Investigations on welding residual stresses in penetration nozzles by means of 3D thermal elastic plastic FEM and experiment

Recent discoveries of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in weldments including penetration nozzles at pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and boiling water reactors (BWRs) have raised concerns about safety and integrity of plant components. It is well known that welding residual stress is an important factor resulting in SCC in weldments. In the present work, both experimental method and numerical simulation technology are used to investigate the characteristics of welding residual stress distribution in penetration nozzles welded by multi-pass J-groove joint. An experimental mock-up is fabricated to measure welding residual stress at first. In the experiment, each weld pass is performed using a semi-circle balanced welding procedure. Then, a corresponding finite element models with considering moving heat source, deposition sequence, inter-pass temperature, temperature-dependent thermal and mechanical properties, strain hardening and annealing effect is developed to simulate welding temperature and residual stress fields. The simulation results predicted by the 3D model are generally in good agreement with the measurements. Meanwhile, to clarify the influence of deposition sequence on the welding residual stress, the welding residual stress field in the same geometrical model induced by a continuous welding procedure is also calculated. Finally, the influence of a joint oblique angle on welding residual stress is investigated numerically. The numerical results suggest that both deposition sequence and oblique angles have effect on welding residual stress distribution.     

Development and Use of a Kinetical and Real-Time Monitoring System to Analyze the Replication of Hepatitis C Virus

In microbiological research, it is important to understand the time course of each step in a pathogen’s lifecycle and changes in the host cell environment induced by infection. This study is the first to develop a real-time monitoring system that kinetically detects luminescence reporter activity over time without sampling cells or culture supernatants for analyzing the virus replication. Subgenomic replicon experiments with hepatitis C virus (HCV) showed that transient translation and genome replication can be detected separately, with the first peak of translation observed at 3–4 h and replication beginning around 20 h after viral RNA introduction into cells. From the bioluminescence data set measured every 30 min (48 measurements per day), the initial rates of translation and replication were calculated, and their capacity levels were expressed as the sums of the measured signals in each process, which correspond to the areas on the kinetics graphs. The comparison of various HuH-7-derived cell lines showed that the bioluminescence profile differs among cell lines, suggesting that both translation and replication capacities potentially influence differences in HCV susceptibility. The effects of RNA mutations within the 5′ UTR of the replicon on viral translation and replication were further analyzed in the system developed, confirming that mutations to the miR-122 binding sites primarily reduce replication activity rather than translation. The newly developed real-time monitoring system should be applied to the studies of various viruses and contribute to the analysis of transitions and progression of each process of their life cycle.     

Identification of Multiple Domains of Entamoeba histolytica Intermediate Subunit Lectin-1 with Hemolytic and Cytotoxic Activities

Galactose and N-acetyl-D-galactosamine-inhibitable lectin of Entamoeba histolytica have roles in the pathogenicity of intestinal amoebiasis. Igl1, the intermediate subunit lectin-1 of E. histolytica, has been shown to have both hemolytic and cytotoxic activities that reside in the C-terminus of the protein. To identify the amino acid regions responsible for these activities, recombinant proteins were prepared and used in hemolytic and cytotoxic assays. The results revealed that Igl1 has multiple domains with hemolytic and cytotoxic activities and that amino acids 787-846, 968-1028 and 1029-1088 are involved in these activities. The hemolytic activities of the fragments were partly inhibited by mannose, galactose and N-acetylgalactosamine, and glucose showed lower or negligible inhibitory effects for the activities. This is the first report of a protozoan protein with hemolytic and cytotoxic activities in multiple domains.     

Studies on Pyrodextrinization of Corn Starch

During pyrodextrinization of corn starch in the absence of any added catalyst under different experimental conditions, the changes of dextrinization might have two or threes stages and remarkable transformation would begin to occur at 190°C. At higher temperatures, many non-carbohydrates are found. At lower temperatures, side chains of amylopectin-like substances might be cleaved to produce the linear parts.     

