Development and analysis of LOCA sequences for severe accident risk database

Although a Level 2 PSA has been performed for the Korean Standard Power Plants (KSNPs), and that it considered the necessary sequences for an assessment of the containment integrity and source term analysis. In terms of an accident management, however, more cases causing severe core damage need to be analyzed and arranged systematically for an easy access of the results. At present, KAERI is intensively calculating the severe accident sequences for various initiating events and generating a database for the accident progression including thermal hydraulic and source term behaviors. The developed database (DB) system includes a graphical display for a plant and equipment status, previous research results by a knowledge-based technique, and the expected plant behavior. The plant model used in this paper is oriented to the cases of LOCAs related to severe accident phenomena and thus can simulate the plant behaviors of a severe accident. Therefore, the developed system may play a central role as an information's source during the decision-making for a severe accident management, and be used as a training simulator for a severe accident management.     

Thermodynamically Stable SiwCxNyOz Polymer-Like, Amorphous Ceramics Made from Organic Precursors

This communication reports new results on the enthalpy of formation of pseudo-amorphous ceramic compounds constituted from silicon, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen (SiCNO), made from the polymer route. Again, like the SiCO materials, although with one exception, the enthalpy of formation from crystalline components (SiO₂ cristobalite, β-Si₃N₄, SiC, and excess C) is negative. Some of the alloyed oxygen–nitrogen compositions yield enthalpies that are much more negative (∼100 kJ/g·atom) in comparison with compositions that contain mainly oxygen or nitrogen (∼20 kJ/g·atom). The exception, having a N/O ratio near 2, has a positive value for the enthalpy. This may reflect the presence of nanoclusters of stoichiometric Si₂N₂O instead of the pseudo-amorphous nanodomain structure seen for the other samples.     

Practical issues and solutions on installation of viscoelastic dampers in a 46‐story reinforced concrete building structure

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of viscoelastic dampers (VEDs) practically used for enhancing the serviceability of a 46‐story reinforced concrete residential building structure. Considering that a bracing system for the installation of VEDs is not appropriate for a residential building because it occupies a large interior space, a method for installing VEDs at the midspan of a horizontal beam connecting the core and exterior columns is proposed. These VEDs control the total structural response in a similar way to a general outrigger system. The results from numerical analysis indicate that VEDs are effective for reducing not only mean components but also fluctuating ones of wind‐induced responses by providing additional damping as well as stiffness. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of blend composition on the morphology development of electrospun fibres based on PAN/PMMA blends

BACKGROUND: The aim of the work presented was to determine the morphology development and relevant change in fibre diameter of a binary polymer blend system during an electrospinning process. The size of the fibre diameter is one of the important factors determining the general properties of non‐woven mats formed from electrospun fibres. RESULTS: The morphology and diameter of electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) blends were investigated as a function of blend ratio using scanning electron microscopy. The diameter of the electrospun PAN/PMMA fibres decreased with increasing PMMA content up to 50 wt%, and then increased again with further increase of PMMA. After thermal treatment, the fibres shrank, and an irregularly shaped morphology was observed. CONCLUSION: The electrospinning of incompatible PAN/PMMA blends leads to a microphase‐separation morphology of fibres. A phase inversion occurs at a PMMA content of between 50 and 75 wt%. Due to the phase inversion, the fibre diameter shows a minimum value at the relevant composition. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Preparation of Silica Nanostructured Spheres by Sol Spray Drying

Silica nanostructured spheres were obtained by spray drying of silica sol prepared in situ. Their morphologies were significantly affected by the aggregation of the primary particles in the sol. They had the mode of the pore sizes which was about the same order as Laser Particle Size Analyzer (LPA) diameter. Increasing the mixing ratio of the larger particles (20 nm) to smaller ones (7 nm) decreased the Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) specific surface area, as expected. Pore volume decreased with the pore size distribution broadened and the mean pore diameter was not affected by the increase, due to the decrease in aggregation of the primary particles. Either the increase in the drying temperature and use of ethanol as a cosolvent made the agglomerates hollower, the larger of which with thinner shell transformed to doughnut type agglomerates, due to the structural and hydrodynamic instabilities.     

