• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.269-278
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• 2022

The buffer is a critical barrier component in an engineered barrier system, and its purpose is to prevent potential radionuclides from leaking out from a damaged canister by filling the void in the repository. No experimental parameters exist that can describe the buffer expansion phenomenon when Kyeongju bentonite, which is a buffer candidate material available in Korea, is exposed to groundwater. As conventional experiments to determine these parameters are time consuming and complicated, simple swelling pressure tests, numerical modeling, and machine learning are used in this study to obtain the parameters required to establish a numerical model that can simulate swelling. Swelling tests conducted using Kyeongju bentonite are emulated using the COMSOL Multiphysics numerical analysis tool. Relationships between the swelling phenomenon and mechanical parameters are determined via an artificial neural network. Subsequently, by inputting the swelling tests results into the network, the values for the mechanical parameters of Kyeongju bentonite are obtained. Sensitivity analysis is performed to identify the influential parameters. Results of the numerical analysis based on the identified mechanical parameters are consistent with the experimental values.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 2023

This paper demonstrates a novel NAND flash memory structure and annealing configuration including through-silicon via (TSV) inside the silicon substrate to improve annealing efficiency using an electro-thermal annealing (ETA) technique. Compared with the conventional ETA which utilizes WL-to-WL current flow, the proposed annealing method has a higher annealing temperature as well as more uniform heat distribution, because of thermal isolation on the silicon substrate. In addition, it was found that the annealing temperature is related to the electrical and thermal conductivity of the TSV materials. As a result, it is possible to improve the reliability of NAND flash memory. All the results are discussed based on 3-dimensional (3-D) simulations with the aid of the COMSOL simulator.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.165-173
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• 2023

Various linear system solvers with multi-physics analysis schemes are compared focusing on the near-field region considering thermal-hydraulic-chemical (THC) coupled multi-physics phenomena. APro, developed at KAERI for total system performance assessment (TSPA), performs a finite element analysis with COMSOL, for which the various combinations of linear system solvers and multi-physics analysis schemes should to be compared. The KBS-3 type disposal system proposed by Sweden is set as the target system and the near-field region, which accounts for most of the computational burden is considered. For comparison of numerical analysis methods, the computing time and memory requirement are the main concerns and thus the simulation time is set up to one year. With a single deposition hole problem, PARDISO and GMRES-SSOR are selected as representative direct and iterative solvers respectively. The performance of representative linear system solvers is then examined through a problem with an increasing number of deposition holes and the GMRES-SSOR solver with a segregated scheme shows the best performance with respect to the computing time and memory requirement. The results of the comparative analysis are expected to provide a good guideline to choose better numerical analysis methods for TSPA.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.4084-4094
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• 2022

The Advanced Fuels Campaign Fission Accelerated Steady-state Test (FAST) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) completed its first irradiation cycle within the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). The test focused on the irradiation of alloy fuel forms for use in sodium fast reactors. The first cycle of FAST testing was completed and four rodlets were removed for the initial post irradiation examination (PIE). The rodlet design and irradiation conditions were evaluated using Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) for as-run power history and COMSOL for temperature analysis. These rodlets include a set of low burnups (~2.5 % fissions per initial metal atoms [%FIMA]), control rodlets, and a helium-bonded annular rodlet (4.7 %FIMA). Nondestructive PIE has been completed and includes visual inspection, neutron radiography and gamma scanning of the FAST capsules and rodlets. Radiography confirmed the integrity of the experiments, revealed that the annulus in the annular fuel was filled at a modest burnup (4.7 %FIMA), and indicated potential slumping of the cooler rodlets at lower burnup. Precision gamma scanning indicated mostly usual fission product behavior, except for cesium in the He-bonded annular fuel. Future destructive PIE will be necessary to fully interpret the effects of accelerated irradiation on U-Zr metallic fuel behavior.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.927-938
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• 2023

The blanket plays an important role in fusion reactor and stands extremely high thermal and electromagnetic loads during operation situation and plasma disruption event, brings the need for precise thermal and electromagnetic analysis. Since the thermal field and EM field interact with each other nonlinearly, we develop a method of electromagnetic-thermal two-way coupling by using finite element software COMSOL. The coupling analyses of blanket under steady state and MD event are implemented and the results are analyzed. For steady state, the influences of coupling effects are relatively small but still recommended to be considered for a high precision analysis. The influence of thermal field on EM field can't be ignored under MD events. The variation of force density could cause a significant change in stress in certain parts of blanket. The influence of Joule heat during MD event is negligible, yet the potential temperature rise caused by induced current after MD event still needs to be researched.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.191-198
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• 2023

