The A2 LITE is a 2 liter, 2000 MPa, 750 K ultra-high pressure (UHP) vessel used to demonstrate UHP technology and to provide an air flow for wind tunnel nozzle development. It is the largest volume UHP vessel in the world. The design is based on a 100:1 pressure intensification using a hydraulic ram as a low pressure driver and a three-layer compound cylinder UHP section. Active control of the 900 mm piston stroke in the 63.5 mm bore permits pressure-time profiles ranging from static to constant pressure during flow through a 1 mm throat diameter nozzle for 1 second.

The corrosion resistance of Alloy 22 (UNS No.: N06022) was studied in 5 M CaCl{sub 2} electrolyte at various temperatures. Potentiodynamic polarization was used to examine the electrochemical behavior and measure the key potentials. Alloy 22 was found to be susceptible to localized corrosion in this high chloride [10M Cl{sup -}] environment at temperatures as low as 6O C.

We have performed a series of experiments examining shock propagation in low density aerogels. High-pressure ({approx}100 kbar) shock waves are produced by detonating high explosives. Radiography is used to obtain a time sequence imaging of the shocks as they enter and traverse the aerogel. We compress the aerogel by impinging shocks waves on either one or both sides of an aerogel slab. The shock wave initially transmitted to the aerogel is very narrow and flat, but disperses and curves as it propagates. Optical images of the shock front reveal the initial formation of a hot dense region that cools and evolves into a well-defined microstructure. Structures observed in the shock front are examined in the framework of hydrodynamic instabilities generated as the shock traverses the low-density aerogel. The primary features of shock propagation are compared to simulations, which also include modeling the detonation of the high explosive, with a 2-D Arbitrary Lagrange Eulerian hydrodynamics code The code includes a detailed thermochemical equation of state and rate law kinetics. We will present an analysis of the data from the time resolved imaging diagnostics and form a consistent picture of the shock transmission, propagation and instability structure.

Recent work has shown that the damage resistance of both ICF-class (1600 cm') DKDP tripler crystals and SiO{sub 2} components (lenses, gratings and debris shields) benefits from laser raster scanning using pulsed lasers in the 350 nm range. For laser raster scanning to be a viable optical improvement tool for these large optics, damage improvement must be optimized while maintaining scan times of less than 8 hours/optic. In this paper we examine raster scanning with small beams from tabletop laser systems. We show that 120 Watts of average power is required for a tabletop scanning system at one optic/day. Next, we develop equations for total scan time for square and round top hat beams and round and rectangular Gaussian beams. We also consider the effect of packing geometry (square vs. hexagonal), examine the deviations from uniform coverage with each scan geometry and show that hexagonal packing yields lower scan times but is less efficient in coverage than square geometry. We also show that multiple passes at low packing densities are temporally equivalent to a single pass with higher packing density, and discuss the advantages of each method. In addition, we show that the differences between hexagonal and square scan geometries …

This paper provides extensions of an element agglomeration AMG method to nonlinear elliptic problems discretized by the finite element method on general unstructured meshes. The method constructs coarse discretization spaces and corresponding coarse nonlinear operators as well as their Jacobians. We introduce both standard (fairly quasi-uniformly coarsened) and non-standard (coarsened away) coarse meshes and respective finite element spaces. We use both kind of spaces in FAS type coarse subspace correction (or Schwarz) algorithms. Their performance is illustrated on a number of model problems. The coarsened away spaces seem to perform better than the standard spaces for problems with nonlinearities in the principal part of the elliptic operator.

