• Solar Energy
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.119-125
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• 1995

Since the using of heating energy associated with infiltration is significant in a building, the efforts to minimize the infiltration while ensuring minimum ventilation rates for various types of occupancy will be beneficial. In constrast to that many efforts have been made to reduce heat loss by improving thermal resistance of building envelope, little has been tried to reduce heat loss from infiltration. For achieving such an objective, measurement of air leakage rate will be pre-requisite as a diagnostic tool. A blower door system, a depressurization/pressurization method, was employed and it demonstrated a good potential for measuring airtightness performance of residential buildings. Based on the test results, annual energy savings for residential heating was estimated by reducing infiltration to a level of reasonably airtight or to a level of ASHRAE Standard 62-1989 for minimum ventilation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.257-272
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• 2007

Supercritical water-cooled reactors (SCWRs) are recognized as a Generation IV reactor concept. The Super LWR is a pressure-vessel type thermal spectrum SCWR with downward-flow water rods and is currently under study at the University of Tokyo. This paper reviews Super LWR safety. The fundamental requirement for the Super LWR, which has a once-through coolant cycle, is the core coolant flow rate rather than the coolant inventory. Key safety characteristics of the Super LWR inhere in the design features and have been identified through a series of safety analyses. Although loss-of-flow is the most important abnormality, fuel rod heat-up is mitigated by the "heat sink" and "water source" effects of the water rods. Response of the reactor power against pressurization events is mild due to a small change in the average coolant density and flow stagnation of the once-through coolant cycle. These mild responses against transients and also reactivity feedbacks provide good inherent safety against anticipated-transient-without-scram (ATWS) events without alternative actions. Initiation of an automatic depressurization system provides effective heat removal from the fuel rods. An "in-vessel accumulator" effect of the reactor vessel top dome enhances the fuel rod cooling. This effect enlarges the safety margin for large LOCA.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.518-527
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• 2014

Objectives: The adverse health effects attributed to exposure to radon have been well known over the world. However, the efforts for prevention and mitigation of radon have not been taken in Korea so far. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation methods applied for various types of houses and public buildings with high level of radon. Methods: Based on the results of "National Radon Survey" performed by the National Institute of Environmental Research(NIER) in 2010-2012, we selected 30 candidate buildings consisting of 20 houses and 10 public buildings with greater than $148Bq/m^3$ of radon level. We measured the concentration of radon in 30 buildings, using E-PERMs and RAD-7 during January to March of 2013. More than five E-PERMs and one RAD-7 per house were installed for seven days. Ten houses and five public buildings were finally chosen to be mitigated after mainly considering the level of radon and the location of buildings nationwide. Three mitigation methods such as Sealing, two types of Active Ventilation(window-shaped and wall-typed ventilations), and Active Soil Depressurization(ASD) were applied, and the concentrations of radon were measured before and after mitigation, respectively. To evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation methods, reduction rates of radon were calculated and Wilcoxon's signed-rank test was performed. Results: The mean concentration of 15 buildings just before radon mitigation was $297.8Bq/m^3$, and most of the buildings were located in Gangwon, Chungbuk, Chungnam, and Daegu areas(73.3%), and built in 1959-1998. The level of radon decreased from 48% to 90% and kept the below recommendation limit of $148Bq/m^3$ after installation of radon mitigation. Among mitigation methods applied, the reduction rate(58.7-90.4%) of radon attributed to ASD was the greatest than that of other methods, followed by Active Ventilation(48.4-78.4%) and Sealing(<22%). The effectiveness of radon reduction by window-shaped Active Ventilation(63.2-75.2%) was relatively better than that of wall-typed Active Ventilation(48.4-54.3%). Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that ASD could be more effective for radon mitigation. Moreover, our findings would be background information in future for making the strategy for radon mitigation nationwide, as well as for developing Korean-version of mitigation techniques according to types of dwellings in Korea.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.165-172
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• 2016

