Numerical Analysis of a Tunnel Support Design in Conjunction with Empirical Methods

In this paper, preliminary support design of a tunnel was analyzed by numerical and empirical approaches. The case study for this analysis is a tunnel to be constructed on the Bilecik-Istanbul roadway in Turkey. The rock mass properties of the tunnel route and design support recommendations were obtained by using an empirical approach. The rock mass properties obtained from the empirical method were used as input parameters for the numerical analysis. The empirical and numerical results, in terms of support design, were evaluated. It was seen that the numerical analysis results supported by empirical values were logical and reliable.     

Modeling of heat and mass transfer in accelerator targets during postulated accidents

The modeling of thermal-chemical behavior of targets used in accelerator applications is an important part of safety analysis. Tungsten is considered as a target material to produce tritium in a linear proton accelerator. The prediction of the chemical reactivity of tungsten in a steam flow at high temperatures is the most important part of a safety analysis of target design. The oxidation and volatilization of tungsten in steam at high temperatures is a complex phenomenon that involves various mechanisms (depending on the temperature), steam pressure, and steam velocity. A simple diffusion model that considers chemical equilibrium at the reaction interface and effective diffusion thickness, including the boundary and oxide layers, is proposed for predicting the volatilization rate. The proposed simple model predicts the available data reasonably well. The proposed model is implemented into a computer program that is developed to predict the radiological releases during postulated loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs). The computer program models heat production, heat transfer, and oxidation reactions in the multiple radiation enclosures representing the accelerator target elements. It treats each element of the radiation enclosures as a lumped control volume, or heat structure. Each heat structure may generate or lose heat by conduction, convection, or radiation and is subject to mass loss as a result of oxidation, melting, and volatilization. Postulated beyond-design-basis LOCAs are simulated with this computer program for the accelerator-production-of-tritium target. Sample calculations demonstrate oxidation/volatilization model capabilities and sensitivity to the assumptions selected.     

The effects of gradation and admixture on the pumice lightweight aggregate concrete

The usage of lightweight concrete, which has some advantage over ordinary concrete, has increased to a remarkable level in recent years. Many researchers have investigated the possible uses of lightweight concrete in terms of its strength, density and other mechanical and physical properties. The desired quality for lightweight concrete can be obtained through the proper selection of admixtures and proper grading of the lightweight aggregate.In this article, an experimental investigation on the production of moderate-strength lightweight concrete with pumice, according to the ACI standard, is presented. The gradation curves' (which fall within A16-C16 gradation curves, Turkish Standard Code, TS706) performances were investigated in terms of strength and density. The addition of superplasticizer and air-entraining admixtures improved the strength-to-density ratio of the hardened concrete and the workability of fresh concrete. As a result of this study, lightweight concrete blocks having a minimum compressive strength of 6.56 N/mm² and a density of 1300 kg/m³ were obtained.     

Heat transfer from a high temperature safety rod placed in a perforated guide tube and surrounded by an array of cold tubes

In this paper, a simple natural convection heat-transfer model for a safety rod placed in a perforated guide tube is proposed. The geometry is typical of the Savannah River K reactor. The proposed model for the rod and the perforated guide-tube assembly is benchmarked against prototypical test data obtained by Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The results showed that the proposed model was in good agreement with the experimental data except at very high temperatures where the model slightly underpredicted the rod and tube temperatures. By evaluating the thermal conductivity of the fluid (air) at the wall temperature, the prediction of the high temperature natural convection data was further improved.     

NUMERICAL MODELING OF A NUCLEATE BOILING SURFACE

ABSTRACT

A computer program developed to analyze nucleate boiling over a heated surface is described. The model solves the three-dimensional transient conduction equation within the heater. The conduction solution is coupled with closure relationships to mimic the bubble dynamics and the associated heat transfer coefficients. Sample problems are run using a copper surface subject to partial nucleate boiling in saturated water at atmospheric pressure. The results are shown to be in good qualitative agreement with the pertinent experimental observations.     

The effect of Helmholtz instability on the macrolayer thickness in vapor mushroom region of nucleate pool boiling

In the previously postulated relationship between the macrolayer thickness in saturated pool boiling and the Helmholtz instability wavelength is further investigated in the ligth of experimental data that recently appeared in the open literature. The study shows that the Helmholtz wavelength in the vapor stems is strongly dependent on parameters affected by surface chemistry. These parameters same order of magnitude as the ones reported in the literature, the Helmholtz instability model was able to successfully predict the macrolayer thickness data. This result suggests that the Helmholtz instability model must not be ruled out, unless further experimental research proves otherwise.     

Modeling of radiation heat transport in complex ladder-like structures placed in rectangular enclosures

Complex ladder-like structures recently have been considered as the target design for accelerator applications. The decay heat, during a postulated beyond design-basis loss-of-coolant accident in the target where all normal and emergency cooling fails, is removed mainly by radiation heat transfer. Modeling of the radiation transport in complex ladder-like structures has several challenges and limitations when the standard net-radiation model is used. This paper proposes a simplified lumped, or ‘hot-rung’ model, that considers the worst elements and utilizes the standard net-radiation method. The net-radiation model would under-predict structure temperatures if surfaces were subject to non-uniform radiosity. The proposed model was assessed to suggest corrections to account for the non-uniform radiosity. The non-uniform radiosity effect causes the proposed hot-rung model to under-predict the center-rung temperatures by ≈4–74°C when all parametrics, including temperatures up to 1500°C, were considered. These temperatures are small. The proposed model predicted that an important effect of decreasing the emissivity was smoothing of non-isothermal effects. The radiosity effects are more pronounced when there are strong temperature gradients. Uniform rung temperatures tend to decrease the radiosity effects. We concluded that a relatively simple model that is conservative with respect to radiosity effects could be developed.