Alloy 22 (UNS N06022) is a candidate material for the external wall of the high level nuclear waste containers for the potential repository site at Yucca Mountain. In the mill-annealed (MA) condition, Alloy 22 is a single face centered cubic phase. When exposed to temperatures on the order of 600 C and above for times higher than 1 h, this alloy may develop secondary phases that reduce its mechanical toughness and corrosion resistance. The objective of this work was to age Alloy 22 at temperatures between 482 C and 760 C for times between 0.25 h and 6,000 h and to study the mechanical and corrosion performance of the resulting material. Aging was carried out using wrought specimens as well as gas tungsten arc welded (GTAW) specimens. Mechanical and corrosion testing was carried out using ASTM standards. Results show-that the higher the aging temperature and the longer the aging time, the lower the impact toughness of the aged material and the lower its corrosion resistance. However, extrapolating both mechanical and corrosion laboratory data predicts that Alloy 22 will remain corrosion resistant and mechanically robust for the projected lifetime of the waste container.

In its current design, the high level nuclear waste containers will include an external layer of Alloy 22 (Ni-22Cr-13Mo-3W-3Fe). Since over their life-time the containers may be exposed to multi-ionic aqueous environments, a potential degradation mode of the outer layer could be environmental assisted cracking (EAC). The objective of the current research work was to quantify the susceptibility of Alloy 22 to EAC in a several environmental conditions including solution composition, temperature and electrochemical potential. The susceptibility to EAC was evaluated using the constant deformation technique, the compact specimen--low cycle fatigue method and the slow strain rate test (SSRT). The alloy was tested in the wrought mill annealed (MA) and in the as-welded conditions. Results show that Alloy 22 was extremely resistant to EAC in a wide range of environmental conditions. Using SSRT, Alloy 22 was found susceptible to EAC in one electrolyte at one temperature and at one electrochemical potential.

Optical design capabilities continue to play the same strong role at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) that they have played in the past. From defense applications to the solid-state laser programs to the Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation (AVLIS), members of the optical design group played critical roles in producing effective system designs and are actively continuing this tradition. This talk will explain the role optical design plays at LLNL, outline current capabilities and summarize a few activities in which the optical design team has been recently participating.

Patient positioning accuracy remains an issue for external beam radiotherapy. Currently, kilovoltage verification images are used as reference by clinicians to compare the actual patient treatment position with the planned position. These images are qualitatively different from treatment-time megavoltage portal images. This study will investigate the feasibility of using PEREGRINE, a 3D Monte Carlo calculation engine, to create reference images for portal image comparisons. Portal images were acquired using an amorphous-silicon flat-panel EPID for (1) the head and pelvic sections of an anthropomorphic phantom with 7-8 mm displacements applied, and (2) a prostate patient on five treatment days. Planning CT scans were used to generate simulated reference images with PEREGRINE. A correlation algorithm quantified the setup deviations between simulated and portal images. Monte Carlo simulated images exhibit similar qualities to portal images, the phantom slabs appear clearly. Initial positioning differences and applied displacements were detected and quantified. We find that images simulated with Monte Carlo methods can be used as reference images to detect and quantify set-up errors during treatment.

The prescription of the initial conditions and the final conditions for a thermal accident for Type B packages are different for differing regulations. This paper presents an analytical method for estimating the effect of the boundary conditions on post-fire peak internal package temperatures. Results are given for several boundary conditions for a Type B drum-type package.

In its current design, the high-level nuclear waste containers include an external layer of Alloy 22 (Ni-22Cr-13Mo-3W-3Fe). Since over their lifetime, the containers may be exposed to multi-ionic aqueous environments, a potential degradation mode of the outer layer could be environmentally assisted cracking (EAC). The objective of the current research was to characterize the effect of applied potential and temperature on the susceptibility of Alloy 22 to EAC in simulated concentrated water (SCW) using the slow strain rate test (SSRT). Results show that Alloy 22 may suffer EAC at applied potentials approximately 400 mV more anodic than the corrosion potential (E{sub corr}).

An ultrasonic technique was developed to detect and characterize laser damage in critical optics. During normal usage, sub critical flaws induced by high laser fluence can grow to critical size and potentially can cause unanticipated failure of the optics. This ultrasonic technique monitors the optic in situ and provides a quick, reliable way to quantify the location, number and, ultimately, the size of defects that may initiate and grow during firing of the laser. The feasibility of detecting and sizing laser-induced damage with an ultrasonic technology was theoretically and experimentally demonstrated. An experiment was conducted whereby ultrasonic data was acquired in situ on an optic as it was damaged by a laser. This monitoring of laser induced damage clearly demonstrated the potential for ultrasonic monitoring of critical optics for laser-induced damage.

