• 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.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.247-253
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• 2018

Temperature rise due to viscous shear of the lubricating oil generates hydrodynamic pressure, even if the lubricating surfaces are parallel. This effect, known as the thermal wedge effect, varies significantly with film-temperature boundary conditions. The bearing conducts a part of the heat generated; hence, the oil temperature varies with the thermal conductivity of the bearing. In this study, we analyze the effect of thermal conductivity on the thermohydrodynamic (THD) lubrication of parallel slider bearings. We numerically analyze the continuity equation, Navier-Stokes equation, energy equation including the temperature-viscosity and temperature-density relations for lubricants, and the heat conduction equation for bearing by creating a 2D model of the micro-bearing using the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code FLUENT. We then compare the variation in temperature, viscosity, and pressure distributions with the thermal conductivity. The results demonstrate that the thermal conductivity has a significant influence on THD lubrication characteristics of parallel slider bearings. The lower the thermal conductivity, the greater the pressure generation due to the thermal wedge effect resulting in a higher load-carrying capacity and smaller frictional force. The present results can function as the basic data for optimum bearing design; however, the applicability requires further studies on various operating conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.130-137
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• 2019

In this study, a centrifugal seawater cooling pump was analyzed to investigate its cavitation behavior over different operating flow rates. 3D two-phase simulations were carried out with ANSYS-CFX commercial code. The $k-{\varepsilon}$ turbulence and Rayleigh-Plesset cavitation models were employed in the simulations. A head drop characteristics curves for three discharge rates was built based on numerical predictions. At higher flow rates, the impeller was more vulnerable to bubble cavitation. The 3 % head drop points of the pump working at 0.7Q, Q, and 1.3Q (Q: design flow rate) corresponded with NPSHa 1.21 m, 1.83 m, and 3.45 m, respectively. The volume of vapor bubbles was estimated and cavitation locations were anticipated to visualize the development of the cavity within the impeller. Moreover, the distribution of pressure coefficient and a blade loading chart are specifically presented, bringing out the harmful impacts of cavitation on the pump operation.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.99-104
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• 2019

In a gas system fire extinguishing system, extinguishing agents are usually stored with approximately 280 bar at $21^{\circ}C$ and are released at approximately 8 MPa through the decompression valve and orifice to quickly suppress the fire. When extinguishing agents are discharged, they cause a loud noise (approximately 140 dB), which can damage electronics, such as hard disk drives (HDDs). Therefore, the noise is becoming a serious issue in the gas extinguishing system. The method of the noise reduction by adding an absorbent is most general and in this study, the thickness of the absorbent was as a selected design variable. The noise level at the observation point and the flow characteristics inside the nozzle were numerically calculated and analyzed using the commercial code ANSYS CFX ver. 18.1.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.267-273
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• 2022

Surface texturing is the latest technology for processing grooves or dimples on the friction surface of a machine. When appropriately applied, it can reduce friction and significantly increase durability. Despite many studies over the past 20 years, most are isothermal (ISO) analyses in which the viscosity of the lubricant is constant. In practice, the viscosity changes significantly owing to the heat generated by the viscous shear of the lubricant and film-temperature boundary condition (FTBC). Although many thermohydrodynamic (THD) analyses have been performed on various sliding bearings, only few results for surface-textured bearings have been reported. This study investigates the effects of the FTBC and groove number on the THD lubrication characteristics of a surface-textured parallel thrust bearing with multiple rectangular grooves. The continuity, Navier-Stokes, and energy equations with temperature-viscosity-density relations are numerically analyzed using a commercial computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT. The results show the pressure and temperature distributions, variations of load-carrying capacity (LCC), and friction force with four FTBCs. The FTBCs greatly influence the lubrication characteristics of surface-textured parallel thrust bearings. A groove number that maximizes the LCC exists, which depends on the FTBC. ISO analysis overestimates the LCC but underestimates friction reduction. Additional analysis of various temperature boundary conditions is required for practical applications.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.191-198
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• 2022

With the world's fast expanding energy usage comes a slew of new issues. Because one-third of energy is lost in overcoming friction, tremendous effort is being directed into minimizing friction. Surface texturing is the latest surface treatment technology that uses grooves and dimples on the friction surface of the machine to significantly reduce friction and improve wear resistance. Despite the fact that many studies on this issue have been conducted, most of them focused on parallel surfaces, with relatively few cases of converging films, as in most sliding bearings. This study investigated the lubrication performance of surface-textured inclined slider bearings. We analyzed the continuity and Navier-Stokes equations using a commercial computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT. The results show the pressure and velocity distributions and the lubrication performance according to the number and orientation of rectangular dimples. Partial texturing somewhat improves the lubrication performance of inclined slider bearings. The number of dimples with the maximum load-carrying capacity (LCC) and minimum friction is determined. When the major axis of the dimple is arranged in the sliding direction, the LCC and friction reduction are maximized. However, full texturing significantly reduces the LCC of the slider bearing and increases the flow rate. The results have the potential to improve the lubrication performance of various sliding bearings, but further research is required.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.487-500
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• 2022

