• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.8
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• pp.3450-3462
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• 2024

This paper presents a computational framework for drop time assessment of a control element assembly (CEA) under fuel assembly (FA) deformations. The proposed framework consists of three key components: 1) finite element modeling of CEA, 2) fluid-structure interaction to compute drag force, and 3) modeling of frictional contact between CEA and FA. Specially, to accommodate the large motion of CEA, beam elements based on absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) are adopted. The continuity equation is utilized to calculate the drag force, considering flow changes in the cross-sectional area during the CEA drop. Lastly, beam-inside-beam frictional contact model is employed to capture practical contact conditions between CEA and FA. The proposed framework is validated through experiments under two scenarios: free falls of CEA within FA, encompassing undeformed and deformed scenarios. The experimental validation of the framework demonstrated that the drop time of CEA can be accurately predicted under the complex coupling effects of fluid and frictional contact. The drop times of the S-shaped deformation case is longer than those of the C-shaped deformation case, affirming the time delay due to frictional force. The validation confirms the potential applicability to access the safety and reliability of nuclear power plants under extreme conditions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.1540-1555
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• 2021

The plate-type fuel assembly adopted in nuclear research reactor suffers from complicated effect induced by non-uniform irradiation, which might affect its stress conditions, mechanical behavior and thermal-hydraulic performance. A reliable numerical method is of great importance to reveal the complex evolution of mechanical deformation, flow redistribution and temperature field for the plate-type fuel assembly under non-uniform irradiation. This paper is the first part of a two-part study developing the numerical methodology for the thermal-fluid-structure coupling behaviors of plate-type fuel assembly under irradiation. In this paper, the thermal-fluid-structure coupling methodology has been developed for plate-type fuel assembly under non-uniform irradiation condition by exchanging thermal-hydraulic and mechanical deformation parameters between Finite Element Model (FEM) software and Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) software with Mesh-based parallel Code Coupling Interface (MpCCI), which has been validated with experimental results. Based on the established methodology, the effects of non-uniform irradiation and fluid were discussed, which demonstrated that the maximum mechanical deformation with irradiation was dozens of times larger than that without irradiation and the hydraulic load on fuel plates due to differential pressure played a dominant role in the mechanical deformation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.1556-1568
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• 2021

The plate-type fuel assembly adopted in nuclear research reactor suffers from complicated effect induced by non-uniform irradiation, which might affect stress conditions, mechanical behaviors and thermal-hydraulic performance of the fuel assembly. This paper is the Part II work of a two-part study devoted to analyzing the complex unique mechanical deformation and thermal-hydraulic characteristics for the typical plate-type fuel assembly under irradiation effect, which is on the basis of developed and verified numerical thermal-fluid-structure coupling methodology under irradiation in Part I of this work. The mechanical deformation, thermal-hydraulic performance and Mises stress have been analyzed for the typical plate-type fuel assembly consisting of support plates under non-uniform irradiation. It was interesting to observe that: the plate-type fuel assembly including the fuel plates and support plates tended to bend towards the location with maximum fission rate; the hot spots in the fuel foil appeared at the location with maximum thickness increment; the maximum Mises stress of fuel foil was located at the adjacent location with the maximum plate thickness increment et al.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.58-68
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• 2009

With the rapid development of computer hardware and invention of various game-related technologies, the quality of games has been greatly improved and the genres of games have been diversified. Yet, in comparison, puzzle games have held to the past simple way of games, which has only led to a depression of the puzzle game market. This paper is the first attempt to overcome limits of the current puzzle games, by finding a breakthrough in three-dimensional puzzle games. In order to describe a realistic puzzle assembly in a three-dimensional puzzle game, this paper aimed to design a structure assembly technique made up of three steps that used a proper process to handle structure suitable to assembly, an elaborate way of collisions between individual objects and a physical structure. Through this technique, we intend to show in a simple experiment that it is possible to minimize the calculation cost in the assembly process and at the same time to achieve an elaborate puzzle assembly between structures.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.315-325
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• 2017

