• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권7호
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• pp.2367-2375
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• 2022

In this work, we propose a new mechanistic model for the treatment of helium behaviour at the grain boundaries in oxide nuclear fuel. The model provides a rate-theory description of helium inter-granular behaviour, considering diffusion towards grain edges, trapping in lenticular bubbles, and thermal resolution. It is paired with a rate-theory description of helium intra-granular behaviour that includes diffusion towards grain boundaries, trapping in spherical bubbles, and thermal re-solution. The proposed model has been implemented in the meso-scale software designed for coupling with fuel performance codes SCIANTIX. It is validated against thermal desorption experiments performed on doped UO₂ samples annealed at different temperatures. The overall agreement of the new model with the experimental data is improved, both in terms of integral helium release and of the helium release rate. By considering the contribution of helium at the grain boundaries in the new model, it is possible to represent the kinetics of helium release rate at high temperature. Given the uncertainties involved in the initial conditions for the inter-granular part of the model and the uncertainties associated to some model parameters for which limited lower-length scale information is available, such as the helium diffusivity at the grain boundaries, the results are complemented by a dedicated uncertainty analysis. This assessment demonstrates that the initial conditions, chosen in a reasonable range, have limited impact on the results, and confirms that it is possible to achieve satisfying results using sound values for the uncertain physical parameters.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• 제36권2호
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• pp.67.1-67.1
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• 2011

Recent observations and modeling of globular clusters with multiple populations strongly indicate the presence of super helium-rich subpopulations in old stellar systems. Motivated by this, we have constructed new population synthesis models with and without helium-enhanced subpopulations to investigate their impact on the UV-upturn phenomenon of quiescent early-type galaxies. We find that our models with helium-enhanced subpopulations can naturally reproduce the strong UV-upturns observed in giant elliptical galaxies assuming an age similar to that of old globular clusters in the Milky Way. The major source of far-UV (FUV) flux, in this model, is relatively metal-poor and helium-enhanced hot horizontal branch stars and their progeny. The Burstein et al. (1988) relation of the FUV - V color with metallicity is also explained either by the variation of the fraction of helium-enhanced subpopulations or by the spread in mean age of stellar populations in early-type galaxies.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제43권5호
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• pp.429-436
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• 2011

The corrosion of materials exposed to high temperature helium in a very high temperature reactor is caused by interaction with the impurities in the helium. This interaction then induces high temperature mechanical deterioration. By considering the effect of the impurity concentration on material corrosion, a long-term coolant chemistry guideline can be determined for the range of impurity concentration at which the material is stable for a long time. In this work, surface reactions were investigated by analyzing the thermodynamics and the experimental results for Alloy 617 exposed to controlled impure helium at $950^{\circ}C$. Moreover, the surfaces were examined for the Alloy 617 crept in air and in uncontrolled helium, which was explained by possible surface reactions.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.110-115
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• 2011

A modern optical fiber manufacturing process requires the sufficient cooling of glass fibers freshly drawn from the heated and softened silica preform in the furnace, since the inadequately cooled glass fibers are known to cause improper polymer resin coating on the fiber surface and to adversely affect the product quality of optical fibers. In order to greatly enhance the fiber cooling effectiveness at increasingly high fiber drawing speed, it is necessary to use a dedicated glass fiber cooling unit with helium gas injection between glass fiber drawing and coating processes. The present numerical study features a series of three-dimensional flow and heat transfer computations on the cooling gas and the fast moving glass fiber to analyze the cooling performance of glass fiber cooling unit, in which the helium is supplied through the discretely located rectangular injection holes. The air entrainment into the cooling unit at the fiber inlet is also included in the computational model and it is found to be critical in determining the helium purity in the cooling gas and the cooling effectiveness on glass fiber. The effects of fiber drawing speed and helium injection rate on the helium purity decrease by air entrainment and the glass fiber cooling are also investigated and discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.10-17
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• 2003

The steady and transient thermal and flow analysis for liquid helium using for the pressurization of liquid rocket propellant tanks have been conducted numerically. The required inner diameter of helium channel that satisfy the design mass flow rate and velocity, through the steady state analyses for various thermal conditions at the wall, is determined and it is found that due to the sign of Joule-Thomson coefficient of helium, the temperature of helium increase monotonically for adiabatic wall condition. The temporal behavior of helium temperature, density, velocity are also investigated under the existence of local heat inflow on the wall.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.38-42
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• 2012

