

The rapid advancement of computational capability including speed and memory size has prompted the wide use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes to simulate complex flow systems. CFD simulations are used to study the operating problems encountered in system, to evaluate the impacts of operation/design parameters on the performance of a system, and to investigate novel design concepts. CFD codes are generally developed based on the conservation laws of mass, momentum, and energy that govern the characteristics of a flow. The governing equations are simplified and discretized for a selected computational grid system. Numerical methods are selected to simplify and calculate approximate flow properties. For turbulent, reacting, and multiphase flow systems the complex processes relating to these aspects of the flow, i.e., turbulent diffusion, combustion kinetics, interfacial drag and heat and mass transfer, etc., are described in mathematical models, based on a combination of fundamental physics and empirical data, that are incorporated into the code. CFD simulation has been applied to a large variety of practical and industrial scale flow systems.

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Fundamental metallurgical aspects of axial splitting in irradiated Zircaloy cladding have been investigated by microstructural characterization and analytical modeling, with emphasis on application of the results to understand high-burnup fuel failure under RIA situations. Optical microscopy, SEM, and TEM were conducted on BWR and PWR fuel cladding tubes that were irradiated to fluence levels of 3.3 x 10{sup 21} n cm{sup {minus}2} to 5.9 x 10{sup 21} n cm{sup {minus}2} (E > 1 MeV) and tested in hot cell at 292--325 C in Ar. The morphology, distribution, and habit planes of macroscopic and microscopic hydrides in as-irradiated and posttest cladding were determined by stereo-TEM. The type and magnitude of the residual stress produced in association with oxide-layer growth and dense hydride precipitation, and several synergistic factors that strongly influence axial-splitting behavior were analyzed. The results of the microstructural characterization and stress analyses were then correlated with axial-splitting behavior of high-burnup PWR cladding reported for simulated-RIA conditions. The effects of key test procedures and their implications for the interpretation of RIA test results are discussed.

The author begins by discussing the history of nuclear power development in the US. He discusses the challenges for nuclear power such as the proliferation of weapons material, waste management, economics, and safety. He then discusses the future for nuclear power, specifically advanced reactor development. People can all be thankful for nuclear power, for it may well be essential to the long term survival of civilization. Within the seeds of its potential for great good, are also the seeds for great harm. People must ensure that it is applied for great good. What is not in question is whether people can live without it, they cannot. United States leadership is crucial in determining how this technology is developed and applied. The size and capability of the United States technical community is decreasing, a trend that cannot be allowed to continue. It is the author's belief that in the future, the need, the vision and the confidence in nuclear power will be restored, but only if the US addresses the immediate challenges. It is a national challenge worthy of the best people this nation has to offer.

Radiation damping and quantum excitation in an electron storage ring with a laser-electron interaction region are analyzed. Two interesting regimes and their perspectives to the generation of intense x-rays and low-emittance electron beams are investigated. In the first regime, a high-average-power laser beam inside a high-finesse resonator intersects with the electron beam every pass to produce very intense, hard x-rays. Although the transverse laser cooling effect is still weak compared with the normal synchrotron radiation damping, the increased energy spread induced by the Compton scattering stabilizes the electron beam against intrabeam scattering in a compact, low-energy ring. In the second regime, a high-peak-power laser pulse confined in the optical resonator is proposed to cool the electron beam transversely for the generation of low-emittance electron beams. The authors consider some basic optical system and storage ring requirements and discuss potential demonstration experiments at the existing accelerator facilities.

Thin-film and bulk [001] tilt bicrystal grain boundaries (GBs) in YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7} exhibit a strong dependence of critical current density, J{sub c} on misorientation angle. What was initially difficult to understand was the 30x smaller J{sub c} in bulk GBs which are microscopically more perfect. The authors review an explanation of this zero-field data, which is based on the pinning of Josephson vortices by the meandering found in thin-film GBs. In addition, there is evidence that J{sub c} of GBs does not drop as quickly with applied magnetic field as expected by simple Josephson junction models. The long-wavelength pinning potential due to meandering is less effective at high fields, but Gurevich and Cooley (GC) proposed a new mechanism for an enhanced GB J{sub c} arising from pinned Abrikosov vortices in the banks of a GB which present a static, quasiperiodic pinning potential to pin GB vortices. They find a peak in J{sub c} and an unusual hysteresis which give considerable support to the GC concept. In low fields, the GBs exhibit a larger J{sub c} for field cooling, which is opposite to the usual hysteresis but agrees with GC due to the larger Abrikosov vortex density in the …

