• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2017

Increasing the operation cycle length can be an important goal in the fuel reload design of a nuclear reactor core. In this research paper, a new optimization approach, electromagnetism mechanism (EM), is applied to the fuel arrangement design of the Bushehr WWER-1000 core. For this purpose, a neutronic solver has been developed for calculating the required parameters during the reload cycle of the reactor. In this package, two modules have been linked, including PARCS v2.7 and WIMS-5B codes, integrated in a solver for using in the fuel arrangement optimization operation. The first results of the prepared package, along with the cycle for the original pattern of Bushehr WWER-1000, are compared and verified according to the Final Safety Analysis Report and then the results of exploited EM linked with Purdue Advanced Reactor Core Simulator (PARCS) and Winfrith Improved Multigroup Scheme (WIMS) codes are reported for the loading pattern optimization. Totally, the numerical results of our loading pattern optimization indicate the power of the EM for this problem and also show the effective improvement of desired parameters for the gained semi-optimized core pattern in comparison to the designer scheme.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.93-103
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• 2015

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study is to present a linear programing optimization model for the design of lane-based lane-uses and signal timings for an isolated intersection. METHODS: For the optimization model, a set of constraints for lane-uses and signal settings are identified to ensure feasibility and safety of traffic flow. Three types of objective functions are introduced for optimizing lane-uses and signal operation, including 1) flow ratio minimization of a dual-ring signal control system, 2) cycle length minimization, and 3) capacity maximization. RESULTS : The three types of model were evaluated in terms of minimizing delay time. From the experimental results, the flow ratio minimization model proved to be more effective in reducing delay time than cycle length minimization and capacity maximization models and provided reasonable cycle lengths located between those of other two models. CONCLUSIONS : It was concluded that the flow ratio minimization objective function is the proper one to implement for lane-uses and signal settings optimization to reduce delay time for signalized intersections.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.73-77
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• 1993

This paper considers an Economic Order Quantity Model under random life cycle. It is assumed that the life cycle of the product is unknown; a random variable. Three cost parameters are considered; ordering cost, inventory carrying cost and salvage cost. Expected total cost is the optimization criterion. We show that the optimal cycle length is unique and finite, and present a simple line search method to find an optimal cycle length.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.219-226
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• 2024

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has produced weapon-grade plutonium in a graphite-moderated experimental reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear facilities. The amount of plutonium produced can be estimated using the Graphite Isotope Ratio Method (GIRM), even without considering specific operational histories. However, the result depends to some degree on the operational cycle length. Moreover, an optimal cycle length can maximize the number of nuclear weapons made from the plutonium produced. For conservatism, it should be assumed that the target reactor was operated with an optimal cycle length. This study investigated the optimal cycle length using which the Calder Hall MAGNOX reactor can achieve the maximum annual production of nuclear weapons. The results show that lower enrichment fuel produced a greater number of critical plutonium spheres with a shorter optimal cycle length. Specifically, depleted uranium (0.69wt%) produced 5.561 critical plutonium spheres annually with optimal cycle lengths of 251 effective full power days. This research is crucial for understanding DPRK's potential for nuclear weapon production and highlights the importance of reactor operational strategy in maximizing the production of weapons-grade plutonium in MAGNOX reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.8
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• pp.3425-3434
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• 2024

The main features of the loading pattern optimization (LPO) problem, such as high-dimensionality, multi-modality, and non-linearity, make it difficult to achieve a truly optimal configuration. In recent years, metaheuristic methods have been successfully used to solve this problem. In this research, a discrete golden eagle optimization (DGEO) algorithm has been developed to solve the LPO problem in the first cycle of VVER-1000 reactor core. To evaluate the proposed algorithm, a linear multi-purpose fitness function has been used to improve the safety parameters of the reactor core by obtaining a flatter power distribution during the first cycle, and also to enhance the economic parameters by increasing the cycle length and reducing the cost of fuel recycling. For this purpose, a FORTRAN program has been written to map the DGEO algorithm for the LPO problem using the PMAX and PARCS core calculation code to compute the fitness function in each iteration. To speed up the calculations, parallel computing has been applied in the written program. The results demonstrated that the loading pattern, which is suggested by the DGEO algorithm, enhances all the safety and economic parameters in the fitness function. Thus, the DGEO algorithm is highly reliable for the LPO problems in the VVER 1000 reactor core.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.725-740
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• 2015