Fixtures such as bushings in terminations of high temperature superconducting(HTS) power cable systems are subjected to high voltages, which have to transition from ambient to cryogenic temperatures. As such it is imperative to ensure the integrity of the dielectrics under all operating conditions, including thermal aspects brought about by the passage of current. Gaseous helium(GHe) at high pressure is regarded as a potential coolant for superconducting cables. The dielectric aspects of cryogenic helium gas are both complex and demanding. In this experimental study we looked at the interface between a smooth epoxy surface and high pressure helium gas in a homogeneous electric field. The alternating current(AC) flashover voltages of epoxy samples are presented. The results have been analyzed by using Weibull statistics. In addition to the behavior of the epoxy in gaseous helium as a function of pressure and temperature we also present data of the characteristics of the epoxy in mineral oil and in liquid nitrogen($LN_2$). The breakdown characteristics of a uniform field gap in gaseous helium as a function of pressure and temperature under AC, direct current(DC) and lightning impulse voltages are also given. Electric field calculations have been made for one of the experimental geometries in an attempt to explain some of the anomalies in the experimental results.

• Journal of Information Display
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.45-48
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• 2009

The ionization of a helium atom was investigated as a function of gas pressure, with the use of a tungsten tip. The tungsten tip, to which the external voltage was applied, was used to generate a constant electron current. The ionization current of helium gas was measured as a function of gas pressure. Effective ionization occurred in the pressure range of 0.5-20 torr when the distance between the field emission tip and the collector was 1 cm. The ionization current was linearly proportional to the voltage that was applied to the tungsten tip.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.124-130
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• 2014

In a mass manufacturing system of optical fibers, the sufficient cooling of glass fibers freshly drawn from a draw furnace is essential, asinadequately cooled glass fibers can lead to poor resin coating on the fiber surface and possibly fiber breakage during the process. In order to improve fiber cooling at a high drawing speed, it is common to use a helium injection into a glass fiber cooling unit in spite of the high cost of the helium supply. The present numerical analysis carried out three-dimensional thermo-fluid computations of the cooling gas flow and heat transfer on moving glass fiber to determine the cooling performance of glass fiber cooling depending on the method of helium injection. The results showed that afront injection of helium is most effective compared to a uniform or rear injection for reducing air entrainment into the unit and thus cooling the glass fibers at a high fiber drawing speed. However, above a certain amount of injected helium, there was no more increase of the cooling effect regardless of the helium injection method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제40권6호
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• pp.467-476
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• 2008

To keep the superconducting (SC) magnet coils of KSTAR at proper operating conditions, not only the coils but also other cold components, such as thermal shields (TS), magnet structures, SC bus-lines (BL), and current leads (CL) must be maintained at their respective cryogenic temperatures. A helium refrigeration system (RRS) with an exergetic equivalent cooling power of 9 kW at 4.5 K without liquid nitrogen ($LN_2$) pre-cooling has been manufactured and installed. The main components of the KST AR helium refrigeration system (HRS) can be classified into the warm compression system (WCS) and the cryogenic devices according to the operating temperature levels. The process helium is compressed from 1 bar to 22 bar passing through the WCS and is supplied to cryogenic devices. The main components of cryogenic devices are consist of cold box (C/B) and distribution box (D/B). The C/B cool-down and make the various cryogenic helium for the KSTAR Tokamak and the various cryogenic helium is distributed by the D/B as per the KSTAR requirement. In this proceeding, we will present the commissioning results of the KSTAR HRS. Circuits which can simulate the thermal loads and pressure drops corresponding to the cooling channels of each cold component of KSTAR have been integrated into the helium distribution system of the HRS. Using those circuits, the performance and the capability of the HRS, to fulfill the mission of establishing the appropriate operating condition for the KSTAR SC magnet coils, have been successfully demonstrated.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• 제21권11호
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• pp.596-603
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• 2011

The very high temperature gas reactor (VHTR) is one of the next generation nuclear reactors for its safety, long-term stability, and proliferation-resistance. The high operating temperature of over 800$^{\circ}C$ enables various applications with high energy efficiency. Heat is transferred from the primary helium loop to the secondary helium loop through the intermediate heat exchanger (IHX). The IHX material requires creep resistance, oxidation resistance, and corrosion resistance in a helium environment at high operating temperatures. A Ni-based superalloy such as Alloy 617 is considered as a primary candidate material for the intermediate heat exchanger. In this study, the microstructures of Alloy 617 crept in pure helium and air environments at 950$^{\circ}C$ were observed. The rupture time in helium was shorter than that in air under small applied stresses. As the exposure time increased, the thickness of outer oxide layer of the specimens clearly increased but delaminated after a long creep time. The depth of the carbide-depleted zone was rather high in the specimens under high applied stress. The reason was elucidated by the comparison between the ruptured region and grip region of the samples. It is considered that decarburization caused by minor gas impurities in a helium environment caused the reduction in creep rupture time.