• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.732-740
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• 2021

Scattering resonance of medium mass nuclides leads complex spectrum in the fast reactor, which requires thousands of energy groups in the spectrum calculation. When the broad-group cross sections are collapsed, reaction rate cannot be completely conserved. To eliminate the error from energy collapsing, the Super-homogenization method in energy collapsing (ESPH) was employed in the fast reactor code SARAX. An ESPH factor was derived based on the ESPH-corrected SN transport equation. By applying the factor in problems with reflective boundary condition, both the effective multiplication factor and reaction rate were conserved. The fixed-source iteration was used to ensure the stability of ESPH iteration. However, in the energy collapsing process of SARAX, the vacuum boundary condition was adopted, which was necessary for fast reactors with strong heterogeneity. To further reduce the error caused by leakage, an additional conservation factor was proposed to correct the neutron current in energy collapsing. To evaluate the performance of ESPH with conservation factor, numerical benchmarks of fast reactors were calculated. The results of broad-group calculation agreed well with the direct full-core Monte-Carlo calculation, including the effective multiplication factor, radial power distribution, total control rod worth and sodium void worth.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.7
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• pp.2474-2482
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• 2023

The development of fast reactors with complex designs and operation status requires more accurate and effective simulation. The Monte-Carlo method can generate multi-group cross-sections in arbitrary geometry without approximation on resonances treatment and leads to good results in combination with diffusion codes. However, in previous studies, the coupling of Monte-Carlo generated multi-group cross-sections (MC-MGXS) and transport solvers has shown relatively large biases in fast reactor problems. In this paper, the main contribution to the biases is proved to be the neglect of the angle-dependence of the total cross-sections. The flux-moment homogenization technique (MHT) is proposed to take into account this dependence. In this method, the angular dependence is attributed to the transfer cross-sections, keeping an independent form for the total sections. For the MET-1000 benchmark, the multi-group transport simulation results with MC-MGXS generated with MHT are improved by 700 pcm and an additional 120 pcm with higher order scattering. The factors that cause the residual bias are discussed. The core power distribution bias is also significantly reduced when MHT is used. It proves that the MCMGXS with MHT can be applicable with transport solvers in fast reactor analysis.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.54-59
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• 2023

In this paper, we analyze experimental results by applying the PHILS model to a lab-scale superconducting current limiter system for its actual application in medium-voltage direct current (MVDC) systems. Superconducting current limiters exhibit effective current-limiting performance in circuit breaker operations, particularly in limiting large fault currents within a short period, addressing the challenges posed by the increasing use of renewable energy and the integration of DC medium-voltage distribution systems. The development of such superconducting current limiters faces various technical and cost disadvantages, especially when applying a medium-voltage 35kV level system, which is intended for future introduction. The proven lab-scale superconducting current limiter system and the PHILS model are combined and integrated into the actual system. Our plan involves analyzing the limiter's performance, assessing its impact on the system, and preparing for its application in future medium-voltage systems. Utilizing RTDS, a simulation was conducted by connecting actual scaled-down equipment and systems, with the analysis results presented.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2018

Earthquake disasters that exceed the design criteria can pose significant threats to nuclear facilities. Seismic probabilistic safety assessment(PSA) is a probabilistic way to quantify such risks. Accordingly, seismic PSA has been applied to domestic and overseas nuclear power plants, and the safety of nuclear power plants was evaluated and prepared against earthquake hazards. However, there were few examples where seismic PSA was applied in case of a research reactor with a relatively small size compared to nuclear power plants. Therefore, in this study, seismic PSA technique was applied to actually completed research reactor to analyze its safety. Also, based on these results, the optimization study on the seismic capacity of the system constituting the research reactor was carried out. As a result, the possibility of damage to the core caused by the earthquake hazard was quantified in the research reactor and its safety was confirmed. The optimization study showed that the optimal seismic capacity distribution was obtained to ensure maximum safety at a low cost compared with the current design. These results, in the future, can expect to be used as a quantitative indicator to effectively improve the safety of the research reactor with respect to earthquakes.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.69-75
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• 2009

The effects of welding speed were investigated on penetration characteristics, defects and mechanical properties including formability test in Nd:YAG laser welded 1000MPa grade DP steels. A shielding gas was not used and bead-on-plate welding was performed with various welding speeds at 3.5kW laser power. Defects of surface and inner beads were not observed in all welding speeds. As the welding speed increased, the weld cross-section varied from the trapezoid having wider bottom bead, through X type, finally to V type in partial penetration range of welding speeds. The characteristic of hardness distribution was also investigated. The center of HAZ had maximum hardness, followed by a slight decrease of hardness as approaching to FZ. Significant softening occurred at the HAZ near BM. Regardless of the welding speed, the weld showed approximately the same hardness distribution. In the perpendicular tensile test with respect to the weld direction, all specimens were fractured at the softening zone. In the parallel tensile test to the weld direction, the first crack occurred at weld center and then propagated into the weld. Good formability over 80% was taken for all welding conditions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.7
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• pp.2534-2546
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• 2023

