Comparative study of predictive FE methods for mechanical properties of nuclear composites

Carbon fiber reinforced carbon (C/C) composites are candidate materials for plasma facing components in experimental fusion reactors such as: the ITER; the JT-60 - a Tokamak fusion test facility (JAEA); and for control rods in the next generation fission reactors. Therefore, determining their thermo-mechanical properties under irradiation is essential for safe design-cum-operation of future reactors. Development of reliable models which can predict such materials’ behavior is of massive advantage against the conventional experimental verification which is hugely expensive and time-consuming. Three-dimensional finite element (FE) methods are used here for predicting Young’s modulus of two woven C/C composites where tensile tests are performed for validation. Stress distribution results indicate that a novel image-based route for FE meshes compared to a unit cell approach gives stronger agreement with experimental data. The image-based approach captures true porosity as fine microstructural details are converted from X-ray tomographic data. In comparison, the unit cell model represents idealizations of composite architecture that ignores porosities.     

Atomic force microscopy and Raman scattering studies of femtosecond laser-induced nanohillocks on CR-39

The phenomenon of nanohillock-like defect formation on the surfaces of CR-39 by ultra-short laser irradiation is investigated using an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) and Raman Scattering. A polymer CR-39 target was exposed to Ti:sapphire 25-fs laser pulses with a central wavelength at 800 nm. Samples were irradiated for different laser fluences both in air and vacuum. Detailed surface topographical features of the bombarded samples were characterized by atomic force microscopy in contact mode in air at room temperature. AFM reveals that the growth of nanohillocks and their features are strongly dependent on the ambient condition, target position from focus, and irradiation fluence. The appearance of these nanohillocks in the range 1–20 nm in height and 10–90 nm in diameter are regarded as typical features for fast electronic processes (correlated with existence of hot electrons) and are explained on the basis of Coulomb explosion. These nanostructures due to localization of laser energy deposition in small areas provide a possible pathway from dense electronic excitation to atomic motion causing permanent structural modification which are well correlated to structural alterations, like crosslinking and chain scissions, inferred from Raman spectroscopy.     

Application of a novel formulation to the MFIE using RWG basis functions in method of moments

We investigate the inaccuracy of the traditional magnetic field integral equation (MFIE) in the analysis of scattering of small conducting objects, with the use of Rao–Wilton–Glisson (RWG) basis functions. As a remedy to such problems, we propose to use a novel impedance matrix elements (IME) formulation of the MFIE, which is suitable to use RWG basis functions. Techniques to calculate the IME of the new formulation are outlined. It is shown that similar technique to compute the IME of the MFIE resulted from the use of curl-conforming basis functions can also be used here. Based on the examples of several relatively small conducting objects, it is demonstrated that significant improvement in the accuracy of the MFIE can be obtained for this new IME formulation with the use of RWG basis functions.     

Using an accurate singularity extraction technique to the MFIE for the scattering analysis of small objects

The method of moments (MoM) solution on the magnetic field integral equation (MFIE) for electromagnetic scattering problems of conducting objects with Rao–Wilton–Glisson (RWG) basis functions requires the evaluation of almost singular double surface integrals over triangular subdomains. Calculating these integrals accurately is essential for the successful solution of the MFIE by MoM especially for small sharp-edged conducting objects. This paper studies the singularity of the MFIE and uses an accurate singularity extraction technique to avoid logarithmic singularity of the integration on the testing triangles for the MFIE. Based on the numerical examples of several small sharp-edged conducting objects, it is demonstrated that the accuracy of the MFIE is improved greatly with the use of the new singularity extraction technique.     

Electrochemical and spectroscopic characterization of a Benzo[c]cinnoline electrografted platinum surface

In this work, a platinum surface was modified with benzo[c]cinnoline (BCC) to get new insight into the metal modification area. By potential scanning from + 0.4 V to - 0.8 V, the diazotized BCC was reduced electrochemically and grafted onto the platinum electrode surface to form benzo[c]cinnoline modified platinum electrode (Pt-BCC). Electrochemical reduction of benzo[c]cinnoline diazonium salt on the electrode surface yielded a relatively stable organic film. The introduction of BCC molecules onto the platinum surface was verified by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and ellipsometry. The stability and the potential range of the Pt-BCC electrode were also studied.     

Episodic memory and metamemory in Parkinson’s disease patients.

This study investigated episodic memory and metamemory for verbs and nouns in patients who have cognitive impairments associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD). PD patients and healthy control participants were asked to recall word pairs and provide feeling-of-knowing (FOK) judgments for the items they were unable to recall. This was followed by a 4-alternative recognition test. PD patients were impaired in both recall and recognition, compared with controls. In terms of metamemory, PD patients were less confident in their ability to recognize the unrecalled items in a future recognition test. Most important, accuracy of PD patients’ FOK judgments was not above chance and was lower than that of control participants. The PD group correctly recognized fewer verbs than nouns, but type of material (verb vs. noun) had no impact on recall or FOK judgments. In addition, contribution of executive functions to FOK accuracy was different in PD patients and controls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discrete dynamic convexized method for nonlinearly constrained nonlinear integer programming

This paper considers the nonlinearly constrained nonlinear integer programming problem over a bounded box. An auxiliary function is constructed based on a penalty function. By increasing the value of a parameter, minimization of the function by a discrete local search method can escape successfully from a previously converged discrete local minimizer. An algorithm is designed based on minimizing the auxiliary function with increasing values of the parameter. Numerical experiments show that the algorithm is robust and efficient.     

Water hydraulic manipulator for fail safe and fault tolerant remote handling operations at ITER

Department of Intelligent Hydraulics and Automation (IHA) of Tampere University of Technology has been involved in the European Fusion program since 1994 within the ITER reactor maintenance activities. In this paper we discuss the design and development of a six degrees of freedom water hydraulic manipulator with a force feedback for teleoperation tasks. The manipulator is planned to be delivered to Divertor Test Platform 2 (DTP2) during year 2008. The paper also discusses the possibility to improve the fail safe and redundant operation of the manipulator. During the design of the water hydraulic manipulator, special provisions have been made in order to meet the safety requirements such as servo valve block for redundant operation and safety vane brakes for fail safe operation.