In this paper we present the results of bulk damage experiments done on Type-I1 DKDP triple harmonic generator crystals that were raster conditioned with 351-355 nm wavelengths and pulse durations of 4 and 23.2 ns. In the first phase of experiments 20 different scan protocols were rastered into a sample of rapid growth DKDP. The sample was then rastered at damage-causing fluences to determine the three most effective protocols. These three protocols were scanned into a 15-cm sample of conventional-growth DKDP and then exposed to single shots of a I-cm beam from LLNL's Optical Sciences Laser at fluences ranging from 0.5 - 1.5X of the 10% damage probability fluence and nominal pulse durations of 0.1,0.3,0.8,3.2,7.0 and 20 ns. The experiment showed that pulse durations in the 1-3 ns range were much more effective at conditioning than pulses in the 16.3 ns range and that the multiple pass 'peak fluence' scan was more effective than the single pass 'leading edge' scan for 23.2 ns XeF scans.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is an enzyme-based chemical reaction that manufactures copies of one or more identifying regions of double-stranded DNA sequences (target sequences). These copies of target DNA are known as ''amplicons''. By creating millions of these copies of the identifying sequences (when they are present!), PCR allows researchers to detect by them, and hence the presence of the relevant organism, with techniques such as electrophoresis, flow cytometry, or spectrometry. Although there are numerous commercial PCR instruments that are designed for bench-top use in a laboratory, the challenges of building a battery-powered instrument that could perform such assays in the field.

Turbulent hydrodynamic mixing induced by the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) and Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instabilities occurs in settings as varied as exploding stars (supernovae), inertial confinement fusion (ICF) capsule implosions, and macroscopic flows on fluid dynamics facilities such as shock tubes. We have developed a quantitative description of turbulence from the onset to the asymptotic end-state. Our treatment, based on a combined approach of theory, direct numerical simulation (DNS), and experimental data analysis, has broad generality. We will report two key areas in our progress. First, we have developed a robust, easy to apply criteria for the mixing transition in a time-dependent flow. This allows an assessment of whether flows, be they from supernova explosions or ICF experiments, should be turbulent or not. Second, we inspect the structure, scaling and spectra of the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) and Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instabilities induced flows.

Average nuclear level densities close to the nuclear binding energy in {sup 56}Fe and {sup 57}Fe are extracted from primary {gamma}-ray spectra. Thermal properties of {sup 56}Fe are studied within the statistical canonical ensemble. The experimental heat capacity is compared with the theoretical heat capacity calculated within the shell model Monte Carlo approach.

At atmospheric pressure plutonium metal exhibits six crystal structures upon heating from room temperature to its melting point of 913 K. Among these phases, the {delta}-Pu has received a significant interest in the metallurgical community because of its high ductility that makes it easy to machine and form. The pure Pu {delta} phase is stable at elevated temperatures, between 593 K and 736 K, however a small amount of so-called {delta} stabilizer, for example, Al, Ga, Zn, Cd, Zr, SC, Am, Ce, In, or Tl can help to retain {delta}-Pu down to ambient temperature. In recent papers we proposed that {delta}-Pu is a disordered magnet that becomes unstable below about 600 K due to the antiferromagnetic (AF) ordering followed by a mechanical instability of the FCC phase. In this paper we study the effect of alloying on the magnetic properties of {delta}-Pu and the stability of the FCC phase. There were several recent attempts to calculate electronic structure of Pu-based alloys. Becker et al. [3-5] have performed all electron full potential linear muffin-tin orbitals (FPLMTO) calculations of the electronic structure of Pu compounds (Pu{sub 3}X) with group-IIIB metals (X = Al, Ga, In and Tl). It is well known [6] …

Plasmas in edge regions of tokamaks can be very optically thick to hydrogen lines. Strong line radiation introduces a non-local coupling between different regions of the plasma and can significantly affect the ionization and energy balance. These effects can be very important, but they are not included in current edge plasma simulations. We report here on progress in self-consistently including the effects of a magnetic field, line radiation and plasma transport in modeling tokamak edge plasmas.

