The spatial and temporal origin of a seismic energy source are estimated with a first grid search technique. This approach has greater likelihood of finding the global rninirnum of the arrival time misiit function compared with conventional linearized iterative methods. Assumption of a homogeneous and isotropic seismic velocity model allows for extremely rapid computation of predicted arrival times, but probably limits application of the method to certain geologic environments and/or recording geometries. Contour plots of the arrival time misfit function in the vicinity of the global minimum are extremely useful for (i) quantizing the uncertainty of an estimated hypocenter solution and (ii) analyzing the resolving power of a given recording configuration. In particular, simultaneous inversion of both P-wave and S-wave arrival times appears to yield a superior solution in the sense of being more precisely localized in space and time. Future research with this algorithm may involve (i) investigating the utility of nonuniform residual weighting schemes, (ii) incorporating linear and/or layered velocity models into the calculation of predicted arrival times, and (iii) applying it toward rational design of microseismic monitoring networks.

For improving the control of small arms, technology provides many possibilities. Present and future technical means are described in several areas. With the help of sensors deployed on the ground or on board aircraft, larger areas can be monitored. Using tags, seals, and locks, important objects and installations can be safeguarded better. With modern data processing and communication systems, more information can be available, and it can be more speedily processed. Together with navigation and transport equipment, action can be taken faster and at greater range. Particular considerations are presented for cargo control at roads, seaports, and airports, for monitoring designated lines, and for the control of legal arms. By starting at a modest level, costs can be kept low, which would aid developing countries. From the menu of technologies available, systems need to be designed for the intended application and with an understanding of the local conditions. It is recommended that states start with short-term steps, such as acquiring more and better radio transceivers, vehicles, small aircraft, and personal computers. For the medium term, states should begin with experiments and field testing of technologies such as tags, sensors, and digital communication equipment.

This research program is concerned with the development of a new form of feeder, known as the Stamet Posimetric O High Pressure Solids Feeder, to feed dry granular solids continuously and controllably into gas pressure. The device is a rotary mechanical feeder, which utilizes the interlocking and internal friction of the granular solids to drive the solids through into the outlet pressure in a continuous and controllable way, using a continuous solids material seal on the feeder outlet to control gas leakage. Earlier work sponsored under previous SBIR grants has successfully demonstrated the potential benefits of the Stamet machine over pressurized lock hopper or paste feeder methods. The objective of this project was to demonstrate proof of principal to feed and meter specified granular coal into 450 psig gas pressure for use with next generation pressurized fluidized bed combustors. This report encompasses the development of material transport properties testers, methods to predict feeder performance by calculation, and the modification and testing of Stamet feeders to feed the material supplied into pressure. Testers were made to measure material compressibility, bulk density, both internal and wall friction coefficients, and permeability under typical conditions experienced inside a Stamet high pressure feeder. This data …

The 1999 HU CFRT Summer Fusion High School Workshop was conducted for eight weeks in the summer of 1999. The report is on this workshop.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) has embraced mobile wireless technology to help the disposition of hazardous and mixed radiological waste. The following paper describes one application the INEEL developed to increase the data accuracy and near-real time reporting requirements for waste management. With the continuous operational demands at the "site", it was difficult to sustain an accurate, up-to-date database required for regulatory compliance audits and reporting. Incorporating wireless mobile technology, the INEEL was able to increase the accuracy while reducing the data delay times previously encountered. Installation issues prolonged the project along with obstacles encountered with operations personnel. However, the success of this project was found in persistence and management support as well as the technology itself. Future wireless, mobile computing will continue at the INEEL for years to come based on a successful project that was able to integrate new technology to an existing waste management system with proven, increased data accuracy.

One of the important phenomena that thermal-hydraulic codes such as RELAP5 must accurately calculate is heat transfer between a fluid and solid. Currently all thermal-hydraulic safety codes use the finite-difference technique to solve the transient conduction equation. This paper will examine the effect of different nodalization strategies on the accuracy of the finite-difference solution of a transient conduction problem with one convective boundary condition and no internal heat generation. The paper concludes with recommendations for choosing an appropriate nodalization scheme for modeling conduction in a wall without internal heat generation.

