• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권5호
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• pp.1416-1428
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• 2021

Pebble flow characteristics can be significantly affected by the configuration of pebble bed, especially for HTGR pebble beds. How to achieve a desired uniform flow pattern without stagnation is the top priority for reactor design. Pebbles flows inside some specially designed pebble bed with arc-shaped contraction configurations at the bottom, including both concave-inward and convex-outward shapes are explored based on discrete element method. Flow characteristics including pebble retention, residence-time frequency density, flow uniformity as well as axial velocity are investigated. The results show that the traditionally designed pebble bed with cone-shape bottom is not the most preferred structure with respect to flow pattern for reactor design. By improving the contraction configuration, the flow performance can be significantly enhanced. The flow in the convex-shape configuration featured by uniformity, consistency and less stagnation, is much more desirable for pebble bed design. In contrast, when the shape is from convex-forward to concave-inward, the flow shows more nonuniformity and stagnation in the corner although the average cross-section axial velocity is the largest due to the dominant middle pebbles.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권7호
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• pp.2174-2183
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• 2021

Helium cooled solid breeder blanket as an important blanket candidate of the Tokamak fusion reactor uses ceramic pebble bed for tritium breeding. Considering the poor effective thermal conductivity of the ceramic breeder pebble bed, thin structure of tritium breeder pebble bed is usually adopted in the blanket design. The container wall has a great influence on the thin pebble bed packing structure, especially for the assembly of mono-sized particles, and thin pebble bed will appear anisotropic effective thermal conductivity phenomenon. In this paper, thin ceramic pebble beds composed of 1 mm diameter Li₄SiO₄ particles are generated by the EDEM 2.7. The effective thermal conductivity of different thickness pebble beds in the three-dimensional directions are analyzed by three-dimensional thermal network method. It is observed that thin Li₄SiO₄ pebble bed showing anisotropic effective thermal conductivity under the practical design size. Normally, the effective thermal conductivity along the bed vertical direction is higher than the horizontal direction due to the gravity effect. As the thickness increases from 10 mm to 40 mm, the effective thermal conductivity of the pebble bed gradually increases.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권9호
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• pp.3450-3463
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• 2023

In the two-step analysis of Pebble-Bed type High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (PB-HTGR), the lattice physics calculation for the generation of homogenized cross-sections is based on the fuel pebble. However, the randomly-dispersed fuel particles in the fuel pebble introduce double heterogeneity and randomness. Compared to the deterministic method, the Monte Carlo method which is flexible in geometry modeling provides a high-fidelity treatment. Therefore, the Monte Carlo code NECP-MCX is extended in this study to perform the lattice physics calculation of the PB-HTGR. Firstly, the capability for the simulation of randomly-dispersed media, using the explicit modeling approach, is developed in NECP-MCX. Secondly, the capability for the generation of the homogenized cross-section is also developed in NECP-MCX. Finally, simplified PB-HTGR problems are calculated by a two-step neutronics analysis tool based on Monte Carlo homogenization. For the pebble beds mixed by fuel pebble and graphite pebble, the bias is less than 100 pcm when compared to the high-fidelity model, and the bias is increased to 269 pcm for pebble bed mixed by depleted fuel pebble. Numerical results show that the Monte Carlo lattice physics calculation for the two-step analysis of PB-HTGR is feasible.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권5호
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• pp.1679-1686
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• 2024

Graphite material plays an important role in nuclear reactors especially the high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) by its outstanding comprehensive nuclear properties. The structural integrity of graphite pebble fuel elements is the first barrier to core safety under any circumstances. The correct knowledge of the stiffness coefficient of the graphite pebble fuel element inside the reactor's core is significant to ensure the valid design and inherent safety. In this research, a vertical extrusion device was set up to measure the stiffness coefficient of the graphite pebble fuel element by the Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology (INET) of Tsinghua University in China. The stiffness coefficient equations of graphite pebble fuel elements at different temperatures are given (in a helium atmosphere). The result first provides the data on the high-temperature stiffness coefficient of pebbles in helium gas. The result will be helpful for the engineering safety analysis of pebble-bed nuclear reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제39권2호
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• pp.95-102
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• 2007

The conceptual design of the MIT modular pebble bed reactor is described. This reactor plant is a 250 Mwth, 120 Mwe indirect cycle plant that is designed to be deployed in the near term using demonstrated helium system components. The primary system is a conventional pebble bed reactor with a dynamic central column with an outlet temperature of 900 C providing helium to an intermediate helium to helium heat exchanger (IHX). The outlet of the IHX is input to a three shaft horizontal Brayton Cycle power conversion system. The design constraint used in sizing the plant is based on a factory modularity principle which allows the plant to be assembled 'Lego' style instead of constructed piece by piece. This principle employs space frames which contain the power conversion system that permits the Lego-like modules to be shipped by truck or train to sites. This paper also describes the research that has been conducted at MIT since 1998 on fuel modeling, silver leakage from coated fuel particles, dynamic simulation, MCNP reactor physics modeling and air ingress analysis.

