• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.4499-4513
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• 2022

Spent fuel behavior of dry storage was simulated in a continuous state from steady-state operation by modifying FRAPCON-4.0 to incorporate spent fuel-specific fuel behavior models. Spent fuel behavior of a typical PWR was compared with that of NuScale Power Module (NPM^TM). Current PWR discharge burnup (60 MWd/kgU) gives a sufficient margin to the hoop stress limit of 90 MPa. Most hydrogen precipitation occurs in the first 50 years of dry storage, thereby no extra phenomenological safety factor is identified for extended dry storage up to 100 years. Regulation for spent fuel management can be significantly alleviated for LWR-based SMRs. Hydride embrittlement safety criterion is irrelevant to NuScale spent fuels; they have sufficiently lower plenum pressure and hydrogen contents compared to those of PWRs. Cladding creep out during dry storage reduces the subchannel area with burnup. The most deformed cladding outer diameter after 100 years of dry storage is found to be 9.64 mm for discharge burnup of 70 MWd/kgU. It may deteriorate heat transfer of dry storage by increasing flow resistance and decreasing the view factor of radiative heat transfer. Self-regulated by decreasing rod internal pressure with opening gap, cladding creep out closely reaches the saturated point after ~50 years of dry storage.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1991.10a
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• pp.133-138
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• 1991

The aim of the present paper is to develop a computer program predicting ultimate fracture strength of initially cracked structure under monotonically increasing external loads. For this purpose, two kinds of 3-D isoparametric solid elements, one 6-node wedge element and another 8-node brick element are formulated along the small deformation theory. Plasticity in the element is checked using von Mises' yield criterion. Elasto-plastic stiffness matrix of the element is calculated taking account of strain hardening effect. If the principal strain at crack tip which is one nodal point exceeds the critical strain dependin on the material property, crack tip is supposed to be opened and the crack tip node which was previously constrained in the direction perpendicular to the crack line is released. After that, the crack lay be propagated to the adjacent node. Once a crack tip node is fractured, the energy of the newly fractured node should be released which is to be absorbed by the remaining part. The accumulated reaction force which was carried by the newly fractured node so far is then applied in the opposite direction. During the action of crack tip relief force, since unloading may be occured in the plastic element, unloading check should be made. If a plastic element unloads, elastic stress-strain equation is used in the calculation of the stiffness matrix of the element, while for a loading element, elasto-plastic stress-strain equation is continuously used. Verification of the computer program is made comparing with the experimental results for center cracked panel subjected to uniform tensile load. Also some factors affecting ultimate fracture strength of initially cracked plate are investigated. It is concluded that the computer program developed here gives an accurate solution and becomes useful tool for predicting ultimate fracture load of initially cracked structural system under monotonically increasing external loads.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.595-609
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• 2017

Due to high in-situ stress and brittleness of rock mass, the surrounding rock masses of underground caverns are prone to appear splitting failure. In this paper, a kind of loading-unloading variable elastic modulus model has been initially proposed and developed based on energy dissipation principle, and the stress state of elements has been determined by a splitting failure criterion. Then the underground caverns of Dagangshan hydropower station is analyzed using the above model. For comparing with the monitoring results, the entire process of rock splitting failure has been achieved through monitoring the splitting failure on side walls of large-scale caverns in Dagangshan via borehole TV, micro-meter and deformation resistivity instrument. It shows that the maximum depth of splitting area in the downstream sidewall of the main power house is approximately 14 m, which is close to the numerical results, about 12.5 m based on the energy dissipation model. As monitoring result, the calculation indicates that the key point displacement of caverns decreases firstly with the distance from main powerhouse downstream side wall rising, and then increases, because this area gets close to the side wall of main transformer house and another smaller splitting zone formed here. Therefore it is concluded that the energy dissipation model can preferably present deformation and fracture zones in engineering, and be very useful for similar projects.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.35-45
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• 2014

Limit equilibrium methods of slope stability analysis have been widely adopted mainly due to their simplicity and applicability. However, the conventional methods may not give reliable and convincing results for various geological conditions such as nonhomogeneous and anisotropic soils. Also, they do not take into account soil slope history nor the initial state of stress, for example excavation or fill placement. In contrast to the limit equilibrium analysis, the analysis of deformation and stress distribution by finite element method can deal with the complex loading sequence and the growth of inelastic zone with time. This paper proposes a technique to determine the critical slip surface as well as to calculate the factor of safety for shallow failure on partially saturated soil slope. Based on the effective stress field in finite element analysis, all stresses are estimated at each Gaussian point of elements. The search strategy for a noncircular critical slip surface along weak points is appropriate for rainfall-induced shallow slope failure. The change of unit weight by seepage force has an effect on the horizontal and vertical displacements on the soil slope. The Drucker-Prager failure criterion was adopted for stress-strain relation to calculate coupling hydraulic and mechanical behavior of the partially saturated soil slope.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.2 s.62
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• pp.25-31
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• 2005