Electron cyclotron emission (ECE) has been employed as a standard electron temperature profile diagnostic on many tokamaks and stellarators, but most magnetically confined plasma devices cannot take advantage of standard ECE diagnostics to measure temperature. They are either overdense, operating at high density relative to the magnetic field (e.g. {omega}{sub pe} >> {Omega}{sub ce} in a spherical torus) or they have insufficient density and temperature to reach the blackbody condition ({tau} > 2). Electron Bernstein waves (EBWs) are electrostatic waves which can propagate in overdense plasmas and have a high optical thickness at the electron cyclotron resonance layers, as a result of their large K{sub i}. This talk reports on measurements of EBW emission on the CDX-U spherical torus, where B{sub 0} {approx} 2 kG, <n{sub e}> {approx} 10{sup 13} cm{sup -3} and T{sub e} {approx} 10 - 200 eV. Results will be presented for both direct detection of EBWs and for mode-converted EBW emission. The EBW emission was absolutely calibrated and compared to the electron temperature profile measured by a multi-point Thomson scattering diagnostic. Depending on the plasma conditions, the mode-converted EBW radiation temperature was found to be {le} T{sub e} and the emission source was determined to be …

There are two sources of the factorial large-order behavior of a typical perturbative series. First, the number of the different Feynman diagrams may be large; second, there are abnormally large diagrams known as renormalons. It is well known that the large combinatorial number of diagrams is described by instanton-type solutions of the classical equations. The authors demonstrate that from the function-integral viewpoint the renormalons do not correspond to a particular configuration but manifest themselves as dilatation modes in the functional space.

This paper describes image evaluation techniques used to standardize camera system characterizations. Key areas of performance include resolution, noise, and sensitivity. This team has developed a set of analysis tools, in the form of image processing software used to evaluate camera calibration data, to aid an experimenter in measuring a set of camera performance metrics. These performance metrics identify capabilities and limitations of the camera system, while establishing a means for comparing camera systems. Analysis software is used to evaluate digital camera images recorded with charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras. Several types of intensified camera systems are used in the high-speed imaging field. Electro-optical components are used to provide precise shuttering or optical gain for a camera system. These components including microchannel plate or proximity focused diode image intensifiers, electro-static image tubes, or electron-bombarded CCDs affect system performance. It is important to quantify camera system performance in order to qualify a system as meeting experimental requirements. The camera evaluation tool is designed to provide side-by-side camera comparison and system modeling information.

The U. S. Department of Energy Strategic Petroleum Reserve currently has approximately 500 million barrels of crude oil stored in 62 caverns solution-mined in salt domes along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Texas. One of the challenges of operating these caverns is ensuring that none of the fluids in the caverns are leaking into the environment. The current approach is to test the mechanical integrity of all the wells entering each cavern approximately once every five years. An alternative approach to detecting cavern leaks is to monitor the cavern pressure, since leaking fluid would act to reduce cavern pressure. Leak detection by pressure monitoring is complicated by other factors that influence cavern pressure, the most important of which are thermal expansion and contraction of the fluids in the cavern as they come into thermal equilibrium with the host salt, and cavern volume reduction due to salt creep. Cavern pressure is also influenced by cavern enlargement resulting from salt dissolution following introduction of raw water or unsaturated brine into the cavern. However, this effect only lasts for a month or two following a fluid injection. In order to implement a cavern pressure monitoring program, a software program called CaveMan has …

This is the fourth quarterly report on a new study to develop a ceramic membrane/metal joint. The first experiments using the La-Sr-Fe-O ceramic are reported. Some of the analysis performed on the samples obtained are commented upon. A set of experiments to characterize the mechanical strength and thermal fatigue properties of the joints has been designed and begun. Finite element models of joints used to model residual stresses are described.

A mechanical isolator has been developed for a piezoresistive accelerometer. The purpose of the isolator is to mitigate high frequency shocks before they reach the accelerometer because the high frequency shocks may cause the accelerometer to resonate. Since the accelerometer is undamped, it often breaks when it resonates. The mechanical isolator was developed in response to impact test requirements for a variety of structures at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). An Extended Technical Assistance Program (ETAP) with the accelerometer manufacturer has resulted in a commercial mechanically isolated accelerometer that is available to the general public, the ENDEVCO 7270AM6*, for three shock acceleration ranges of 6,000 g, 20,000 g, and 60,000 g. The in-axis response shown in this report has acceptable frequency domain performance from DC to 10 kHz and 10(XO)over a temperature range of {minus}65 F to +185 F. Comparisons with other isolated accelerometers show that the ENDEVCO 7270AM6 has ten times the bandwidth of any other commercial isolator. ENDEVCO 7270AM6 cross-axis response is shown in this report.