• 한국에너지공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국에너지공학회 2004년도 추계 학술발표회 논문집
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• pp.225-231
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• 2004

• 한국환경농학회지
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.26-35
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• 2003

농어촌 등에서 소규모로 발생하는 하수를 환경친화적이고 높은 하수처리효율을 유지하면서 하수처리장의 장기간 사용을 위한 최적의 여재를 선정하기 위하여 자연정화공법을 이용한 소형하수처리장치를 호기성조 및 혐기성조로 구분하여 시공한 다음, 하수처리량 및 여재 입경별 수처리 효율을 조사하였고, 호기성조와 혐기성조에서 여재 입경별 하수의 투수속도를 조사한 결과는 다음과 같다. 호기성조 처리수 및 방류수중의 pH 및 EC는 여재입경에 따라서 별 차이가 없었고, 용존산소는 호기성조를 통과한 호기성조 처리수의 용존산소는 큰 폭으로 증가하였으나 혐기성조를 통과한 방류수의 용존산소는 호기성조 처리수에 비해 약간 감소하여 여재입경 및 하수처리량에 따라서 별 차이가 없이 약 $2.4{\sim}5.1\;mg/L$정도이었다. BOD, COD 및 탁도 처리율은 여재 대($4{\sim}10\;mm$)를 사용했을 경우에도 호기성조 처리 수에서 BOD 처리율은 약 91%이상 COD 처리율은 73%이상, 탁도 처리율은 83%이상이었으며, 이들 처리율은 여재입경이 작을수록 증가하였고, 모든 조건에서 방류수중의 BOD 처리율은 98%이상, COD 처리율은 91%이상, 탁도 처리율은 98%이상이었다. 여재입경별 총 질소 및 총 인 처리율은 여재입경이 작을수록 약간 증가하였고, 모든 조건에서 방류수중의 총 질소 처리율은 약 $45{\sim}59%$, 총 인 처리율은 약 $80{\sim}96%$ 정도이었다. 하수 처리율 및 투수속도를 고려해 볼 때 하수처리장 호기성조의 최적입경은 $2{\sim}4\;mm$정도, 혐기성조의 최적입경은 $0.1{\sim}4\;mm$정도가 적절한 것으로 사료되었다. 따라서 이러한 조건을 자연정화공법을 이용한 하수처리장에 적용하면 높은 하수처리효율을 유지하면서 하수처리장의 공극폐쇄현상이 일어나지 않아 장기간 운전할 수 있을 것으로 판단된다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권9호
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• pp.3835-3850
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• 2024

The high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) with spherical fuel elements contains complex pebble flow. The flow behavior of pebbles is influenced by various factors, such as pebble density, friction coefficient, wall structure, and discharge port size. Using a GPU-DEM numerical model, the effects of the friction coefficient on the cyclic loading and unloading of pebbles in the full-scale HTR-PM are studied. Numerical simulations with up to 420,000 spherical pebbles are conducted. Four sets of friction coefficient values are determined for comparative analysis based on experimental measurements. Discharging speed, residence time, stress, porosity, and velocity distribution are quantitatively analyzed. In addition, a comparison with the CT-PFD experiment is carried out to validate the numerical model. The results show that near-wall retention phenomena are observed in the reactor core only when using large friction coefficients. However, using friction coefficient values closer to the measured experimental values, the pebble bed in HTR-PM exhibited good flow characteristics. Furthermore, the friction coefficient also influences the porosity and velocity distribution of the pebble bed, with lower friction coefficients resulting in lower overall stress in the bed. The discharge outlet's influence varies with different friction coefficient values. In summary, this study demonstrates that the value of the friction coefficient has a complex influence on the pebble flow in HTR-PM, which provides important insights for future numerical and experimental studies in this field.

• 한국염색가공학회지
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.39-46
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• 1997

In this study, Two types of polyester fabrics were hydrolysed with NaOH using the CDR m/c of pad-steam type and the Sofleena m/c of liquor-flow type to determine the alkali hydrolysis properties of polyester fabrics. The results were as follows: Under the same conditions, the weight loss of charmeuse was about 0.5% and 2~3% higher than that of pebble with CDR m/c and with Sofleena m/c, respectively. The weft density of pebble decreased about 14picks/inch with CDR m/c and 3picks/inch with Sofleena m/c comparing to the untreated sample at 18% of weight loss, while the weft density of charmeuse decreased about 5picks/inch with CDR m/c and 2picks/inch with Sofleena m/c at 20% of weight toss. K/S value decreased almost identically within about 11% weight loss of pebble and 8% of charmeuse processed with both CDR and Sofleena. However, in the above these weight losses, K/S value of the fabrics processed with Sofleena was higher than that of fabrics processed with CDR. The bending rigidity of warp direction of the fabrics ($2{\times}10^{-2}gf.cm^2 /cm$ higher for charmeuse and ($7{\times}10^{-3}gf.cm^2 /cm$ higher for pebble) processed with CDR m/c was higher than that of the fabrics processed with Sofleena m/c.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국연소학회 2004년도 제29회 KOSCI SYMPOSIUM 논문집
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• pp.238-243
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• 2004

High temperature air blown gasification is new concept to utilize the waste heat from gasifier that is called the multi-staged enthalpy extraction technology. This process was developed to solve the economic problem due to air separation cost for the oxygen-blown as a gasifiying agent. In this study, we have performed the construction of pebble bed gasifier and operated it by controlling the pebble size and bed height. As a result, we can produce the syngas with the calorific value of 700kcal/$Nm^3$ at the condition of air temperature 650$^{\circ}C$.