• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.53-67
• /
• 1985

The severe core meltdown accident, which is not included as a design basis accident, has high consequence and low probability of occurrence and turns out to be a major risk factor in the overall risk assessment. The physical mechanisms of containment failure in core meltdown accidents are identified as steam explosion, debris bed coolability, hydrogen burning, steam spike and concrete interaction. The state of technology review is made for each subtopic about the previous and current researches for better understanding of the phenomenon.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.561-573
• /
• 2020

The creep and consolidation behaviors of clays subjected to thermal cycles are of fundamental importance in the application of energy geostructures. This study aims to numerically investigate the physical mechanisms for the temperature-triggered volume change of saturated clays. A recently developed thermodynamic framework is used to derive the thermo-mechanical constitutive model for clays. Based on the model, a fully coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) finite element (FE) code is developed. Comparison with experimental observations shows that the proposed FE code can well reproduce the irreversible thermal contraction of normally consolidated and lightly overconsolidated clays, as well as the thermal expansion of heavily overconsolidated clays under drained heating. Simulations reveal that excess pore pressure may accumulate in clay samples under triaxial drained conditions due to low permeability and high heating rate, resulting in thermally induced primary consolidation. Results show that four major mechanisms contribute to the thermal volume change of clays: (i) the principle of thermal expansion, (ii) the decrease of effective stress due to the accumulation of excess pore pressure, (iii) the thermal creep, and (iv) the thermally induced primary consolidation. The former two mechanisms mainly contribute to the thermal expansion of heavily overconsolidated clays, whereas the latter two contribute to the noticeable thermal contraction of normally consolidated and lightly overconsolidated clays. Consideration of the four physical mechanisms is important for the settlement prediction of energy geostructures, especially in soft soils.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.133-151
• /
• 2017

The paper describes the results of an experimental and numerical investigation into the structural and damage response of sandwich composites to low-velocity impact. Sandwich panels consisting of laminated composite skins with three different layups bonded to a PVC foam core were subjected to impact at various energy levels corresponding to barely visible impact damage (BVID) in the impacted skins. Damage assessment analyses were performed on the impacted panels to characterise the extent and the nature of the major failure mechanisms occurring in the skins. The data collected during the experimental analyses were finally used to assess the predictive capabilities of an FE tool recently developed by the authors for detailed simulation of impact damage in composite sandwich panels. Good agreement was observed between experimental results and model predictions in terms of structural response to impact, global extent of damage and typical features of individual damage mechanisms.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.190-194
• /
• 2011

After the first report that electrons with sub-ionization energy of DNA could cause single strand breaks or double strand breaks to DNA, there have been various studies to investigate the mechanisms of DNA damage by low-energy electrons. In this paper, we examined the possibility of using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to analyze the dissociation patterns of the molecular bonds by electron irradiation on DNA thin films and tried to establish the method as a general tool for studying the radiation damage of biomolecules by low energ yelectrons. For the experiment, pBR322 plasmid DNA solution was formed into the films on tantalum plates by lyophilization and was irradiated by 5-eV electrons. Un-irradiated and irradiated DNA films were compared and analyzed using the XPS technique.

• Fibers and Polymers
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.45-54
• /
• 2000

Impact behaviors of the large deformable composites of Kevlar fiber reinforced composites of different preform structures have been investigated. An analytic tool was developed to characterize the impact behavior of the Kevlar composites. The image analysis technique, and deply technique were employed to develop energy balance equation under impact loading. An energy method was employed to establish the impact energy absorption mechanism of Kevlar multiaxial warp knitted composites. The total impact energy was classified into four categories including delamination energy, membrane energy, bending energy and rebounding energy under low velocity impact. Membrane and bending energy were calculated from the image analysis of the deformed shape of impacted specimen and delamination energy was calculated using the deplying technique. Also, the impact behavior of Kevlar composites under high velocity impact of full penetration of the composite specimen was studied. The energy absorption mechanisms under high velocity impact were modelled and the absorbed energy was classified into global deformation energy, shear-out energy, deformation energy and fiber breakage energy. The total energy obtained from the model corresponded reasonably well with the experimental results.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
• /
• v.55 no.4
• /
• pp.307-324
• /
• 2018

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been rapidly expanding from IT based applications to uses in electric vehicles (EVs), smart grids, and energy storage systems (ESSs), all of which require low cost, high energy density and high power density. The increasing demand for LIBs has resulted in increasing price of the lithium source, which is a major obstacle to wider application. To date, the possible depletion of lithium resources has become relevant, giving rise to the interest in Na-ion batteries (NIBs) as promising alternatives to LIBs. A lot of transition metal compounds based on conversion-alloying reaction have been extensively investigated to meet the requirement for the anodes with high energy density and long life-time. In-depth understanding the electrochemical reaction mechanisms for the transition metal compounds makes it promising negative anode for NIBs and provides feasible strategy for low cost and large-scale energy storage system in the near future.