Magnetic resonance is the most powerful analytical tool used by chemists today. Its applications range from determining structures of large biomolecules to imaging of human brains. Nevertheless, magnetic resonance remains a relatively young field, in which many techniques are currently being developed that have broad applications. In this dissertation, two new techniques are presented, one that enables the determination of torsion angles in solid-state peptides and proteins, and another that involves imaging of heterogenous materials at ultra-low magnetic fields. In addition, structural studies of the prion protein via solid-state NMR are described. More specifically, work is presented in which the dependence of chemical shifts on local molecular structure is used to predict chemical shift tensors in solid-state peptides with theoretical ab initio surfaces. These predictions are then used to determine the backbone dihedral angles in peptides. This method utilizes the theoretical chemicalshift tensors and experimentally determined chemical-shift anisotropies (CSAs) to predict the backbone and side chain torsion angles in alanine, leucine, and valine residues. Additionally, structural studies of prion protein fragments are described in which conformationally-dependent chemical-shift measurements were made to gain insight into the structural differences between the various conformational states of the prion protein. These studies are of …

Increased environmental regulations will require utility boilers to reduce NO{sub x} emissions to less than 0.15lb/MMBtu in the near term. Conventional technologies such as Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) and Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) are unable to achieve these lowered emission levels without substantially higher costs and major operating problems. Oxygen enhanced combustion is a novel technology that allows utilities to meet the NO{sub x} emission requirements without the operational problems that occur with SCR and SNCR. Furthermore, oxygen enhanced combustion can achieve these NO{sub x} limits at costs lower than conventional technologies. The objective of this program is to demonstrate the use of oxygen enhanced combustion as a technical and economical method of meeting the EPA State Implementation Plan for NO{sub x} reduction to less than 0.15lb/MMBtu for a wide range of boilers and coal. The oxygen enhanced coal combustion program (Task 1) focused this quarter on the specific objective of exploration of the impact of oxygen enrichment on NO{sub x} formation utilizing small-scale combustors for parametric testing. Research efforts toward understanding any limitations to the applicability of the technology to different burners and fuels such as different types of coal are underway. The objective of the oxygen transport membrane …

The decay constants of B and D mesons are computed in quenched lattice QCD at two different values of the coupling. The action and operators are ? (a) improved with non-perturbative coefficients where available. The results and systematic errors are discussed in detail. Results for vector decay constants, flavour symmetry breaking ratios of decay constants, the pseudoscalar-vector mass splitting and D meson masses are also presented.

Subcooled flow boiling in heated coolant channels is an important heat transfer enhancement technique in the development of fusion reactor components, where high heat fluxes must be accommodated. As energy fluxes increase in magnitude, additional emphasis must be devoted to enhancing techniques such as sub cooling and enhanced surfaces. In addition to subcooling, other high heat flux alternatives such as high velocity helium and liquid metal cooling have been considered as serious contenders. Each technique has its advantages and disadvantages [1], which must be weighed as to reliability and reduced cost of fusion reactor components. Previous studies [2] have set the stage for the present work, which will concentrate on fundamental thermal hydraulic issues associated with the h-international Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and the Engineering Design Activity (EDA). This proposed work is intended to increase our understanding of high heat flux removal alternatives as well as our present capabilities by: (1) including single-side heating effects in models for local predictions of heat transfer and critical heat flux; (2) inspection of the US, Japanese, and other possible data sources for single-side heating, with the aim of exploring possible correlations for both CHF and local heat transfer; and (3) assessing the viability …

The physical phenomenon of forced convective boiling is probably one of the most interesting and complex transport phenomena. It has been under study for more than two centuries. Simply stated, forced convective subcooled boiling involves a locally boiling fluid: (1) whose mean temperature is below its saturation temperature, and (2) that flows over a surface exposed uniformly or non-uniformly to a high heat flux (HHF). The objective of this work is to assess and/or improve the present ability to predict local axial heat transfer distributions in the subcooled flow boiling regime for the case of uniformly heated coolant channels. This requires an accurate and complete representation of the boiling curve up to the CHF. The present. results will be useful for both heat transfer research and industrial design applications. Future refinements may result in the application of the results to non-uniformly heated channels or other geometries, and other fluids. Several existing heat transfer models for uniformly heated channels were examined for: (1) accurate representation of the boiling curve, and (2) characterizing the local heat transfer coefficient under high heat flux (HHF) conditions. Comparisons with HHF data showed that major correlation modifications were needed in the subcooled partial nucleate boiling (SPNB) …