This report summarizes results of an analysis of hydride-related degradation of commercial spent-nuclear-fuel cladding under repository conditions. Based on applicable laboratory data on critical stress intensity obtained under isothermal conditions, occurrence of delayed hydride cracking from the inner-diameter side of cladding is concluded to be extremely unlikely. The key process for potential initiation of delayed hydride cracking at the outer-diameter side is long-term microstructural evolution near the localized regions of concentrated hydrides, i.e., nucleation, growth, and cracking of hydride blisters. Such locally concentrated hydrides are, however, limited to some high-burnup cladding only, and the potential for crack initiation and propagation at the outer-diameter side is expected to be insignificant for most spent fuels. Some degree of hydride reorientation could occur in high-burnup spent-fuel cladding. However, even if hydride reorientation occurs, accompanying stress-rupture failure in spent-fuel cladding is unlikely to occur.

The Young's modulus, hardness, and fracture toughness of barium titanate dielectric ceramics in three commercially available multilayer capacitors (MLCs) were measured in-situ using indentation and a mechanical properties microprobe. The three MLCs were equivalent in size (0805), capacitance (0.1 uF) and dielectric type (X7R). The Young's modulus and hardness of the dielectric ceramics in the three MLCs were similar, while there were statistically significant differences in their fracture toughnesses. The results provide insight into the assessment of MLC mechanical reliability, and show that equivalent electrical MLC rating is not necessarily a guarantee that the dielectric ceramics in them will exhibit equivalent mechanical performance.

Many scientific applications have large I/O requirements, in terms of both the size of data and the number of files or data sets. Management, storage, efficient access, and analysis of this data present an extremely challenging task. Traditionally, two different solutions are used for this problem: file I/O or databases. File I/O can provide high performance but is tedious to use with large numbers of files and large and complex data sets. Databases can be convenient, exible, and powerful but do not perform and scale well for parallel supercomputing applications. The authors have developed a software system, called Scientific Data Manager (SDM), that combines the good features of both file I/O and databases. SDM provides a thin layer of database-like functionality on top of a high-performance, parallel file-I/O interface (MPI-IO). As a result, users can access data with the convenience of databases and the performance of MPI-IO, without having to bother with the details of either. In t his paper, they describe the design and implementation of SDM. With the help of two parallel application templates, ASTRO3D and an Euler solver, they illustrate how some of the design criteria affect performance.

Front-end sampling or preconcentration is an important analytical technique and will be crucial to the success of many microanalytical detector systems. This paper describes a microfabricated planar preconcentrator ideal for integration with microanalytical systems. The device incorporates a surfactant templated sol gel adsorbent layer deposited on a microhotplate to achieve efficient analyte collection, and rapid, efficient thermal desorption. Concentration factors of 100--500 for dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP) have been achieved with this device, while selectivities to interfering compounds greater than a factor of 25 have been demonstrated. Device performance will be compared with conventional preconcentrators, and the effects of system flow rate, flow channel geometry and collection time will be presented. A physical model of adsorption/desorption from the device will be reviewed and compared with experiment, while numerical simulation of flow over the device will be described.

A key materials issue associated with the future of high-temperature structural silicides is the resistance of these materials to oxidation at low temperatures. Oxidation tests were conducted on Mo-based silicides over a wide temperature range to evaluate the effects of alloy composition and temperature on the protective scaling characteristics and testing regime for the materials. The study included Mo{sub 5}Si{sub 3} alloys that contained several concentrations of B. In addition, oxidation characteristics of MoSi{sub 2}-Si{sub 3}N{sub 4} composites that contained 20--80 vol.% Si{sub 3}N{sub 4} were evaluated at 500--1,400 C.

Vanadium-base alloys are being considered as candidates for the first wall in advanced V-Li blanket concepts in fusion reactor systems. However, a primary deterrent to the use of these alloys at elevated temperatures is their relatively high affinity for interstitial impurities, i.e., O, N, H, and C. The authors conducted a systematic study to determine the effects of time, temperature, and oxygen partial pressure (pO{sub 2}) in the exposure environment on O uptake, scaling kinetics, and scale microstructure in V-(4--5) wt.% Cr-(4--5) wt.% Ti alloys. Oxidation experiments were conducted on the alloys at pO{sub 2} in the range of 5 x 10{sup {minus}6}-760 torr (6.6 x 10{sup {minus}4}-1 x 10{sup 5} Pa) at several temperatures in the range of 350--700 C. Models that describe the oxidation kinetics, oxide type and thickness, alloy grain size, and depth of O diffusion in the substrate of the two alloys were determined and compared. Weight change data were correlated with time by a parabolic relationship. The parabolic rate constant was calculated for various exposure conditions and the temperature dependence of the constant was described by an Arrhenius relationship. The results showed that the activation energy for the oxidation process is fairly constant at pO{sub …