Cooling Process and Cast Structure of Zr-Al-Ni-Cu–Based Bulk Metallic Glasses Produced in Various Atmospheres

Cooling process in the production of Zr₆₅Al_7.5Ni₁₀Cu_17.5-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) was investigated in various chamber atmospheres in Cu mold casting. Two different cooling modes, consisting of the direct heat transfer between the melt and Cu mold in the high temperature and indirect transfer via cavity in the low-temperature regions, are suggested. In the later case, the cooling effect should depend on the chamber atmosphere, which results in the formation of glassy structure with large relaxation enthalpy casting under the ambient Ar and He atmospheres due to a good thermal conductivity. The less relaxed BMGs produced by an improved cooling effect are also expected to contain a large amount of free volume for significant deformability. Actually, it is clarified that the compressive plastic deformation is improved with an increase of the relaxation enthalpy. The present study indicates a necessity of development of the glassy structure, i.e., relaxation state, and provides a new technique of the formation of less relaxed glassy structure for the improvement of plasticity in BMGs.     

Improvement of Stainless Steel Making Operation Adapting Instable Raw Material Price

Sumikin Iron and Steel Corporation (SISC) is the main manufacturing base of seamless tube materials in Sumitomo Metals group, and stainless steel making plant is in charge of semi‐manufactured special steel products such as stainless and high alloy steel. Total manufacturing costs of these special steels are heavily dependent on the price of raw material. Therefore, reduction of its usage and optimizing operation process in order to absorb influence of its unstable price are important issues. In this report, we introduce three cases as following: yield improvement in order to reduce raw material usage, optimization of the steel dust usage, and active use of low‐price raw material through dividing refining process.     

Numerical computation of two-loop box diagrams with masses

A new approach is presented to evaluate multi-loop integrals, which appear in the calculation of cross-sections in high-energy physics. It relies on a fully numerical method and is applicable to a wide class of integrals with various mass configurations. As an example, the computation of two-loop planar and non-planar box diagrams is shown. The results are confirmed by comparisons with other techniques, including the reduction method, and by a consistency check using the dispersion relation.     

Voltage Control of Static Var Compensator for a Remote System Interconnected by Long‐Distance AC Cables

The voltage variation in a remote system is large when the system is connected by long‐distance AC cables due to the cable capacitance. In Japan, the longest 54‐km 66‐kV AC submarine cable interconnection between the Kyushu mainland and Goto Islands was commissioned in 2005. It was requested to mitigate the voltage variation caused by switching off and on one circuit of the two circuits in the AC cables when a fault occurs. Since the conventional voltage control methods such as transformer tap changer or shunt capacitor and reactor banks are not sufficient because of their slow response time, a static var compensator (SVC) was installed on the Goto Islands. In such an application, an SVC control method should be developed so as not to override the existing voltage control systems. This paper describes the SVC control method developed for the Goto Islands AC interconnection project, which can be applied to similar situations. The effectiveness of the control method was verified by the results of effective value simulation and of field testing, which was implemented before the SVC was commissioned in 2007. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 186(3): 19–30, 2014; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.22337     

Homogeneous Strain Introduction Using Reciprocation Technique in High-Pressure Sliding

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - This study examines strain distribution occurring in the high-pressure sliding (HPS) processing for rods of pure Al and an AZ61 alloy. The strain...     

Development of a new heterojunction structure (ACJ -HIT) and its application to polycrystalline silicon solar cells

A new solar cell structure named HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) has been developed based on new artificially constructed junction (ACJ) technology. In this structure a non-doped a-Si thin layer was inserted between the p(a-Si)/n(c-Si) heterojunction, improving the output characteristics and achieving a conversion efficiency of 18.1%. This structure was applied to cast polycrystalline silicon solar cells of a practical size. A high conversion efficeincy of 13.6% was obtained with a cell size of 10 cm × 10 cm using various technologies, including hydrogen plasma passivation.