Gas-cooled space reactor, which adopts He-Xe gas mixture as working fluid, is a better choice for megawatt power generation. In this paper, thermal-hydraulic characteristics of He-Xe gas mixture in 2×2 rod bundle wrapped with helical wires is numerically investigated. The velocity, pressure and temperature distribution of the coolant are obtained and analyzed. The results show that the existence of helical wires forms the vortexes and changes the velocity and temperature distribution. Hot spots are found at the contact corners between helical wires and fuel rods. The highest temperature of the hot spots reach 1600K, while the mainstream temperature is less than 400K. The helical wire structure increases the friction pressure drop by 20%-50%. The effect extent varies with the pitch and the number of helical wires. The helical wire structure leads to the reduction of Nusselt number. Comparing thermal-hydraulic performance ratios (THPR) of different structures, the THPR values are all less than 1. It means that gas-cooled space reactor adopting helical wires could not strengthen the core heat removal performance. This work provides the thermal-hydraulic design basis for He-Xe gas cooled space nuclear reactor.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.1-10
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• 2011

Unfortunately, in current microprocessors, increasing the frequency causes increased power consumption and reduced reliability whereas it improves the performance. To overcome the power and thermal problems in the singlecore processors, multicore processors has been widely used. For 2D multicore processors, interconnection is regarded as one of the major constraints in performance and power efficiency. To reduce the performance degradation and the power consumption in 2D multicore processors, 3D integrated design technique has been studied by many researchers. Compared to 2D multicore processors, 3D multicore processors get the benefits of performance improvement and reduced power consumption by reducing the wire length significantly. However, 3D multicore processors have serious thermal problems due to high power density, resulting in reliability degradation. Detailed thermal analysis for multicore processors can be useful in designing thermal-aware processors. In this paper, we analyze the impact of workload distribution, distance to the heat sink, and number of stacked dies on the processor temperature. We also analyze the effects of the temperature on overall system performance. Especially, this paper presents the guideline for thermal-aware multicore processor design by analyzing the thermal problems in 2D multicore processors and 3D multicore processors.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.151-164
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• 2009

Strategic alliances developed as formalized inter-organizational relationships are core vehicles to share information, resources and knowledge. The structural characteristics of strategic network constructed by strategic alliances have been important agenda in strategic management discipline. This paper has two folds in analysing the strategic network formulated by project level alliances in Korean construction industry. First, we investigate the strategic network using the tools and methods of social network analysis, such as centrality, cohesion, structural equivalence, and power law. Second, the performance of firms within networks are analysed longitudinally with panel data analysis. We have found that the strategic networks in this industry has scale-free characteristics, where the degree distribution fits the power law, and the vertically equivalent structure is clear. We also present that the performance of firms are continuously affected by the degree centrality of firms in this network for the last 10 years.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.2170-2174
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• 2005

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is a useful rapid prototyping technique for the manufacture of three dimensional (3D) solid objects directly from a scanning data. A new approach called a Selective Multi-Laser Sintering (SMLS) system has been developed at Korea Institute Machinery & Materials (KIMM) as an industrial type SFFS. This SMLS machine is built with a frame, heaters, nitrogen supply part, laser system. This system uses the dual laser and 3D scanner made in $Solutionix^{TM}$ to improve the precision and speed for large objects. The three-dimensional solid objects are made of polyamide powder. The investigation on each part of SMLS system is performed to determine the proper theirs design and the effect of experimental parameters on making the 3D objects. The temperature of the system has a great influence on sintering the polymer. Because the stability of the powder temperature prevents the deformation of each layer, the controls of the temperature in both the system and the powders are very important during the process. Therefore, we simulated the temperature distribution of build room using the temperature analysis with ANSYS program. Selected radiant heater is used to raise temperature of powder to melting point temperature. The laser parameters such as scan spacing, scan speed, laser power and laser delay time affect the production the 3D objects too. The combination of the slow scan speed and the high laser power shows the good results without the layer curling. The work is under way to evaluate the effect of experimental parameters on process and to produce the various objects. We are going to experiment continuously to improve the size accuracy and surface roughness.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.1881-1891
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• 2000

Cenosphere particles of different fly ash formed at the pulverized coal power plant were hollow sphere or filled with small particles inside solid particles. And size was relatively larger than other fly ash particles as well as specific gravity was small to suspend in the water. In this paper, it was demonstrated to contain a variety of morphological particle type, and the physical and chemical properties related to the cenosphere and fly ash particles. Furthermore it was estimated the possibility to reuse the cenosphere particles on the base of cenosphere properties. Cenosphere formation resulted from melting of mineral inclusion in coal, and then gas generation inside the molten droplet. As the aluminosilicate particle was progressively heated, a molten surface layer developed around the solid core. Further heating leaded to cause the formation of fine particles at the core. The mass median diameter(MMD) of cenosphere particles was $123.11{\mu}m$ and the range of size distribution was $100{\sim}200{\mu}m$ with single modal. It was represented that specific density was $0.67g/cm^3$ fineness was $1135g/cm^3$. The chemical components of cenosphere were similar to other fly ash including $SiO_2$, $Al_2O_3$, but the amount of the chemical component was different respectively. In the case of fly ash, $SiO_2$ concentration was 54.75%, and $Al_2O_3$ concentration was 21.96%, so this two components was found in 76.71% of the total concentration. But in the case of cenosphere, it was represented that $SiO_2$ concentration was 59.17% and $Al_2O_3$ concentration was 30.16%, so this two components was found in 89.33% of the total concentration. Glassy component formed by the aluminosilicate was high in the cenosphere, so that it was suitable to use insulating heat material.