• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.3766-3777
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• 2022

It is essential to ensure the safety of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) transport cask in drop situation that is included in transport accident scenarios. The safety of the drop situation is affected by the impact absorption performance of impact limiters. Therefore, when designing an impact limiter, the uncertainty in the material properties that affect the impact absorption performance must be considered. In this study, the material properties of the wood inside the impact limiter were selected as the variables for a parametric study. The sensitivity analysis of the drop response of the SNF transport cask with impact limiter was performed. The minimum wood strength required to prevent a direct collision between the cask and floor was derived from the analysis results. In addition, the plastic strain response was analyzed and strain-based evaluation was performed. Based on this result, the critical values of wood properties that change the impact dynamic characteristics were investigated. Finally, the optimal material properties of wood were obtained to secure the structural safety of the SNF transport cask. The results of this study can contribute to the development of SNF transport cask, thereby ensuring safety in transport accident conditions.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.576-587
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• 2020

Objectives: This study calculated local residents exposures to VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) released into the atmosphere using the CalTOX model and carried out uncertainty analysis and sensitivity analysis. The model validity was analyzed by comparing the predicted and the actual atmospheric concentrations. Methods: Uncertainty was parsed by conducting a Monte Carlo simulation. Sensitivity was dissected with the regression (coefficients) method. The model validity was analyzed by applying r² (coefficient of determination), RMSE (root mean square error), and the Nash-Sutcliffe EI (efficiency index) formula. Results: Among the concentrations in the atmosphere in this study, benzene was the highest and the lifetime average daily dose of benzene and the average daily dose of xylene were high. In terms of the sensitivity analysis outcome, the source term to air, exposure time, indoors resting (ETri), exposure time, outdoors at home (ETao), yearly average wind speed (v_w), contaminated area in ㎡ (Area), active breathing rate (BRa), resting breathing rate (BRr), exposure time, and active indoors (ETai) were elicited as input variables having great influence upon this model. In consequence of inspecting the validity of the model, r² appeared to be a value close to 1 and RMSE appeared to be a value close to 0, but EI indicated unacceptable model efficiency. To supplement this value, the regression formula was derived for benzene with y=0.002+15.48x, ethylbenzene with y ≡ 0.001+57.240x, styrene with y=0.000+42.249x, toluene with y=0.004+91.588x, and xylene with y=0.000+0.007x. Conclusions: In consequence of inspecting the validity of the model, r² appeared to be a value close to 1 and RMSE appeared to be a value close to 0, but EI indicated unacceptable model efficiency. This will be able to be used as base data for securing the accuracy and reliability of the model.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.267-273
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• 2003

Steel fiber may be used to raise the effectiveness and safety of reinforced concrete structure and to relax its brittle-fracture behavior. However it is to be clearly stated that the uncertainty for the strength of fiber reinforced concrete(SFRC) is rather increased. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the safety of SFRC beam using reliability analysis incorporating realistic uncertainty. This study presents the statistical data and proposes the limit state model to analyze the reliability of SFRC bear In order to verify the efficiency of the proposed limit state model, its numerical application and sensitivity analysis were performed for a continuous SFRC beam. From the results of the numerical analysis, it is founded that the reliability of SFRC beam is significantly difficult from the conventional RC beams and proposed limit state model (or SFRC beam is more rational compared with that for conventional RC beams. Then it may be stated that the reliability analysis of SFRC beams must be carried out for the development of design criteria and the safety assessment.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.47-57
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• 2018

This study implemented the rainfall-runoff analysis of the Mekong River basin using the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool). The runoff analysis was simulated for 2000~2007, and 11 parameters were calibrated using the SUFI-2 (Sequential Uncertainty Fitting-version 2) algorithm of SWAT-CUP (Calibration and Uncertainty Program). As a result of analyzing optimal parameters and sensitivity analysis for 6 cases, the parameter ALPHA_BF was found to be the most sensitive. The reproducibility of the rainfall-runoff results decreased with increasing number of stations used for parameter calibration. The rainfall-runoff simulation results of Case 6 showed that the RMSE of Nong Khai and Kratie stations were 0.97 and 0.9, respectively, and the runoff patterns were relatively accurately simulated. The runoff patterns of Mukdahan and Khong Chaim stations were underestimated during the flood season from 2004 to 2005 but it was acceptable in terms of the overall runoff pattern. These results suggest that the combination of SWAT and SWAT-CUP models is applicable to very large watersheds such as the Mekong for rainfall-runoff simulation, but further studies are needed to reduce the range of modeling uncertainty.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.767-790
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• 2013

MAAP4 is a computer code that can simulate the response of a light water reactor power plant during severe accident sequences, including actions taken as part of accident management. The code quantitatively predicts the evolution of a severe accident starting from full power conditions given a set of system faults and initiating events through events such as core melt, reactor vessel failure, and containment failure. Furthermore, models are included in the code to represent the actions that could mitigate the accident by in-vessel cooling, external cooling of the reactor pressure vessel, or cooling the debris in containment. A key element tied to using a code like MAAP4 is an uncertainty analysis. The purpose of this paper is to present a MAAP4 based analysis to examine the sensitivity of a key parameter, in this case hydrogen production, to a set of model parameters that are related to a Level 2 PRA analysis. The Level 2 analysis examines those sequences that result in core melting and subsequent reactor pressure vessel failure and its impact on the containment. This paper identifies individual contributors and MAAP4 model parameters that statistically influence hydrogen production. Hydrogen generation was chosen because of its direct relationship to oxidation. With greater oxidation, more heat is added to the core region and relocation (core slump) should occur faster. This, in theory, would lead to shorter failure times and subsequent "hotter" debris pool on the containment floor.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.7
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• pp.1043-1050
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• 2018