We examined the martensitic transformation kinetics for metastable stainless steel during electrochemical polishing (EP) using different types of electrolytes. Martensite fraction measured with EBSD showed that the electrolyte with high relative permittivity exhibited comparably higher levels of martensitic transformation. The amount of charge build-up on the specimen surface during EP with different types of electrolytes was calculated using COMSOL multiphysics simulations to understand these phase transformation characteristics. The effect of charge build-up-induced stress was analyzed using previously published first-principles calculations. We discovered that the electrolyte with high relative permittivity accumulated a greater amount of charge build-up, resulting in a stronger driving force for stress-induced martensitic transformation.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.363-374
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• 2024

The fatigue life of steel wire is affected not only by fatigue load, but also by corrosion environment in service period. Specially, the corrosion pit will lead to stress concentration on the surface of steel wire inducing the formation of fatigue cracks, and the fatigue cracks will accelerate the corrosion process. Therefore, the corrosion fatigue of steel wire is a coupling effect. In this study, the corrosion-fatigue coupling life curve is derived with considering corrosion-fatigue pitting stage, corrosion-fatigue short crack stage and corrosion-fatigue long crack stage. In addition, the stress concentration factors of different corrosion pits are calculated by COMSOL software. Furthermore, the effect of corrosion environment factors, that is, corrosion rate, corrosion pit morphology, frequency and action factor of fatigue load, on fatigue life of steel wire is analyzed. And then, the corrosion-fatigue coupling life curve is compared with the fatigue life curve and fatigue life curve with pre-corrosion. The result showed that the anti-fatigue performance of the steel wire with considering corrosion-fatigue coupling is 68.08% and 41.79% lower than fatigue life curve and fatigue life curve with pre-corrosion. Therefore, the corrosion-fatigue coupling effect should be considered in the design of steel wire.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.1081-1090
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• 2024

The liquid Lead-bismuth eutectic is used as the coolant for Gen-IV reactor concepts. However, due to its strong corrosive and high operating temperature, it is difficult to accurately measure the flow rate in long-term operating conditions. Venturi flowmeter is a simple structured flowmeter, which plays a very important role in the flow measurement of high-temperature liquid metals, especially since the existing flowmeters are difficult to be competent. It has the advantages of easy maintenance and stable operation. Therefore, it is necessary to study the operating conditions of the venturi flowmeter under high-temperature conditions. This work performs a series of simulations of the fluid-solid interaction between the flow liquid metal and venturi flowmeter with COMSOL software, including the dimensional sensitivity analysis of the venturi flowmeter to explore the most suitable structure and parameters for liquid heavy metal, the sensitivity analysis of the geometric parameters of the venturi tube on the varying conditions. It shows that when the contraction angle of the venturi flowmeter is 33°, the diffusion angle is 13°, the diameter of the throat is 8 mm, and the temperature of the lead-bismuth eutectic is 733.15 K, it is most suitable for the measurement in the lead-bismuth circuit.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.338-345
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• 2024

Magnetic anomaly signals from the ferromagnetic targets such as ships in the sea are measured by drone-based magnetic anomaly detection. A quantum magnetometer is suspended from the drone by 4 strings. Flight altitude and speed of drone are 100 m and 5 m/s, respectively. We obtain magnetic anomaly signals of few nT from the ships clearly. We analyze the signal characteristics by the ferromagnetic target through simulation using COMSOL multiphysics.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.8350-8356
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• 2015

The demand for user convenient devices in automotive applications are fast growing, mainly driven by the customer's requirement for higher efficiency and more features. In important such feature is the cold module for cars, which are convenient luxuries that warm or cool drinks placed in the cup holder by means of a thermoelectric element. In present study, we would like to find out the optimal thickness of the cup holder and mounting position of the thermoelectric element through experiments under various testing conditions and thermal analysis. The resulting thermal distribution of the primary area of thermal analysis was found to be lowest when the thickness was 2.5 mm. The temperature distribution was also lowest when the thermal element was positioned underneath the holder (A-type).