This study presents critical buckling load optimization of the axially graded layered uniform columns. In the first place, characteristic equations for the critical buckling loads for all boundary conditions are obtained using the transfer matrix method. Then, for each case, square of this equation is taken as a fitness function together with constraints. Due to explicitly unavailable objective function for the critical buckling loads as a function of segment length and volume fraction of the materials, especially for the column structures with higher segment numbers, initially, prescribed value is assumed for it and then the design variables satisfying constraints are searched using Differential Evolution (DE) optimization method coupled with eigen-value routine. For constraint handling, Exterior Penalty Function formulation is adapted to the optimization cycle. Different boundary conditions are considered. The results reveal that maximum increments in the critical buckling loads are attained about 20% for cantilevered and pinned-pinned end conditions and 18% for clamped-clamped case. Finally, the strongest column structure configurations will be determined. The scientific and statistical results confirmed efficiency, reliability and robustness of the Differential Evolution optimization method and it can be used in the similar problems which especially include transcendental functions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.12
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• pp.2709-2716
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• 2020

Compositions of large nuclear cores (e.g. boiling water reactors) are highly heterogeneous in terms of fuel composition, control rod insertions and flow regimes. For this reason, they usually lack high order of symmetry (e.g. 1/4, 1/8) making it difficult to estimate their neutronic parameters for large spaces of possible loading patterns. A detailed hyperparameter optimization technique (a combination of manual and Gaussian process search) is used to train and optimize deep neural networks for the prediction of three neutronic parameters for the Ringhals-1 BWR unit: power peaking factors (PPF), control rod bank level, and cycle length. Simulation data is generated based on half-symmetry using PARCS core simulator by shuffling a total of 196 assemblies. The results demonstrate a promising performance by the deep networks as acceptable mean absolute error values are found for the global maximum PPF (~0.2) and for the radially and axially averaged PPF (~0.05). The mean difference between targets and predictions for the control rod level is about 5% insertion depth. Lastly, cycle length labels are predicted with 82% accuracy. The results also demonstrate that 10,000 samples are adequate to capture about 80% of the high-dimensional space, with minor improvements found for larger number of samples. The promising findings of this work prove the ability of deep neural networks to resolve high dimensionality issues of large cores in the nuclear area.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.219-225
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• 2006

Although the round length for tunnel excavation has a major technical and economical impact in conventional tunnelling, there is no coherent procedure available for its determination. In this study, the influence of round length on the behaviour modes of weak rock tunnel was investigated by numerical analyses. Quantitative estimation of the behaviour modes of the face and the unsupported span was established by use of the safety factor for the face stability and the conditional chart. In addition, the optimum round length in the tunnel design stage was investigated based on the detail construction information such as cycle time and material costs. Although this proposed method has some restrictions, it is expected to provide useful information for the optimization of the tunnel excavation, especially in design stage.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.182-195
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• 2023

Recently, research on traffic signal control using artificial intelligence algorithms has been receiving attention, and many traffic signal control models are being studied. However, most studies either focused on independent intersections or are theoretical studies that calculate signal cycle length according to changes in traffic volume. Therefore, this study was conducted on a signalized intersection - roundabout in Gajwa-ro. The Particle Swarm Optimization - Bacterial Foraging Optimization (PSO-BFO) algorithm was proposed, which is developed from the GA and PSO algorithms for minimizing congestion at two intersections. As a result, optimum cycle length was determined to be 158 seconds. The Verkehr In Stadten - SIMulationsmodell (VISSIM) results showed that there was 3.4% increased capacity, 8.2% reduced delay and 8.3% reduced number of stops at the Gajwa-ro signalized intersection. Additionally, at the roundabout, a 9.2% increase in capacity, a 7.1% reduction in delay, and a 27.2% decrease in the number of stops was observed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.869-877
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• 2020

A 24-month Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR1400) core with a very-low-boron (VLB) concentration has been investigated for an inherently safe and high-performance PWR in this work. To develop a high-performance APR1400 which is able to do the passive frequency control operation, VLB feature is essential. In this paper, the centrally-shielded burnable absorber (CSBA) is utilized for an efficient VLB operation in the 24-month cycle APR1400 core. This innovative design of the VLB APR1400 core includes the optimization of burnable absorber and loading pattern as well as axial cutback for a 24-month cycle operation. In addition to CSBA, an Er-doped guide thimble is also introduced for partial management of the excess reactivity and local peaking factor. To improve the neutron economy of the core, two alternative radial reflectors are adopted in this study, which are SS-304 and ZrO₂. The core reactivity and power distributions for a 2-batch equilibrium cycle are analyzed and compared for each reflector design. Numerical results show that a VLB core can be successfully designed with 24-month cycle and the cycle length is improved significantly with the alternative reflectors. The neutronic analyses are performed using the Monte Carlo Serpent code and 3-D diffusion code COREDAX-2 with the ENDF/B-VII.1.