Supercavitation is a phenomenon in which the cavity covers the entire underwater vehicle. The purpose of this paper is to compare and analyze the thermal effect on the cavity characteristics by changing the ventilated gas temperature through computational analysis. For this study, a homogeneous mixture model based on the 3D Navier-Stokes equation was used. As a phase change model, it is its own code considering both pressure change and temperature change. A dimensionless number T_m was presented to analyze the numerical results, and as the T_m increased, the cavity length increased by about 3.6 times and the cavity width by about 3.3 times at 393.15 K compared to room temperature. Analyzing these thermal effects, it was confirmed that rapid heat exchange and heat transfer between the gas phase and the liquid phase occurred at the location where the ventilated gas was sprayed, affecting the cavity characteristics. In addition, it can be confirmed that the initial cavity surface becomes unstable as the ventilated gas temperature increases, and it can be confirmed based on the numerical analysis results that the critical temperature at which the cavity surface becomes unstable is 373.15 K.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2023

In the cylinder of gasoline direct injection engines, the spray targeting from injectors is of great significance for fuel consumption and pollutant emissions. The automotive industry is putting a lot of effort into improving injector targeting accuracy. To improve the targeting accuracy of injectors, it is necessary to develop models that can predict the spray targeting positions. When developing spray targeting models, the most used technique is computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Recently, due to the superiority of machine learning in prediction accuracy, the application of machine learning in this field is also receiving constant attention. The purpose of this study is to build a machine learning model that can accurately predict spray targeting based on the design parameters of injectors. To achieve this goal, this study firstly used laser sheet beam visualization equipment to obtain many spray cross-sectional images of injectors with different parameters at different injection pressures and measurement planes. The spray images were processed by MATLAB code to get the targeting coordinates of sprays. A total of four models were used for the prediction of spray targeting coordinates, namely ANN, LSTM, Conv1D and Conv1D & LSTM. Features fed into the machine learning model include injector design parameters, injection conditions, and measurement planes. Labels to be output from the model are spray targeting coordinates. In addition, the spray data of 7 injectors were used for model training, and the spray data of the remaining one injector were used for model performance verification. Finally, the prediction performance of the model was evaluated by R² and RMSE. It is found that the Conv1D&LSTM model has the highest accuracy in predicting the spray targeting coordinates, which can reach 98%. In addition, the prediction bias of the model becomes larger as the distance from the injector tip increases.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.87-93
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• 2023

Nanofluids are dispersions of particles smaller than 100 nm (nanoparticles) in base fluids. They exhibit high thermal conductivity and are mainly applied in cooling applications. Nanolubricants use nanoparticles in base oils as lubricant additives, and have recently started gathering increased attention owing to their potential to improve the tribological and thermal performances of various machinery. Nanolubricants reduce friction and wear, mainly by the action of nanoparticles; however, only a few studies have considered the rheological properties of lubricants. In this study, we adopt a parallel slider bearing model that does not generate geometrical wedge effects, and conduct thermohydrodynamic (THD) analyses to evaluate the effect of higher thermal conductivity and viscosity, which are the main rheological properties of nanolubricants, on the lubrication performances. We use a commercial computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT, to numerically analyze the continuity, Navier-Stokes, energy equations with temperature-viscosity-density relations, and thermal conductivity and viscosity models of the nanolubricant. The results show the temperature and pressure distributions, load-carrying capacity (LCC), and friction force for three film-temperature boundary conditions (FTBCs). The effects of the higher thermal conductivity and viscosity of the nanolubricant on the LCC and friction force differ significantly, according to the FTBC. The thermal conductivity increases with temperature, improving the cooling performance, reducing LCC, and slightly increasing the friction. The increase in viscosity increases both the LCC and friction. The analysis method in this study can be applied to develop nanolubricants that can improve the tribological and cooling performances of various equipment; however, additional research is required on this topic.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1-7
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• 2017

The atomization of a liquid into multiple droplets has many important industrial applications, including the atomization of fuels in combustion processes and coating of surfaces and particles. Ultrasonic atomizing nozzle has a transducer that receives electrical input in the form of a high frequency signal from a power generator and converts that into mechanical energy at the same frequency. Liquid is atomized into a fine mist spray using high frequency sound vibrations. In coating applications, the unpressurized, low-velocity spray reduces the amount of overspray significantly because the droplets tend to settle on the substrate, rather than bouncing off it. The spray can be controlled and shaped precisely by entraining the slow-moving spray in an ancillary air stream using specialized types of spray-shaping equipment. The desired patterns of spray can be obtained using an air stream. To simulate the water mist behavior of an ultrasonic atomizing nozzle using an air stream, the Lagrangian dispersed phase model was employed using the commercial code FLUENT. The effects of the nozzle contraction shape, water droplet size and the pneumatic pressure drop on the spray characteristics were investigated to obtain the optimal condition for coating applications.