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The oxidation in air of high-purity Al foil was studied as a function of temperature using Thermogravimetric Analysis with Differential Scanning Calorimetry (TGA/DSC). The rate and/or extent of oxidation was found to be a non-linear function of the temperature. Between 650 and 750 %C2%B0C very little oxidation took place; at 850 %C2%B0C oxidation occurred after an induction period, while at 950 %C2%B0C oxidation occurred without an induction period. At oxidation temperatures between 1050 and 1150 %C2%B0C rapid passivation of the surface of the aluminum foil occurred, while at 1250 %C2%B0C and above, an initial rapid mass increase was observed, followed by a more gradual increase in mass. The initial rapid increase was accompanied by a significant exotherm. Cross-sections of oxidized specimens were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM); the observed alumina skin thicknesses correlated qualitatively with the observed mass increases.

The primary goal of this collaborative proposal was to modify the code QuickPIC and apply it to study the long-time stability of beam propagation in low density electron clouds present in circular accelerators. The UCLA contribution to this collaborative proposal was in supporting the development of the pipelining scheme for the QuickPIC code, which extended the parallel scaling of this code by two orders of magnitude.

Elucidating the in situ metabolic activity of phylogenetically diverse populations of sulfate-reducing microorganisms that populate anoxic sedimentary environments is key to understanding subsurface ecology. Previous pure culture studies have demonstrated that transcript abundance of dissimilatory (bi)sulfite reductase genes is correlated with the sulfate reducing activity of individual cells. To evaluate whether expression of these genes was diagnostic for subsurface communities, dissimilatory (bi)sulfite reductase gene transcript abundance in phylogenetically distinct sulfate-reducing populations was quantified during a field experiment in which acetate was added to uranium-contaminated groundwater. Analysis of dsrAB sequences prior to the addition of acetate indicated that Desulfobacteraceae, Desulfobulbaceae, and Syntrophaceae-related sulfate reducers were the most abundant. Quantifying dsrB transcripts of the individual populations suggested that Desulfobacteraceae initially had higher dsrB transcripts per cell than Desulfobulbaceae or Syntrophaceae populations, and that the activity of Desulfobacteraceae increased further when the metabolism of dissimilatory metal reducers competing for the added acetate declined. In contrast, dsrB transcript abundance in Desulfobulbaceae and Syntrophaceae remained relatively constant, suggesting a lack of stimulation by added acetate. The indication of higher sulfate-reducing activity in the Desulfobacteraceae was consistent with the finding that Desulfobacteraceae became the predominant component of the sulfate-reducing community. Discontinuing acetate additions resulted in a …

This computational work investigates planetary gear load sharing of three-mount suspension wind turbine gearboxes. A three dimensional multibody dynamic model is established, including gravity, bending moments, fluctuating mesh stiffness, nonlinear tooth contact, and bearing clearance. A flexible main shaft, planetary carrier, housing, and gear shafts are modeled using reduced degrees-of-freedom through modal compensation. This drivetrain model is validated against the experimental data of Gearbox Reliability Collaborative for gearbox internal loads. Planet load sharing is a combined effect of gravity, bending moment, bearing clearance, and input torque. Influences of each of these parameters and their combined effects on the resulting planet load sharing are investigated. Bending moments and gravity induce fundamental excitations in the rotating carrier frame, which can increase gearbox internal loads and disturb load sharing. Clearance in carrier bearings reduces the bearing load carrying capacity and thus the bending moment from the rotor can be transmitted into gear meshes. With bearing clearance, the bending moment can cause tooth micropitting and can induce planet bearing fatigue, leading to reduced gearbox life. Planet bearings are susceptible to skidding at low input torque.

ADEPT Project: There is a constant demand for better performing, more compact, lighter weight, and lower cost electronic devices. Unfortunately, the materials traditionally used to make components for electronic devices have reached their limits. Case Western is developing capacitors made of new materials that could be used to produce the next generation of compact and efficient high-powered consumer electronics and electronic vehicles. A capacitor is an important component of an electronic device. It stores an electric charge and then discharges it into an electrical circuit in the device. Case Western is creating its capacitors from titanium, an abundant material extracted from ore which can be found in the U.S. Case Western's capacitors store electric charges on the surfaces of films, which are grown on a titanium alloy electrode that is formed as a spinal column with attached branches. The new material and spine design make the capacitor smaller and lighter than traditional capacitors, and they enable the component to store 300% more energy than capacitors of the same weight made of tantalum, the current industry standard. Case Western's titanium-alloy capacitors also spontaneously self-repair, which prolongs their life.

