• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.9
• /
• pp.2847-2858
• /
• 2021

When a nuclear reactor with rectangular fuel assemblies runs for a long time, impurities and debris may be taken into coolant channels, which may cause flow blockage, and the blocked fuel assemblies might be destroyed. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to perform a thermal-hydraulic analysis of a rectangular fuel assembly by STAR-CCM+, under the condition of one subchannel with 80% blockage ratio. A rectangular fuel assembly of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 10 MW material test reactor (MTR) is chosen. In view of the gasket material taken into the coolant channel is close to the single side of the coolant channel, in the flow blockage accident of the Oak Ridge Research Reactor (ORRR), a new blockage category called single side blockage is attempted. The blockage positions include inlet, middle and outlet, and the blockage is set as a cuboid. It is found by simulations that the blockage redistributes the mass flow rate, and large vortices appear locally. The peak temperature of the cladding is maximum, when the blockage is located at the single side of the coolant channel inlet, and no boiling occurs in all blockage cases. Moreover, as the height of the blockage increases, the damage caused by the blockage increases slightly.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.98-106
• /
• 2014

The effect of blockage ratio on wind tunnel testing of small vertical-axis wind turbine has been investigated in this study. Height and rotor diameter of the three blades Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine used in present test were 0.4m and 0.35m respectively. We measured the wind speeds and power coefficient at three different wind tunnels where blockage ratio were 3.5%, 13.4% and 24.7% respectively. The test results show that the measured powers have been strongly influenced by blockage ratio, generally increased as the blockage ratio increases. The maximum power at higher blockage ratio has been obtained at relatively high tip speed ratio compared with that at low blockage ratio. The measured power coefficients under high blockage ratio can be improved from proper correction using the simple correction equation based on blockage factor. In present study, the correction error for power coefficient can be less than 5%, however correction effectiveness reveals relatively poor at high blockage ratio and low wind speed.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2002.08a
• /
• pp.47-50
• /
• 2002

The numerical simulation of a 271-rod fuel assembly of nuclear Liquid-Metal Fast Reactor (LMFR) with an infernal blockage has been carried out. Internal blockage within a subassembly is addressed in the safety assessment because it potentially has very serious consequences for the reactor as a whole. Three dimensional calculations were performed using the SABRE4 computer code for the range of blockage positions and sizes to investigate the seriousness and detectability of the internal blockage. The magnitude and location of the peak temperatures together with the temperature distribution at the subassembly exit were calculated in order to look at the potential for damage within the subassembly, and the possibility of blockage detection. The analysis result shows that the 6-subchannel blockage causes large temperature rise within a assembly with practically no change in mixed mean temperature at the assembly exit.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.1 no.4
• /
• pp.351-364
• /
• 1998

In wind tunnel experiments, the blockage effect is a very important factor which affects the test results significantly. A number of investigations into this problem, especially on the blockage correction of drag coefficient, have been carried out in the past. However, only a limited number of works have been reported on the wind tunnel blockage effect on wind-induced vibration although it is considered to be fairly important. This paper discusses the aerodynamic characteristics of the square model and square model with corner cut based on a series of the wind tunnel tests with various blockage ratios and angles of attack. From the test results, the aerodynamic behavior of square models with up to 10% blockage ratio are almost the same and square models with up to 10% blockage ratio can be tested as a group which behaves similarly.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.55 no.3
• /
• pp.999-1008
• /
• 2023

Deformed fuel rods can cause a partial blockage of the flow area in a subchannel. Such flow blockage will influence the core coolant flow and further the core heat transfer during the reflooding phase and subsequent severe accidents. Nevertheless, most of the system analysis codes simulate the accident process based on the assumed flow blockage ratio, resulting in inconsistencies between simulated results and actual conditions. This paper aims to study the influence of flow blockage in severe accident scenario of the CAP1400 reactor. First, the flow blockage model of ISAA code is improved based on the FRTMB module. Then, the ISAA-FRTMB coupling system is adopted to model and calculate the QUENCH-LOCA-0 experiment. The correctness and validity of the flow blockage model are verified by comparing the peak cladding temperature. Finally, the DVI Line-SBLOCA accident is induced to analyze the influence of flow blockage on subsequent CAP1400 reactor core heat transfer and core degradation. From the results of the DVI Line-SBLOCA accident analysis, it can be concluded that the blockage ratio is in the range of 40%-60%, and the position of severe blockage is the same as that of cladding rupture. The blockage reduces the circulation area of the core coolant, which in turn impacts the heat exchange between the core and the coolant, leading to the early failure and collapse of some core assemblies and accelerating the core degradation process.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.43-50
• /
• 2007