For the past decade, efforts have been growing in the development of high heat flux (HHF) components for many applications, including fusion and fission reactor components, advanced electronic components, synchrotrons and optical components, and other advanced HHF engineering applications. From a thermal prospective, work in the fusion reactor development arena has been underway in a number of areas including: (1) Plasma thermal, and electro-magnetics, and particle transport, (2) Fusion material, rheology, development, and expansion and selection; (3) High heat flux removal; and (4) Energy production and efficiency.

The Thermal Science Research Center (TSRC) at Prairie View A&M University is involved in an international fusion reactor technology development program aimed at demonstrating the technical feasibility of magnetic fusion energy. This report highlights: (1) Recent accomplishments and pinpoints thermal hydraulic problem areas of immediate concern to the development of plasma-facing components, and (2) Next generation thermal hydraulic problems which must be addressed to insure safety and reliability in component operation. More specifically, the near-term thermal hydraulic problem entails: (1) generating an appropriate data base to insure the development of single-side heat flux correlations, and (2) evaluating previously developed single-side/uniform heated transformations and correlations to determine which can be used to relate the vast two-phase heat transfer and critical heat flux (CHF) technical literature for uniformly heated flow channels to single-side heated channels.

Thermoelectric generators (TEG) are a well-established technology for compact low power output long-life applications. Solid state TEGs are the technology of choice for many space missions and have also been used in remote earth-based applications. Since TEGs have no moving parts and can be hermetically sealed, there is the potential for nuclear reactor power systems using TEGs to be safe, reliable and resistant to proliferation. Such power units would be constructed in a manner that would provide decades of maintenance-free operation, thereby minimizing the possibility of compromising the system during routine maintenance operations. It should be possible to construct an efficient direct energy conversion cascade from an appropriate combination of solid-state thermoelectric generators, with each stage in the cascade optimized for a particular range of temperature. Performance of cascaded thermoelectric devices could be further enhanced by exploitation of compositionally graded p-n couples, as well as radial elements to maximize utilization of the heat flux. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena has recently reported segmented unicouples that operate between 300 and 975 K and have conversion efficiencies of 15 percent [Caillat, 2000]. TEGs are used in nuclear-fueled power sources for space exploration, in power sources for the military, and in electrical …

The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is in the midst of a massive upgrade program to enhance experimental facilities. The reactor presently has four horizontal experimental beam tubes, all of which will be replaced or redesigned. The HB-2 beam tube will be enlarged to support more guide tubes, while the HB-4 beam tube will soon include a cold neutron source.

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Wavelet analysis is natural tool to detect the presence of numerical noise, shocks and other features which might drive a calculation to become unstable. Here we suggest ways where wavelets can be used effectively to define a dissipation flag to replace dissipation flags traditionally used in ALE numerical schemes.

A novel, continuous melting process is being used to manufacture meter-sized plates of laser glass at a rate 20-times faster, 5-times cheaper, and with 2-3 times better optical quality than with previous one-at-a-time, ''discontinuous'' technology processes. This new technology for manufacturing laser glass, which is arguably the most difficult continuously-melted optical material ever produced, comes as a result of a $60 million, six-year joint R&D program between government and industry. The glasses manufactured by the new continuous melting process are Nd-doped phosphate-based glasses and are marketed under the product names LG-770 (Schott Glass Technologies) and LHG-8 (Hoya Corporation USA). With this advance in glass manufacturing technology, it is now possible to construct high-energy, high-peak-power lasers for use in fusion energy development, national defense, and basic physics research that would have been impractical to build using the old melting technology. The development of continuously melted laser glass required technological advances that have lead to improvements in the manufacture of other optical glass products as well. For example, advances in forming, annealing, and conditioning steps of the laser glass continuous melting process are now being used in manufacture of other large-size optical glasses.