• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.295-316
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• 2008

In the present paper a mechanical model to predict the compressive response of high strength short concrete columns with square cross-section confined by transverse steel is presented. The model allows one to estimate the equivalent confinement pressures exercised by transverse steel during the loading process taking into account of the interaction of the stirrups with the inner core both in the plane of the stirrups and in the space between two successive stirrups. The lateral pressure distributions at hoop levels are obtained by using a simple model of elastic beam on elastic medium simulating the interaction between stirrups and concrete core, including yielding of steel stirrups and damage of concrete core by means of the variation in the elastic modulus and in the Poisson's coefficient. Complete stress-strain curves in compression of confined concrete core are obtained considering the variation of the axial forces in the leg of the stirrup during the loading process. The model was compared with some others presented in the literature and it was validated on the basis of the existing experimental data. Finally, it was shown that the model allows one to include the main parameters governing the confinement problems of high strength concrete members such as: - the strength of plain concrete and its brittleness; - the diameter, the pitch and the yielding stress of the stirrups; - the diameter and the yielding stress of longitudinal bars; - the side of the member, etc.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 2010

The SuperCritical Water-cooled Reactor (SCWR) pursues high power density to reduce its capital cost. The fast spectrum SCWR, called a super fast reactor, can be designed with a higher power density than thermal spectrum SCWR. The mechanism of increasing the average power density of the super fast reactor is studied theoretically and numerically. Some key parameters affecting the average power density, including fuel pin outer diameter, fuel pitch, power peaking factor, and the fraction of seed assemblies, are analyzed and optimized to achieve a more compact core. Based on those sensitivity analyses, a compact super fast reactor is successfully designed with an average power density of 294.8 W/$cm^3$. The core characteristics are analyzed by using three-dimensional neutronics/thermal-hydraulics coupling method. Numerical results show that all of the design criteria and goals are satisfied.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.9
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• pp.2788-2802
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• 2021

Multigroup cross section (MG XS) generation by the UNIST in-house Monte Carlo (MC) code MCS for fast reactor analysis using nodal diffusion codes is reported. The feasibility of the approach is quantified for two sodium fast reactors (SFRs) specified in the OECD/NEA SFR benchmark: a 1000 MW_th metal-fueled SFR (MET-1000) and a 3600 MW_th oxide-fueled SFR (MOX-3600). The accuracy of a few-group XSs generated by MCS is verified using another MC code, Serpent 2. The neutronic steady-state whole-core problem is analyzed using MCS/RAST-K with a 24-group XS set. Various core parameters of interest (core k_eff, power profiles, and reactivity feedback coefficients) are obtained using both MCS/RAST-K and MCS. A code-to-code comparison indicates excellent agreement between the nodal diffusion solution and stochastic solution; the error in the core k_eff is less than 110 pcm, the root-mean-square error of the power profiles is within 1.0%, and the error of the reactivity feedback coefficients is within three standard deviations. Furthermore, using the super-homogenization-corrected XSs improves the prediction accuracy of the control rod worth and power profiles with all rods in. Therefore, the results demonstrate that employing the MCS MG XSs for the nodal diffusion code is feasible for high-fidelity analyses of fast reactors.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.225-237
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• 2019

In this research, the dynamic stability and nonlinear vibration behavior of a smart rotating sandwich cylindrical shell is studied. The core of the structure is a functionally graded material (FGM) which is integrated by functionally graded piezoelectric material (FGPM) layers subjected to electric field. The piezoelectric layers at the inner and outer surfaces used as actuator and sensor, respectively. By applying the energy method and Hamilton's principle, the governing equations of sandwich cylindrical shell derived based on first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT). The Galerkin method is used to discriminate the motion equations and the equations are converted to the form of the ordinary differential equations in terms of time. The perturbation method is employed to find the relation between nonlinear frequency and the amplitude of vibration. The main objective of this research is to determine the nonlinear frequencies and nonlinear vibration control by using sensor and actuator layers. The effects of geometrical parameters, power law index of core, sensor and actuator layers, angular velocity and scale transformation parameter on nonlinear frequency-amplitude response diagram and dynamic stability of sandwich cylindrical shell are investigated. The results of this research can be used to design and vibration control of rotating systems in various industries such as aircraft, biomechanics and automobile manufacturing.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.369-376
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• 2019

A complete solution for a soluble-boron-free (SBF) small modular reactor (SMR) is pursued with a new burnable absorber concept, namely centrally-shielded burnable absorber (CSBA). Neutronic flexibility of the CSBA design has been discussed with fuel assembly (FA) analyses. Major design parameters and goals of the SBF SMR are discussed in view of the reactor core design and three CSBA designs are introduced to achieve both a very low burnup reactivity swing (BRS) and minimal residual reactivity of the CSBA. It is demonstrated that the core achieves a long cycle length (~37 months) and high burnup (~30 GWd/tU), while the BRS is only about 1100 pcm and the radial power distribution is rather flat. This research also introduces a supplementary reactivity control mechanism using stainless steel as mechanical shim (MS) rod to obtain the criticality during normal operation. A further analysis is performed to investigate the local power peaking of the CSBA-loaded FA at MS-rodded condition. Moreover, a simple $B_4C$-based control rod arrangement is proposed to assure a sufficient shutdown margin even at the cold-zero-power condition. All calculations in this neutronic-thermal hydraulic coupled investigation of the 3D SBF SMR core are completed by a two-step Monte Carlo-diffusion hybrid methodology.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.251-259
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• 2021