A partial flow blockage in an assembly of a liquid metal reactor could result in a cooling deficiency of the core. To develop a partial blockage detection system, we have studied the changes of the temperature fluctuation characteristics in the upper plenum according to changes of the t10w blockage conditions in an assembly. We analyzed the temperature fluctuation in the upper plenum with the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence model in the CFX code and evaluated its statistical parameters. Based on the results of the statistical analyses, we developed a neural network model for detecting a partial flow blockage in an assembly. The neural network model can retrieve the size and the location of a flow blockage in an assembly from a change of the root mean square, the standard deviation, and the skewness in the temperature fluctuation data. The neural network model was found to be a possible alternative by which to identify a flow blockage in an assembly of a liquid metal reactor through learning and validating various flow blockage conditions.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.597-616
• /
• 2020

The blockage effect on the aerodynamic characteristics of tall buildings is a fundamental issue in wind tunnel test but has rarely been addressed. To evaluate the blockage effects on the aerodynamic forces on a square tall building and flow field peripherally, large eddy simulations (LES) were performed on a 3D square cylinder with an aspect ratio of 6:1 under the uniform smooth inflow and turbulent atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) inflow generated by the narrowband synthesis random flow generator (NSRFG). First, a basic case at a blockage ratio (BR) of 0.8% was conducted to validate the adopted numerical methodology. Subsequently, simulations were systematically performed at 6 different BRs. The simulation results were compared in detail to illustrate the differences induced by the blockage, and the mechanism of the blockage effects under turbulent inflow was emphatically analysed. The results reveal that the pressure coefficients, the aerodynamic forces, and the Strouhal number increase monotonically with BRs. Additionally, the increase of BR leads to more coherence of the turbulent structures and the higher intensity of the vortices in the vicinity of the building. Moreover, the blockage effects on the aerodynamic forces and flow field are more significant under smooth inflow than those under turbulent inflow.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.33 no.8
• /
• pp.42-49
• /
• 2005

A new blockage correction method has been developed for the wall interference correction of closed test-section subsonic wind tunnels based on the nonlinear relationship between separation blockage and separation drag. This method can be applied continuously from the linear lift-slope region to the highly nonlinear post-stall region by on-line processing. The present method was validated by comparing the results with a classical method based on the test results of a bluff body and a measured-boundary-condition method. It was shown that the present method is in good agreement with the measured-boundary-condition method, enabling better wall corrections than the bluff body method in both near-stall and post-stall regions.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
• /
• v.39C no.9
• /
• pp.757-766
• /
• 2014

To compensate signal loss due to the channel blockage in satellite communication link, we propose a cooperative communication scheme for OTM(On-The-Move) terminal in next generation satellite communication systems. The proposed scheme configures cooperation subnet with adjacent OTM terminal with the help of ground communication equipment. Shared data is spread by orthogonal spreading code, then the spread sequences are transmitted simultaneously. The receiver combines the power of received signals by EGC(Equal gain combining). The OTM terminal blockage channel is modeled by 2-state Markov chain. We evaluate the bit error rate according to the blockage channel of the channel state for the performance analysis of the proposed scheme. As a result, the proposed scheme shows better BER performance than traditional scheme with the help of subset members. In particular, the proposed scheme shows superior performance as the channel block probability is higher. However, as the number of subset members is increasing, there is a constraint because of the higher multiple access interference.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.35 no.2 s.121
• /
• pp.55-63
• /
• 2007

The purpose of this study is to create a planting design for progressive realization. For this, visual preferences as measured via questionnaire were evaluated by the Scenic Beauty Estimation(SBE) and paired comparison methods. The results can be summarized as follows. Through photo observation, the average visual blockage ratio was 38% and the range of degree of the visual blockage ratio was $30{\sim}50%$. The sketch simulation and filtered pattern received the highest preference score and fumed out to be the most practical pattern out of all the patterns evaluated. Also, in the sketch simulation, the high preference values were observed for a distance of 9 to 12m from the view point to the blockage tree with a D/H ratio of 2. The preference score significantly decreased with the increase of the visual blockage ratio having a turning point at $30{\sim}35%$ of the visual blockage ratio, even though the distance parameters were more important than the visual blockage ratio in the scores. An outstanding view must be handled properly to be preserved or accentuated. Framed, open, enclosed, screened or filtered pattern views should be completely revealed only from their best vantage point, not given away at first glimpse. It this sense, parallax spatial beauty with trees could be improved through the visual aspects of plan arrangements and seems to be an effective design technique for landscape planning and planting design.