• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 1996

The in-reactor fuel rod support conditions against the fretting wear-induced damage can be evaluated by residual spacer grid spring deflection or rod-to-grid gap. In order to evaluate the impact of fuel design parameters on the fretting wear-induced damage, a simulation methodology of the in-reactor fuel rod supporting conditions as a function of burnup has been developed and implemented in the GRIDFORCE program. The simulation methodology takes into account cladding creep rate, initial spring deflection, initial spring force, and spring force relaxation rate as the key fuel design parameters affecting the in-reactor fuel rod supporting conditions. Based on the parametric studies on these key parameters, it is found that the initial spring deflection, the spring force relaxation rate and cladding creepdown rate are in the order of the impact on the in-reactor fuel rod supporting conditions. Application of this simulation methodology to the fretting wear-induced failure experienced in a commercial plant indicates that this methodology can be utilized as an effective tool in evaluating the capability of newly developed cladding materials and/or new spacer grid designs against the fretting wear-induced damage.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.483-490
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• 1999

In this paper, the cost-effective design of output reactor which is USCD to suppress the over-voltage at the m motor terminal in the Adjustable Speed Drives(ASD) application is proposed. In the elevator drive svstem. the R IXlwer cable length is relatively shorter than other ASD applications and then the over voltage at the motor terminal depends on the frequency characteristics of the output reactor at the over voltage operating frequency. The over-voltage suppression mechanism of output reactor in ASD application is analyzed and the dominant parameters of output reactor for the over-voltage supression are extracted. Using these as the design values and considering the high frequency characteristics of iron core in the reactor. a new c cost-effective structure of output reactor is proposed. Experimental results of the conventional reactor and the p proposed reactor with a l5kW induction motor are given to verify the propoSLD scheme.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.93-102
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• 2021

The analysis of the fluid flow characteristics in reactor pressure vessel is an important part of the hydraulic design of nuclear power plant, which is related to the structure design of reactor internals, the flow distribution at core inlet and the safety of nuclear power plant. The flow distribution and mixing characteristics in the pressurized reactor vessel for the 1000MWe advanced pressurized water reactor is analyzed by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method in this study. The geometry model of the full-scaled reactor vessel is built, which includes the cold and hot legs, downcomer, lower plenum, core, upper plenum, top plenum, and is verified with some parameters in DCD. Under normal condition, it is found that the flow skirt, core plate holes and outlet pipe cause pressure loss. The maximum and minimum flow coefficient is 1.028 and 0.961 respectively, and the standard deviation is 0.019. Compared with other reactor type, it shows relatively uniform of the flow distribution at the core inlet. The coolant mixing coefficient is investigated with adding additional variables, showing that mass transfer of coolant occurs near the interface. The coolant mainly distributes in the 90° area of the corresponding core inlet, and mixes at the interface with the coolant from the adjacent cold leg. 0.1% of corresponding coolant is still distributed at the inlet of the outer-ring components, indicating wide range of mixing coefficient distribution.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.285-292
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• 1999

The design parameter of the reactor vessel insulation for the Korea Standard Power Plant has been studied numerically. The heat loss from the reactor vessel through the insulation is analysed by using the computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT. Parametric study has been performed on the air gap width between the reactor vessel wall and the inner surface of the insulation, and on the insulation thickness. Also evaluated is the performance degradation due to the chimney effect caused by gaps between the panels during the installation of the insulation system. From the analysis results, the optimal air gap width and the optimal insulation thickness are obtained.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.117-131
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• 2002

Core disruptive accidents have been investigated at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute(KAERI) as part of the work to demonstrate the inherent and ultimate safety of conceptual design of the Korea Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor(KALIMER), a 150 MWe pool- type sodium cooled prototype fast reactor that uses U-Pu-Zr metallic fuel. In this study, a simple method and associated computer program, SCHAMBETA, was developed using a modified Bethe-Tait method to simulate the kinetics and thermodynamic behavior of a homogeneous spherical core over the period of the super-prompt critical power excursion induced by the ramp reactivity insertion. Calculations of the energy release during excursions in the sodium-voided core of the KALIMER were subsequently performed using the SCHAMBETA code for various reactivity insertion rates up to 100 S/s, which has been widely considered to be the upper limit of ramp rates due to fuel compaction. Benchmark calculations were made to compare with the results of more detailed analysis for core meltdown energetics of the oxide fuelled fast reactor. A set of parametric studies were also performed to investigate the sensitivity of the results on the various thermodynamics and reactor parameters.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1992.10b
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• pp.100-105
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• 1992

A mathematical model is developed for a CSTR in which free radical solution polymerization of methyl methacrylate(MMA) takes place. It turns out that five ordinary differential equations are to be treated simultaneously in order to predict the reactor performance. Although the reaction proceeds under the conditions of relatively low temperature and pressure, the system shows very complex bifurcation features due to the diffusion limitation (gel effect) and the temperature dependence of the kinetic parameters and physical properties. The effects of various system parameters on the reactor performance as well as on the polymer properties are investigated by using the bifurcation analysis. The application of the singularity theory enables us to divide the parameter space into several different regions, in each of which the system takes a unique steady state structure. Under certain circumstances, complex dynamic features such as HB points and limit cycles are observed and these should be taken into consideration in the reactor design.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.42-55
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• 1999