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The upgrade of the LHC collimation system expects installation of additional collimators in the dispersion suppressor areas around the LHC ring. The longitudinal space for the collimators could be provided by replacing some 8.33 T Nb-Ti LHC main dipoles with shorter 11 T Nb/sub 3/Sn dipoles compatible with the LHC lattice and main systems. To demonstrate this possibility FNAL and CERN have started a joint program with the goal of building a 5.5 m long twin-aperture dipole prototype suitable for installation in the LHC. The first step of this program is the development of a 2 m long single-aperture demonstrator dipole with the nominal field of 11 T at the LHC nominal current of 11.85 kA and 60 mm bore with ~20% margin. This paper describes the design, construction and test results of the first single-aperture Nb/sub 3/Sn demonstrator dipole model.

This report summarizes the seismic deployment of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Geotech GS-13 short-period seismometers at the Newberry Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) Demonstration site located in Central Oregon. This Department of Energy (DOE) demonstration project is managed by AltaRock Energy Inc. AltaRock Energy had previously deployed Geospace GS-11D geophones at the Newberry EGS Demonstration site, however the quality of the seismic data was somewhat low. The purpose of the LLNL deployment was to install more sensitive sensors which would record higher quality seismic data for use in future seismic studies, such as ambient noise correlation, matched field processing earthquake detection studies, and general EGS microearthquake studies. For the LLNL deployment, seven three-component seismic stations were installed around the proposed AltaRock Energy stimulation well. The LLNL seismic sensors were connected to AltaRock Energy Gueralp CMG-DM24 digitizers, which are powered by AltaRock Energy solar panels and batteries. The deployment took four days in two phases. In phase I, the sites were identified, a cavity approximately 3 feet deep was dug and a flat concrete pad oriented to true North was made for each site. In phase II, we installed three single component GS-13 seismometers at each site, quality controlled the data …

This report summarizes the results of the Information Barrier Working Group workshop held at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, NM, February 2-4, 1999. This workshop was convened to establish the functional requirements associated with warhead radiation signature information barriers, to identify the major design elements of any such system or approach, and to identify a design basis for each of these major elements. Such information forms the general design basis to be used in designing, fabricating, and evaluating the complete integrated systems developed for specific purposes.

The report summarizes research to Quantify the Value of Hydropower in the Electric Grid. This 3-year DOE study focused on defining value of hydropower assets in a changing electric grid. Methods are described for valuation and planning of pumped storage and conventional hydropower. The project team conducted plant case studies, electric system modeling, market analysis, cost data gathering, and evaluations of operating strategies and constraints. Five other reports detailing these research results are available a project website, www.epri.com/hydrogrid. With increasing deployment of wind and solar renewable generation, many owners, operators, and developers of hydropower have recognized the opportunity to provide more flexibility and ancillary services to the electric grid. To quantify value of services, this study focused on the Western Electric Coordinating Council region. A security-constrained, unit commitment and economic dispatch model was used to quantify the role of hydropower for several future energy scenarios up to 2020. This hourly production simulation considered transmission requirements to deliver energy, including future expansion plans. Both energy and ancillary service values were considered. Addressing specifically the quantification of pumped storage value, no single value stream dominated predicted plant contributions in various energy futures. Modeling confirmed that service value depends greatly on location and …

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The objective of this task was to determine whether ductile iron and compacted graphite iron exhibit age strengthening to a statistically significant extent. Further, this effort identified the mechanism by which gray iron age strengthens and the mechanism by which age-strengthening improves the machinability of gray cast iron. These results were then used to determine whether age strengthening improves the machinability of ductile iron and compacted graphite iron alloys in order to develop a predictive model of alloy factor effects on age strengthening. The results of this work will lead to reduced section sizes, and corresponding weight and energy savings. Improved machinability will reduce scrap and enhance casting marketability. Technical Conclusions: • Age strengthening was demonstrated to occur in gray iron ductile iron and compacted graphite iron. • Machinability was demonstrated to be improved by age strengthening when free ferrite was present in the microstructure, but not in a fully pearlitic microstructure. • Age strengthening only occurs when there is residual nitrogen in solid solution in the Ferrite, whether the ferrite is free ferrite or the ferrite lamellae within pearlite. • Age strengthening can be accelerated by Mn at about 0.5% in excess of the Mn/S balance Estimated energy savings …