An experimental study of the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of passive safety systems (PSSs) was conducted using a system-integrated modular advanced reactor-integral test loop (SMART-ITL). The present passive safety injection system for the SMART-ITL consists of one train with the core makeup tank (CMT), the safety injection tank, and the automatic depressurization system. The objective of this study is to investigate the injection effect of the PSS on the small-break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLOCA) scenario for a 0.4 inch line break in the safety-injection system (SIS). The steady-state condition was maintained for 746 seconds before the break. When the major parameters of the target value and test results were compared, most of the thermal-hydraulic parameters agreed closely with each other. The water level of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) was maintained higher than that of the fuel assembly plate during the transient, for the present CMT and safety injection tank (SIT) flow rate conditions. It can be seen that the capability of an emergency core cooling system is sufficient during the transient with SMART passive SISs.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.95-103
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• 1999

Low pressure combustion characteristics of the composite solid propellants were studied in terms of the propellant burning rate, ignition processes, and the structure of the extinguished surfaces. Optical Vacuum Strand Burner(OVSB) system was designed and configured for this purpose. Burning rates of the propellants were measured at subatmospheric pressure by developed test method in OVSB. The ignition and combustion phenomena of the studied propellants in the combustion chamber of OVSB were recorded and analyzed with the camera and VCR(30 frames/s). Burning surfaces of the propellants were extinguished by rapid depressurization method and analyzed with Scanning Electron Microscope(SEM).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.79-84
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• 2012

An experiment of rapid pressurization-induced crack propagation of solid propellant was conducted by using a windowed test chamber. A pre-cracked specimen of solid propellant is installed in the chamber, and highly compressed nitrogen gas in an accumulator pressurizes the chamber until the chamber pressure reaches set-up pressure to make the chamber depressurization. Pressure-time trace was obtained from the experimental result, and pressurization rate was defined from the trace. In this study, three pressurization rates (64.34, 73.86 and 85.44 MPa/s) are considered, and propagation lengths are measured. Also, a progression of the crack propagation recorded by a high-speed digital camera is presented.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.685-693
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• 2013

The foams of a poly(lactic acid) modified by the reactive compounding were produced with the batch foaming technique using supercritical $CO_2(scCO_2)$. Experiments were performed at $105{\sim}135^{\circ}C$ and 12~24 MPa. The blowing ratio and foam structure were significantly affected by changing the temperature and pressure conditions in the foaming process. The blowing ratio first increased with increasing foaming temperature and saturation pressure, reached a maximum and then decreased with a further increase in the foaming temperature and saturation pressure. Decreasing the rate of depressurization permitted a longer period of cell growth and therefore larger microcellular structures were obtained.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.34-40
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• 2012

The foaming of poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) using supercritical $CO_2(scCO_2)$ was studied. In order to improve the melt strength, PBS was modified using the reactive compounding technique. Rapid decompression of $scCO_2$-saturated PBS at a temperature above the depressed $T_m$ yielded expanded microcellular foams. The resulting foam structure could be controlled by manipulating process conditions. Experiments varying the foaming temperature while holding other variables constant showed that higher temperatures produced larger cells and reduced cell densities. Higher saturated pressures led to higher nucleation densities and smaller cell sizes. Decreasing the rate of depressurization permitted a longer period of cell growth and therefore larger cells were obtained.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.539-544
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• 2012

An experiment of rapid pressurization-induced crack propagation of solid propellant was conducted by using a windowed test chamber. A pre-cracked specimen of solid propellant is installed in the chamber, and highly compressed nitrogen gas in a accumulator pressurizes the chamber until the chamber pressure reaches set-up pressure to make the chamber depressurization. Pressure-time trace was obtained from the experimental result, and pressurization rate was defined from the trace. In this study, three pressurization rates (64.34, 73.86 and 85.44 MPa/s) are considered, and propagation lengths are measured. Also, a progression of the crack propagation recorded by a high-speed digital camera is presented.