The design dimension may not be satisfactory at the final stage due to the welding during the assembly stage, leading to cutting or adding the components in large structure constructions. The productivity is depend on accuracy of the welding quality especially at assembly stage. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to decide the component dimension during each assembly stage considering the above situations during the designing stage by exactly predicting welding deformation before the welding is done. Further, if the system that predicts whether welding deformation is equipped, it is possible to take measures to reduce deformation through FE analysis, helping in saving time for correcting work by arresting the parts which are prone to having welding deformation. For the FE analysis to predict the deformation of a large steel structure, calculation time, modeling, constraints in each assembly stage and critical welding length have to be considered. In case of fillet welding deformation, around 300 mm is sufficient as a critical welding length of the specimen as proposed by the existing researches. However, the critical length in case of butt welding is around 1000 mm, which is far longer than that suggested in the existing researches. For the external constraint, which occurs as the geometry of structure is changed according to the assembly stage, constraint factor is drawn from the elastic FE analysis and test results, and the magnitude of equivalent force according to constraint is decided. The comparison study for the elastic FE analysis result and measurement for the large steel structure based on the above results reveals that the analysis results are in the range of 80-118% against measurement values, both matching each other well. Further, the deformation of fillet welding in the main plate among the total block occupies 66-89%, making welding deformation in the main plate far larger than the welding deformation in the longitudinal and transverse girders.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• v.43
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• pp.67-69
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• 2004

The fuel assemblies as the nuclear fuel for the pressurized water reactor(PWR) are loaded in the reactor core throughout the residence time of three to five years. The spacer grid assembly, which is an interconnected array of slotted grid straps and is welded at the intersections to form an egg crate structure, is one of the main structural components of the fuel assembly. The spacer grid assembly is structurally required to have enough buckling strength under various kinds of lateral load acting on the fuel assembly so as to keep the fuel assembly straight. To meet the requirement, integrity on the spacer grid welding parts should be carefully checked. In this study, welding quality of the spacer grid assembly welded by several welding companies are examined and compared.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.344-347
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• 2000

In this paper, a redesign of computer case is proposed by applying some guide lines of assembly and disassembly to an existing computer case. Some problems such as increase of number of disassembly and vibration, difficult assembly and disassembly from unfittable covers are recognized through analysis of geometrical structure and practical assembly and disassembly. A solution of these problems is proposed through ideas of ease of assembly and disassembly. Design for Environment Software is used to evaluate both redesigned and existing products. Time of assembly and disassembly and MET-point are especially calculated by the software, and these data give us a good guide for analysis of ease of assembly, ease of disassembly and environmental influence in both products.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.42-44
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• 2006

A spacer grid assembly, which is an interconnected array of slotted grid straps and is welded at the intersections to form an egg crate structure, is one of the main structural components of the nuclear fuel assembly for pressurized water reactors(PWRs). The spacer grid assembly is structurally required to have enough buckling strength under various kinds of lateral loads acting on the nuclear fuel assembly so as to keep the nuclear fuel assembly straight. To meet this requirement, it is necessary to weld the welding parts carefully and precisely. In this study, a series of welding tests were carried out to find an optimum welding condition. After examining and analyzing the specimens welded from the welding conditions, a recommendable laser welding condition was selected for the KAERI designed Zircaloy spacer grid assembly.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.109-111
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• 2005

Nuclear fuel assemblies for pressurized water reactors(PWR) are loaded in the reactor core throughout the residence time of three to five years. A spacer grid assembly, which is an interconnected array of slotted grid straps and is welded at the intersections to form an egg crate structure, is one of the main structural components of the nuclear fuel assembly. The spacer grid assembly is structurally required to have enough buckling strength under various kinds of lateral loads acting on the nuclear fuel assembly so as to keep the nuclear fuel assembly straight. To meet this requirement, it is necessary to weld the welding parts carefully and precisely. In this study, laser welding qualities of the spacer grid assembly welded by several welding companies, such as weld strength, weld penetration depth, and weld bead size, are examined and compared.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.2 s.257
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• pp.260-268
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• 2007

Demand for the use of 3D CAD DMU systems over the Internet environment has been increased. However, transmission of commercial 3D kernels has delayed the communication effectiveness due to the kernel size. Light weight CAD geometric kernel design methodology is required for rapid transmission in the distributed environment. In this paper, an assembly data structure suitable for the top-down and bottom-up assembly models has been constructed. Part features are stored without a hierarchy so that they are created and saved in no particular order. In particular, this paper proposes a new assembly representation model, called multi-level assembly representation (MAR), for the PDM based assembly DMU system. Since the geometric kernel retains assembly hierarchy and topological information, it is applied to the web-viewer for the PDM based DMU system. Effectiveness of the proposed geometric kernel is confirmed through various case studies.