A mathematical model for biological nutrient removal in a sequencing batch reactor process, which is based on the IAWQ Activated Sludge Model No. 2 with a few modifications, has been developed. Twenty water quality components and twenty three kinetic equations are incorporated in the model. The model is structured in the matrix form based on the law of mass conservation using stoichiometry and kinetic equations. Stoichiometric coefficients and kinetic parameters included in the model equations are chosen from the literature. A multistep predictor-corrector algorithm of variable step-size is adopted for solving the vector nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The simulation for experimental results is conducted to evaluate the validity of the model and to calibrate coefficients and parameters. The simulation using the model well represents the experimental results from laboratory. The mathematical model developed in this study may be utilized for the design and operation of a sequencing batch reactor process under the steady and unsteady-state at various environmental conditions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.7
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• pp.1138-1147
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• 2018

Delayed hydride cracking (DHC) is an important failure mechanism for Zircaloy tubes in the demanding environment of nuclear reactors. The threshold stress intensity factor, $K_{IH}$, and critical hydride length, $l_C$, are important parameters to evaluate DHC. Theoretical models of them are developed for Zircaloy tubes undergoing non-homogenous temperature loading, with new stress distributions ahead of the crack tip and thermal stresses involved. A new stress distribution in the plastic zone ahead of the crack tip is proposed according to the fracture mechanics theory of second-order estimate of plastic zone size. The developed models with fewer fitting parameters are validated with the experimental results for $K_{IH}$ and $l_C$. The research results for radial cracking cases indicate that a better agreement for $K_{IH}$ can be achieved; the negative axial thermal stresses can lessen $K_{IH}$ and enlarge the critical hydride length, so its effect should be considered in the safety evaluation and constraint design for fuel rods; the critical hydride length $l_C$ changes slightly in a certain range of stress intensity factors, which interprets the phenomenon that the DHC velocity varies slowly in the steady crack growth stage. Besides, the sensitivity analysis of model parameters demonstrates that an increase in yield strength of zircaloy will result in a decrease in the critical hydride length $l_C$, and $K_{IH}$ will firstly decrease and then have a trend to increase with the yield strength of Zircaloy; higher fracture strength of hydrided zircaloy will lead to very high values of threshold stress intensity factor and critical hydride length at higher temperatures, which might be the main mechanism of crack arrest for some Zircaloy materials.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2435-2443
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• 2022

The once-through steam generator used in the small modular reactor needs to consider the stability of the outlet steam pressure and steam superheat of the secondary circuit to achieve better operating efficiency. For this reason, this paper designs a controllable operation scheme for the steam pressure and superheat of the small reactor once-through steam generator. On this basis, designs a variable universe fuzzy controller, first, design the fuzzy control rules to make the controller adjust the PI controller parameters according to the change of the error; secondly, use the domain adjustment factor to further subdivide the input and output domain of the fuzzy controller according to the change of the error, to improve the system control performance. The simulation results show that the operation scheme proposed in this paper have better system performance than the original scheme of the small reactor system, and controller proposed in this paper have better control performance than traditional PI controller and fuzzy PI controller, what's more, the designed control system also showed better anti-disturbance performance in lifting experiment between 100% and 80% working conditions. Finally, the experimental platform formed by connecting the digital small reactor with Matlab/Simulink through OPC(OLE for Process Control) communication technology also verified the feasibility of the proposed scheme.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.369-376
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• 2019

A complete solution for a soluble-boron-free (SBF) small modular reactor (SMR) is pursued with a new burnable absorber concept, namely centrally-shielded burnable absorber (CSBA). Neutronic flexibility of the CSBA design has been discussed with fuel assembly (FA) analyses. Major design parameters and goals of the SBF SMR are discussed in view of the reactor core design and three CSBA designs are introduced to achieve both a very low burnup reactivity swing (BRS) and minimal residual reactivity of the CSBA. It is demonstrated that the core achieves a long cycle length (~37 months) and high burnup (~30 GWd/tU), while the BRS is only about 1100 pcm and the radial power distribution is rather flat. This research also introduces a supplementary reactivity control mechanism using stainless steel as mechanical shim (MS) rod to obtain the criticality during normal operation. A further analysis is performed to investigate the local power peaking of the CSBA-loaded FA at MS-rodded condition. Moreover, a simple $B_4C$-based control rod arrangement is proposed to assure a sufficient shutdown margin even at the cold-zero-power condition. All calculations in this neutronic-thermal hydraulic coupled investigation of the 3D SBF SMR core are completed by a two-step Monte Carlo-diffusion hybrid methodology.