In an effort to better understand the impacts of high penetrations of photovoltaic generators on distribution systems, Arizona Public Service and its partners have begun work on a multi-year project to develop the tools and knowledge base needed to safely and reliably integrate high penetrations of utility- and residential-scale photovoltaics (PV). Building upon the APS Community Power Project -- Flagstaff Pilot, this project will analyze the impact of PV on a representative feeder in northeast Flagstaff. To quantify and catalog the effects of the estimated 1.3 MW of PV that will be installed on the feeder (both smaller units at homes as well as large, centrally located systems), high-speed weather and electrical data acquisition systems and digital 'smart' meters are being designed and installed to facilitate monitoring and to build and validate comprehensive, high-resolution models of the distribution system. These models will be used to analyze the impacts of the PV on distribution circuit protection systems (including anti-islanding), predict voltage regulation and phase balance issues, and develop volt/var control schemes. This paper continues from a paper presented at the 2011 IEEE PVSC conference that introduces the project and describes some of the preliminary consideration, as well as project plans and …

The purpose of this document is to compile information regarding experimental design, facility design, construction, radionuclide source preparation, and path forward for the ten year Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) Radionuclide Field Lysimeter Experiment at the Savannah River Site (SRS). This is a collaborative effort by researchers at SRNL and Clemson University. The scientific objectives of this study are to: Study long-term radionuclide transport under conditions more representative of vadose zone conditions than laboratory experiments; Provide more realistic quantification of radionuclide transport and geochemistry in the vadose zone, providing better information pertinent to radioactive waste storage solutions than presently exists; Reduce uncertainty and improve justification for geochemical models such as those used in performance assessments and composite analyses.

A new method is presented for solving Poisson's equation inside an open-ended rectangular pipe. The method uses Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs)to perform mixed convolutions and correlations of the charge density with the Green function. Descriptions are provided for algorithms based on theordinary Green function and for an integrated Green function (IGF). Due to its similarity to the widely used Hockney algorithm for solving Poisson'sequation in free space, this capability can be easily implemented in many existing particle-in-cell beam dynamics codes.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been tasked with evaluating the effectiveness of ORNL’s new hybrid transport code, ADVANTG, on scenarios of interest to our NA-22 sponsor, specifically of detection of diversion of special nuclear material (SNM). PNNL staff have determined that acquisition and installation of ADVANTG was relatively straightforward for a code in its phase of development, but probably not yet sufficient for mass distribution to the general user. PNNL staff also determined that with little effort, ADVANTG generated weight windows that typically worked for the problems and generated results consistent with MCNP. With slightly greater effort of choosing a finer mesh around detectors or sample reaction tally regions, the figure of merit (FOM) could be further improved in most cases. This does take some limited knowledge of deterministic transport methods. The FOM could also be increased by limiting the energy range for a tally to the energy region of greatest interest. It was then found that an MCNP run with the full energy range for the tally showed improved statistics in the region used for the ADVANTG run. The specific case of interest chosen by the sponsor is the CIPN project from Las Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), which …

The continuous monitoring of the transverse sizes of the beams in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) relies on the use of synchrotron radiation and intensified video cameras. Depending on the beam energy, different synchrotron light sources must be used. A dedicated superconducting undulator has been built for low beam energies (450 GeV to 1.5 TeV), while edge and centre radiation from a beam-separation dipole magnet are used respectively for intermediate and high energies (up to 7 TeV). The emitted visible photons are collected using a retractable mirror, which sends the light into an optical system adapted for acquisition using intensified CCD cameras. This paper presents the design of the imaging system, and compares the expected light intensity with measurements and the calculated spatial resolution with a cross calibration performed with the wire scanners. Upgrades and future plans are also discussed.

In November 2012, the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (JISEA) released a new report, 'Natural Gas and the Transformation of the U.S. Energy Sector: Electricity.' The study provides a new methodological approach to estimate natural gas related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, tracks trends in regulatory and voluntary industry practices, and explores various electricity futures. The Executive Summary provides key findings, insights, data, and figures from this major study.

This document is a user s guide for the IDL software REFoffSpec version 1.5.4 whose purpose is to aggregate for analysis NeXus data files from the magnetism and liquids reflectometer experiments at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Spallation Neutron Source. The software is used to scale and align multiple data files that constitute a continuous set for an experimental run. The User s Guide for REFoffSepc explains step by step the process using a specific example run. Output screens are provided to orient the user at each step. The guide documents in detail changes made to the original REFoffSpec code during the period November 2009 and January 2011. At the time of the completion of this version of the code it was accessible from the sns_tools interface as a beta version.

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