A systematic study is underway at Argonne National Laboratory to evaluate the mechanical properties of several V-Cr-Ti alloys after exposure to environments containing hydrogen at various partial pressures. The goal is to correlate the chemistry of the exposure environment with hydrogen uptake by the samples and with the resulting influence on microstructures and tensile properties of the alloys. Other variables examined are specimen cooling rate and synergistic effects, if any, of oxygen and hydrogen on tensile behavior of the alloys. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of pH{sub 2} in the range of 3 x 10{sup {minus}6} and 1 torr on tensile properties of two V-Cr-Ti alloys. Up to pH{sub 2} of 0.05 torr, negligible effect of H was observed on either maximum engineering stress or uniform and total elongation. However, uniform and total elongation decreased substantially when the alloys were exposed at 500 C to 1.0 torr of H{sub 2} pressure. Preliminary data from sequential exposures of the materials to low-pO{sub 2} and several low-pH{sub 2} environments did not reveal adverse effects on the maximum engineering stress or on uniform and total elongation when the alloy contained {approx} 2,000 wppm O and 16 wppm H. Furthermore, tests in …

This paper will describe an algorithm for detecting and classifying seismic and acoustic signals for unattended ground sensors. The algorithm must be computationally efficient and continuously process a data stream in order to establish whether or not a desired signal has changed state (turned-on or off). The paper will focus on describing a Fourier based technique that compares the running power spectral density estimate of the data to a predetermined signature in order to determine if the desired signal has changed state. How to establish the signature and the detection thresholds will be discussed as well as the theoretical statistics of the algorithm for the Gaussian noise case with results from simulated data. Actual seismic data results will also be discussed along with techniques used to reduce false alarms due to the inherent nonstationary noise environments found with actual data.

A computational analysis of the combined effects of feed oil injection parameters in a commercial-scale fluidized catalytic cracking riser reactor was performed using a three-phase, multiple species kinetic cracking computer code. The analysis showed that the injection operating parameters (droplet diameter and injection velocity) had strong impacts on the gasoline yields of the FCC unit. A spray injection Reynolds number combining the two parameters was defined. A correlation between the spray injection Reynolds number and the gasoline product yields for various feed injection conditions was developed. A range of spray injection Reynolds number for the maximum gasoline yield was identified.

This paper characterizes the homotopy properties and the global topology of the space of positions of vehicles which are constrained to travel without intersecting on a network of paths. The space is determined by the number of vehicles and the network. Paths in the space correspond to simultaneous non-intersecting motions of all vehicles. The authors therefore focus on computing the homotopy type of the space, and show how to do so in the general case. Understanding the homotopy type of the space is the central issue in controlling the vehicles, as it gives a complete description of the distinct ways that vehicles may move safely on the network. The authors exhibit graphs, products of graphs, and amalgamations of products of graphs that are homotopy equivalent to the full configuration space, and are far simpler than might be expected. The results indicate how a control system for such a network of vehicles (such as a fleet of automatically guided vehicles guided by wires buried in a factory floor) may be implemented.

The Multivariate State Estimation Technique (MSET) has been developed at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and applied for real time surveillance applications for the purposes of signal validation, sensor operability validation, equipment health monitoring, incipient component fault annunciation, and process anomaly identification. Although MSET was originally developed for applications in the commercial nuclear industry, it has recently been spun off for applications in fields such as aerospace, manufacturing, transportation, robotics, and ship propulsion. Notwithstanding these types of successful applications of MSET in industry, it is necessary for safety-critical and mission-critical applications of MSET to have reliability analysis methods, including a propagation-of-uncertainty tool, which is needed to support safety evaluations in a variety of industries, and technical-specification-change requests in the case of the nuclear industry. For these and related applications, a general purpose uncertainty analysis tool for MSET has been developed that uses Monte Carlo simulation with Latin Hypercube Sampling. For any new application of MSET, the uncertainty analysis tool developed here may be used to investigate quantitative propagation-of-uncertainty behavior for all sensors under surveillance. In addition to supporting safety analysis of surveillance systems that are based on MSET, the tool developed here can be employed in parametric studies to support system …

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