Current seismic fragility functions for buildings were developed by defining damage state threshold based on story drift concerning foreign references and using the capacity spectrum method based on spectral displacement. In this study, insufficient details and dependence on the core location of piloti-type buildings were not reflected in the fragility function because it was developed before the Pohang earthquake. In order to develop an improved one for piloti-type buildings, several types of core were selected, damage state threshold was determined based on the capacity of structural members, and three-dimensional analyses were utilized. As a result, seismic fragility functions based on spectral acceleration were developed for various core locations and different shear strengths of the column stirrup. The fragility of piloti-type buildings significantly varied according to core location, an additional single wall, and whether the contribution of column stirrup was included or not. To estimate fragility more reasonably, it is necessary to prepare the parameters to reflect actual state well.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.4
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• pp.465-473
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• 2022

In this research, a numerical study has been provided for examining the nonlinear stability behaviors of sandwich beams having a cellular core and two face sheets made of nanocomposites. The nonlinear stability behaviors of the sandwich beam having geometrically perfect/imperfect shapes have been studied when it is subjected to a compressive buckling load. The nanocomposite face sheets are made of epoxy reinforced by graphene oxide powders (GOPs). Also, the core has the shape of a honeycomb with regular configuration. Using finite element method based on a higher-order deformation beam element, the system of equations of motions have been solved to derive the stability curves. Several parameters such as face sheet thickness, core wall thickness, graphene oxide amount and boundary conditions have remarkable influences on stability curves of geometrically perfect/imperfect sandwich beams.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.423-439
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• 2023

The aim of this paper is to investigate the free vibration behavior of the micro sandwich beam composing of five layers such as functionally graded (FG) porous core, nanocomposite reinforced by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and piezomagnetic/piezoelectric layers subjected to magneto electrical potential resting on silica aerogel foundation. The effect of foundation has been taken into account using Vlasov model in addition to rigid base assumption. For this purpose, an iterative technique is applied. The material properties of the FG porous core and FG nanocomposite layers are considered to vary throughout the thickness direction of the beams. Based on the Timoshenko beam theory and Hamilton's principle, the governing equations of motion for the micro sandwich beam are obtained. The Navier's type solution is utilized to obtain analytical solutions to simply supported micro sandwich beam. Results are verified with corresponding literatures. In the following, a study is carried out to find the effects of the porosity coefficient, porous distribution, volume fraction of CNT, the thickness of silica aerogel foundation, temperature and moisture, geometric parameters, electric and magnetic potentials on the vibration of the micro sandwich beam. The results are helpful for the design and applications of micro magneto electro mechanical systems.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.949-958
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• 2024

In contrast to all-time flooded small modular reactor (SMR) systems, an in-kind flooding safety system (FSS) has been proposed as a passive safety system applicable to small modular reactors (SMRs) that adopt a metal containment vessel (MCV). Under transient conditions, the FSS can provide emergency cooling to dry reactor cavities and sustain long-term coolability using re-acquired evaporated steam in the reactor building on demand. When designing an FSS, the effect of the flooding flow area is vital as it affects the overall accident sequence and safety. Therefore, in this study, a MELCOR model of a reference SMR is developed and numerical analysis is performed under postulated accident scenarios. Without flooding, the MCV pressure of the reactor module exceeds the design pressure before core damage. To prevent core damage, an emergency flooding strategy is devised using various flow path parameters and requirements to ensure an adequate emergency coolant supply before the core damage is investigated. The results indicate that a flow area exceeding 0.02 m2 is required in the FSS to prevent MCV overpressure and core damage. This study is the first to report a strategic analysis for appropriately sizing an FSS flooding valve applicable to innovative SMRs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.980-992
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• 2024

Steam line break accident (SLB) in the nuclear reactor is one of the representative Non-LOCA accidents in which thermal-hydraulics and neutron kinetics are strongly coupled each other. Thus, the multi-scale and multi-physics approach is applied in this study in order to examine a realistic safety margin. An entire reactor coolant system is modelled by system scale node, whereas sub-channel scale resolution is applied for the region of interest such as the reactor core. Fuel performance code is extended to consider full core pin-wise fuel behaviour. The MARU platform is developed for easy integration of the codes to be coupled. An initial stage of the steam line break accident is simulated on the MARU platform. As cold coolant is injected from the cold leg into the reactor pressure vessel, the power increases due to the moderator feedback. Three-dimensional coolant and fuel behaviour are qualitatively visualized for easy comprehension. Moreover, quantitative investigation is added by focusing on the enhancement of safety margin by means of comparing the minimum departure from nucleate boiling ratio (MDNBR). Three factors contributing to the increase of the MDNBR are proposed: Various geometric parameters, realistic power distribution by neutron kinetics code, Radial coolant mixing including sub-channel physics model.