A 0.9 V 92 dB Double-Sampled Switched-RC Delta-Sigma Audio ADC

A 0.9 V third-order double-sampled delta-sigma audio ADC is presented. A new method using a combination of a switched-RC technique and a floating switched-capacitor double-sampling configuration enabled low-voltage operation without clock boosting or bootstrapping. A three-level quantizer with simple dynamic element matching was used to improve linearity. The prototype IC implemented in a 0.13 CMOS process achieves 92 dB DR, 91 dB SNR and 89 dB SNDR in a 24 kHz audio signal bandwidth, while consuming 1.5 mW from a 0.9 V supply. The prototype operates from 0.65 V to 1.5 V supply with minimal performance degradation.     

Influence of precursor solution coating parameters on structural and dielectric properties of PZT thick films

Ferroelectric PZT(70/30) thick films were fabricated by the hybrid technique adding the sol-coating process to the normal screen-printing process to obtain a good densification. The screen-printing procedure was repeated four times to form PZT(70/30) thick films, and then PZT(30/70) precursor solution was spin-coated on the PZT thick films. All PZT thick films showed the typical XRD patterns of a perovskite polycrystalline structure. The thickness of all thick films was approximately 75–80 μm. The relative dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the PZT-6 thick film were 656 and 1.2%, respectively. The remanent polarization increased and coercive field decreased with increasing the number of sol coatings and the values of the PZT-6 thick films were 28.3 μC/cm² and 13.1 kV/cm, respectively. Leakage current density of PZT-6 thick films was 2.4 × 10⁻⁹ A/cm² at 100 kV/cm.     

Improvement of denitrification by denitrifying phosphorus removing bacteria using sequentially combined carbon.

The effects of sequentially combined carbon (SCC) using a symbiotic relationship of methanol and acetic acid on biological nutrient removal were investigated in both the continuous bench scale process consisting of an anoxic, an aerobic and a final settling tank and intensive batch tests. Compared to the use of respective sole carbon sources, methanol and acetic acid, the use of SCC showed superior removal efficiency of nitrogen (98.3%) and phosphorus (approximately 100%). Furthermore, the use of SCC enhanced simultaneous denitrification and phosphorus uptake by denitrifying phosphorus removal bacteria (DPB), resulting in the highest specific denitrification rate (SDNR) of 0.252 g NO3-N/g VSS/d achieved from the first anoxic zone with methanol of 30 mg COD/I. From batch tests performed under carbon limited anoxic conditions, 1 g of nitrate was used by DPB for P-uptake of 1.19 g. According to this result, 0.205 g NO3-N/g VSS/d was accomplished by normal denitrifiers using methanol, and 0.047 g NO3-N/g VSS/d was achieved by DPB. This research also demonstrated that the increase of poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) stored by phosphorus accumulating organisms (PAOs) could be of importance in improving aerobic denitrification. The use of SCC produced the highest P-release in the anoxic zone, indicating the amount of PHB would be higher compared to the use of other sole carbons. Therefore, the SCC could be a very effective carbon source for the enhancement of aerobic denitrification as well.     

Effect of Laser Annealing on Permeability Spectra in Co-based Amorphous Ribbon

1. IDtroductionThe magnetic permeability of amorphous materials involves two components originated from domain wall motion and magnetization rotationll]. Phenomenological model for permeability spectra hasbeen proposed to decompose the compollenis of therotational magnetization and domain wall motioncontributionsl2].The local internalstress inherent to as--quenchedamorphous sample plays the role of pinning sites tohinder magnetization. However the soft magneticproperties can be improved when …     

Antioxidant activity and constituents of propolis collected in various areas of China

Propolis is a resinous substance collected by honeybees from various plant sources. The composition of propolis depends on time, vegetation, and the area of collection. This study examined the antioxidant activity of propolis from various areas of China: Heilongjiang, Neimongol, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Gansu, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, Hunan, Yunnan and Hainan. Ethanol extracts of propolis (EEP) were prepared and evaluated for their antioxidant activities by β-carotene bleaching, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical-scavenging, and 2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical cation decolorization assays. Furthermore, the major constituents in EEP were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis with a photodiode array (PDA) and mass spectrometric (MS) detection, and each component was quantitatively analyzed. All propolis samples except that from Yunnan had relatively strong antioxidant activity accompanied by high total polyphenol contents. Propolis with strong antioxidant activity contained large amounts of antioxidative compounds, such as caffeic acid, ferulic acid and caffeic acid phenethyl ester. On the other hand, propolis from Yunnan and Hainan had compounds not present in propolis from other areas.