To advance the state of the art in science and technology communication to the public a conference was held March 6-8, 2002 at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD. This report of the conference proceedings includes a summary statement by the conference steering committee, transcripts or other text summarizing the remarks of conference speakers, and abstracts for 48 "best practice" communications programs selected by the steering committee through an open competition and a formal peer review process. Additional information about the 48 best practice programs is available on the archival conference Web site at www.nist.gov/bestpractices.

Recently, a method for evaluating the fracture toughness of ceramics has been proposed based on the computed crack-opening displacements of cracks emanating from Vickers hardness indentations. In order to verify this method, experiments were carried out to determine the toughness of a commercial silicon carbide ceramic, Hexaloy SA, by measuring the crack-opening profiles of such Vickers indentation cracks. While the obtained toughness value of Ko = 2.3 MPavm was within 10% of that measured using conventional fracture toughness testing, the computed crack-opening profiles corresponding to this toughness displayed poor agreement with those measured experimentally, raising concerns about the suitability of this method for determining the toughness of ceramics. The effects of subsurface cracking and cracking during loading are considered as possible causes of such discrepancies, with the former based on evidence observed for secondary radial cracking which affected the crack opening profile and deduced toughness values.

The quantitative estimation of changes in water saturation (S{sub W}) and effective pressure (P), in terms of changes in compressional and shear impedance, is becoming routine in the interpretations of time-lapse surface seismic data. However, when the number of reservoir constituents increases to include in situ gas and injected CO{sub 2}, there are too many parameters to be determined from seismic velocities or impedances alone. In such situations, the incorporation of electromagnetic (EM) images showing the change in electrical conductivity ({sigma}) provides essential independent information. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate a methodology for jointly interpreting crosswell seismic and EM data, in conjunction with detailed constitutive relations between geophysical and reservoir parameters, to quantitatively predict changes in P, S{sub W}, CO{sub 2} gas saturation (S{sub CO2}), CO{sub 2} gas/oil ratio (R{sub CO{sub 2}}), hydrocarbon gas saturation (S{sub g}), and hydrocarbon gas/oil ration (R{sub g}) in a reservoir undergoing CO{sub 2} flood.

The interaction between a polymer segment and an oil-water interface is represented by an asymmetric square-well potential where the well-depth on one side reflects water-polymer and the well depth on the other side reflects oil-polymer interactions. The polymer is represented by a Gaussian chain. The polymer's density distribution is calculated along a coordinate perpendicular to the interface. Results are obtained as a function of the well width, the well depth and its asymmetry and, most important, the polymer's length. For a symmetric well, the distribution shows a strong maximum at the interface provided that the polymer is sufficiently long. For an asymmetric well, the polymer is also strongly adsorbed at the interface provided that the polymer is sufficiently long and provided that the larger well-depth does not exceed a critical value that depends on the smaller well-depth. The calculations are in substantial agreement with experimental results that indicate nearly irreversible adsorption of long-chain molecules at an oil-water interface.

The calculations presented compare the performance of two Monte Carlo codes used for the estimation of microdosimetric quantities: Positive Ion Track Structure code (PITS) [1-3] and a main user-code based on the PENetration and Energy LOss of Positrons and Electrons code (PENELOPE-2000)[4,5]. Event by event track-structure codes like PITS are considered superior for microdosimetric applications and they are written for this purpose. PITS tracks electrons in water down to 10 eV. PENELOPE is one of the few, among widely available general purpose codes, that can simulate random electron-photon showers in any material for energies from 100eV to 1GeV.

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