• Ceramist
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.56-69
• /
• 2019

Recent advances in low-power sensors and transmitters are driving the search for standalone power sources that utilize unused ambient energy. These energy harvesters can alleviate the issues related to the installation and maintenance of sensors. Particularly piezoelectric energy harvesters, with the ability to convert ambient mechanical energy into useful electricity, have received significant attention due to their high energy density, low cost and operational stability over wide temperature and pressure conditions. In order to maximize the generated electrical power, the natural frequency of the piezoelectric energy harvester should be matched with the dominant frequency of ambient vibrations. However, piezoelectric energy harvesters typically exhibit a narrow bandwidth, thus, it becomes difficult to operate near resonance under broadband ambient vibration conditions. Therefore, the resonating of energy harvesters is critical to generate maximum output power under ambient vibration conditions. For this, energy harvesters should have broadband natural frequency or actively tunable natural frequency with ambient vibrations. Here, we review the most plausible broadband energy harvesting techniques of the multi-resonance, nonlinearity, and self-resonance tuning. The operation mechanisms and recent representative studies of each technique are introduced and the advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed. In addition, we look into the future research direction for the broadband energy harvester.

• Journal of Communications and Networks
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.410-417
• /
• 2012

One of the premier mechanisms used in extracting unobserved signals from observed mixtures in signal processing is employing a blind source separation (BSS) algorithm. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) techniques are playing a prominent role in the sphere of multicarrier communication. A set of remedial solutions taken to mitigate deteriorative effects caused within the air interface of OFDM transmission with aid of BSS schemes is presented. Four energy functions are used in deriving the filter coefficients. Energy criterion functions to be optimized and the performance is justified. These functions together with iterative fixed point rule for receive signal are used in determining the filter coefficients. Time correlation properties of the channel are taken advantage for BSS. It is tried to remove colored noise and jamming components from themixture at the receiver. Themethod is tested in a slow fading channel with a receiver containing equal gain combining to treat the channel state information values. The importance is that, these are quite low computational complexity mechanisms.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
• /
• 1996.04a
• /
• pp.77-92
• /
• 1996

When an automatic course-keeping is concerned as is quite popular in modern navigation the closed-loop steering system consists of autopilot device power unit (or telemotor unit) steering gear magnetic or gyro compass and ship dynamics. The consideration of irregular disturbances to ship dyanmics and a few non-linear mechanisms involved in the system inevitably or artificially are known to be very important in properly evaluating or analyzing the automatic steering system. In the present study the mathematical model of each element of an automatic steering system is derived which takes account of a fex non-linear mechanisms. PD(Proportional-Derivative) controller and low-pass filter with a weather adjustment are adopted to modelling the characteristics of an autopilot. The calculation method of imposing irregular disturbances to ship dynamics is proposed where irregular disturbances implying irregular wave and the fluctuating component of wind. For he evaluation of automatic steering system of ships in the open seas an important term "performance index" is introduced from the viewpoint of energy saving which derived from the concept of energy loss on ship propulsion. Finally the present methods are applied to two typical types of ship ; an ore carrier and a fishing boat. The various effects of linear and/or non-linear control constants of autopilot on propulsive energy loss are investigated to validate and clarify the present smulation technique.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.422-430
• /
• 2018

Increase in oil prices and building energy consumption has been a great burden for Korea which has significant energy dependence on foreign energy sources. In this context, reduction of building energy consumption, which comprises 40% of total energy consumption, is a very important issue. This research therefore empirically analyzed a hospital "P" that implemented ICT-based energy consumption and cost reduction initiative. The hospital first replaced existing water absorber for heating/cooling air and boiler for heating water with water heat storage heat pump system. This was accompanied by subscribing to different electricity price plans to maximize cost reduction. Secondly, the hospital additionally applied ICT-based optimized control algorithm that considers surrounding factors (external temperature, changes in energy demand). The analysis of these mechanisms indicate that the ICT-based energy consumption and cost reduction initiative for hospitals can reduce energy consumption by 53.6% with replacement of low-efficiency equipment and additionally by 18.2% with optimized control algorithm. The mechanisms will provide energy consumption reduction opportunities for other hospitals and buildings with high energy consumption.