For an efficient Monte Carlo (MC) burnup analysis, an accurate high-order depletion scheme to consider the nonlinear flux variation in a coarse burnup-step interval is crucial accompanied with an accurate depletion equation solver. In a Seoul National University MC code, McCARD, the high-order depletion schemes of the quadratic depletion method (QDM) and the linear extrapolation/quadratic interpolation (LEQI) method and a depletion equation solver by the Chebyshev rational approximation method (CRAM) have been newly implemented in addition to the existing constant extrapolation/backward extrapolation (CEBE) method using the matrix exponential method (MEM) solver with substeps. In this paper, the quadratic extrapolation/quadratic interpolation (QEQI) method is proposed as a new high-order depletion scheme. In order to examine the effectiveness of the newly-implemented depletion modules in McCARD, four problems in the VERA depletion benchmarks are solved by CEBE/MEM, CEBE/CRAM, LEQI/MEM, QEQI/MEM, and QDM for gadolinium isotopes. From the comparisons, it is shown that the QEQI/MEM predicts ${k_{inf}}^{\prime}s$ most accurately among the test cases. In addition, statistical uncertainty propagation analyses for a VERA pin cell problem are conducted by the sensitivity and uncertainty and the stochastic sampling methods.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.419-433
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• 2016

One of the important severe accident management measures in the Light Water Reactors is water injection to the reactor core. The related phenomena are investigated by performing experiments and computer simulations. One of the most widely known is the QUENCH test-program. A number of analyses on QUENCH tests have also been performed by different computer codes for code validation and improvements. Unfortunately, any deterministic computer simulation is not free from the uncertainties. To receive the realistic calculation results, the best estimate computer codes should be used for the calculation with combination of uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of calculation results. In this article, the QUENCH-03 and QUENCH-06 experiments are modelled using ASTEC and RELAP/SCDAPSIM codes. For the uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, SUSA3.5 and SUNSET tools were used. The article demonstrates that applying the best estimate approach, it is possible to develop basic QUENCH input deck and to develop the two sets of input parameters, covering maximal and minimal ranges of uncertainties. These allow simulating different (but with the same nature) tests, receiving calculation results with the evaluated range of uncertainties.

• Bulletin of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.77-80
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• 1994

본 고에서는 해양구조물의 피로수명 해석의 불확실성의 요인들을 살펴보고, 간단한 모델을 사용 하여 각 요인들이 피로수명 해석에 미치는 영향을 살펴보고자 한다. 피로수명해석에는 일반적으 로 SN곡선을 이용하는 방법과 파괴역학을 이용하는 방법이 사용되고 있지만 여기서는 SN곡선을 이용하는 방법에 관해서만 논하기로 한다.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.5
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• pp.549-561
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• 2018

Sobol method is applied as a powerful variance decomposition technique in the field of global sensitivity analysis (GSA). The paper is devoted to increase convergence speed of the extracted Sobol indices using a new proposed sampling technique called genetic based Latine hypercube sampling (GBLHS). This technique is indeed an improved version of restricted Latine hypercube sampling (LHS) and the optimization algorithm is inspired from genetic algorithm in a new approach. The new approach is based on the optimization of minimax value of LHS arrays using manipulation of array indices as chromosomes in genetic algorithm. The improved Sobol method is implemented to perform factor prioritization and fixing of an uncertain comprehensive high speed rotor-bearing system. The finite element method is employed for rotor-bearing modeling by considering Eshleman-Eubanks assumption and interaction of axial force on the rotor whirling behavior. The performance of the GBLHS technique are compared with the Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS), LHS and Optimized LHS (Minimax. criteria). Comparison of the GBLHS with other techniques demonstrates its capability for increasing convergence speed of the sensitivity indices and improving computational time of the GSA.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.287-295
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• 2020

Group method of data handling (GMDH) is considered one of the earliest deep learning methods. Deep learning gained additional interest in today's applications due to its capability to handle complex and high dimensional problems. In this study, multi-layer GMDH networks are used to perform uncertainty quantification (UQ) and sensitivity analysis (SA) of nuclear reactor simulations. GMDH is utilized as a surrogate/metamodel to replace high fidelity computer models with cheap-to-evaluate surrogate models, which facilitate UQ and SA tasks (e.g. variance decomposition, uncertainty propagation, etc.). GMDH performance is validated through two UQ applications in reactor simulations: (1) low dimensional input space (two-phase flow in a reactor channel), and (2) high dimensional space (8-group homogenized cross-sections). In both applications, GMDH networks show very good performance with small mean absolute and squared errors as well as high accuracy in capturing the target variance. GMDH is utilized afterward to perform UQ tasks such as variance decomposition through Sobol indices, and GMDH-based uncertainty propagation with large number of samples. GMDH performance is also compared to other surrogates including Gaussian processes and polynomial chaos expansions. The comparison shows that GMDH has competitive performance with the other methods for the low dimensional problem, and reliable performance for the high dimensional problem.