The Quality of Science and Engineering at the NNSA National Security Laboratories (2013)
Chapter: Appendix C: Topics Discussed at Laboratory Meetings
C
Topics Discussed at Laboratory Meetings
TOPICS DISCUSSED AT LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY
• Materials at extreme conditions
— Condensed matter
— Materials activities
• Radiation transport
• High energy density science
— Warm dense matter
— Dense plasmas
• Materials physics and chemistry and engineering issues
• Computation, computer science, modeling and simulation
— Current codes
▪ Current physics and algorithms
— Verification and validation approaches and results
— Career issues
▪ Early career and post-docs
▪ Students
— New physics under development for production
— New algorithms under development for production
— Computing requirements and out year plans
TOPICS DISCUSSED AT SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES
• Radiation effects and high energy density science
• Materials science, and nanodevices and microsystems
• Engineering sciences, and computer and information science
• Major facilities for nuclear weapons research
• MESA, Z-Pinch and environmental test facilities
• Weapons engineering and product realization
• Systems engineering and stockpile modernization overview
• Plutonium aging
• Weapons aging – annual assessment
• Advanced systems and the 120 day study
• LDRD program overview: LDRD impact on NW mission
• Weapons engineering and product realization
• Computation, computer science, modeling and simulation
— Impact of advanced computing at Sandia on national security
— Sandia’s vision and strategy for computing science
— Production software and computer science research
— Verification, validation and uncertainty quantification
— Early career staff and post-docs
— Computer and information sciences/materials sciences, engineering science
— Physical models for research to impact
• Poster session topics
— Exploring formal verification methodology for FPGA-based digital systems
— New coatings for MEMS-based sensors for enhanced surveillance
— Nonresonant broadband funneling of light via ultrasubwavelength channels
— Use of limited data to construct Bayesian networks for probabilistic risk assessment
— Richtymer-Meshkov instabilities in cylindrical and planar geometries on Z
— Using magnetic fields to create and control high energy density matter
— Development of ab initio techniques critical for science-based explosives research and development
TOPICS DISCUSSED AT LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY
• Materials physics and chemistry, and engineering issues
• Materials at extreme conditions
— Condensed matter
— Materials activities
• High energy density science
— Warm dense matter
— Dense plasmas
• Radiation hydrodynamics
• Weapon design topics
— Life extension programs
— Improvised nuclear devices assessment
— Nuclear weapons leadership
— Internal metrics and quality
— Connections to basic science
— PMP, PVS, Safety Suite, and Advanced Simulation and Computing
— National Boost Initiative
— Workforce issues
▪ Special topics for junior designers
• Computation, computer science, modeling and simulation
— Mod/sim overview
— Design codes
— Science codes
— Verification and validation
— Requirements/plans
— Design codes
▪ Verification and validation
— Science codes
— Advanced algorithms, advanced architectures
— Post-docs and early career S&Es
• Poster session topics
— Optical temperature diagnostics for flames and detonation events
— A new approach in dynamic compression equation of state
— Measurements utilizing transparent crystals
— Small-scale experiments for predicting and validating thermal explosion phenomena
— Development of a many-body semi-empirical local basis set approach for materials under extreme conditions
— How shocks change the hydrodynamic mixing of inertial confinement fusion capsules
— HYDRA simulations of recent collisionless shock
— Experiments performed on OMEGA
— Measuring the 239Pu(n,f)/235U(n,f) cross section ratio with the NIFFTE time projection chamber
— Measuring the alpha to spontaneous fission decay
— Branching ration of 252Cf with a time projection chamber
— Direct numerical simulations of structure and transport in dense plasmas