Objectives: This study was designed to assess traditional Korean medical therapy for urticaria and establish a clinical assessment guideline. Methods: Duration of symptoms, personal and family history of allergic diseases, serum IgE level, suspected causes and Provocation factors were investigated in 56 patients. Frequency of wheals, duration of wheals, number of wheals, itch severity and antihistamine counts on a 6-point (0-5) scale were assessed in 34 patients. The change of total scores and each criterion between baseline and follow up were analyzed using paired t-test (p<0.05). Results: 1. Acute urticaria within 6 weeks was $26.8\%$ and chronic urticaria over 6 weeks was $73.2\%$. The mean duration of symptoms was $19.2\pm38.8$ months. 2. $57.1\%$ of patients had a personal history of allergic diseases and $50\%$had a family history. $29.1\%$ had over 200 IU/mL serum IgE level. 3. The suspected causes were none $(39.3\%)$, foods $(32.1\%)$, drugs $(12.5\%)$, contact $(5.4\%)$ and maternity$(5.4\%)$. 4. The suspected provocation factors were foods $(41.1\%)$, none $(26.8\%)$, fatigue $(12.5\%)$, heat and sweating $(12.5\%)$, pressure $(10,7\%)$ and stress $(7.1\%)$. 5. The total scores between baseline and follow up of 34 patients were lowered from $15.38^{\circ}\;{\ae}3.75\;to\;8.82^{\circ}\;{\ae}5.21$, which was significant statistically (p=0.000). 6. Itch severity, frequency of wheals and number of wheals were the most significantly lowered of all criteria. Conclusions: Traditional Korean medical therapy was proven to be effective for urticaria, while itch severity, frequency of wheals and number of wheals should be assessed clinically with greater priority.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.463-483
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• 2013

Considering the influences of fluid penetration, casing, excavation processes of wellbore and perforation tunnels, the seepage-deformation finite element model of oil and gas well coupled with perforating technique is established using the tensile strength failure criterion, in which the user-defined subroutine is developed to investigate the dynamic evolvement of the reservoir porosity and permeability. The results show that the increases of perforation angle and decreases of perforation density lead to a higher fracture initiation pressure, while the changes of the perforation diameter and length have no evident influences on the fracture initiation pressure. As for initiation location for the fracture in wellbore, it is on the wellbore face while considering the presence of the casing. By contrast, the fractures firstly initiate on the root of the tunnels without considering casing. Besides, the initial fracture position is also related with the perforation angle. The fracture initiation position is located in the point far away from the wellbore face, when the perforation angle is around $30^{\circ}$; however, when the perforation angle is increased to $45^{\circ}$, a plane fracture is initiated from the wellbore face in the maximum horizontal stress direction; no fractures was found around perforation tunnels, when the angel is close to $90^{\circ}$. The results have been successfully applied in an oilfield, with the error of only 1.1% comparing the fracture initiation pressure simulated with the one from on-site experiment.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2006

The seismic safety of reinforced concrete containment building can be evaluated by probabilistic analysis considering randomness of earthquake, which is more rational than deterministic analysis. In the safety assessment of earthquake-resistant structures by the deterministic theory, it is not easy to consider the effects of random variables but the reliability theory and random vibration theory are useful to assess the seismic safety with considering random effects. The reliability assessment of reinforced concrete containment building subjected to earthquake load includes the structural analysis considering random variables such as load, resistance and analysis method, the definition of limit states and the reliability analysis. The reliability analysis procedure requires much time and labor and also needs to get the high confidence in results. In this study, random vibration analysis of containment building is performed with random variables as earthquake load, concrete compressive strength, modal damping ratio. The seismic responses of critical elements of structure are approximated at the most probable failure point by the response surface method. The response surface method helps to figure out the quantitative characteristics of structural response variability. And the limit state is defined as the failure surface of concrete under multi-axial stress, finally the limit state probability of failure can be obtained simply by first-order second moment method. The reliability analysis for the multiaxial strength limit state and the uniaxial strength limit state is performed and the results are compared with each other. This study concludes that the multiaxial failure criterion is a likely limit state to predict concrete failure strength under combined state of stresses and the reliability analysis results are compatible with the fact that the maximum compressive strength of concrete under biaxial compression state increases.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.467-484
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• 2023

Despite the significant features of fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (FRCCs), including better mechanical, fractural, and durability performance, their high content of cement has restricted their use in the construction industry. Although ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) is considered the main supplementary cementitious material, its slow pozzolanic reaction stands against its application. The addition of nano-sized mineral modifiers, including nano-silica (NS), is an alternative to address the drawbacks of using GGBFS. The main object of this empirical and numerical research is to examine the effect of NS on the strain-hardening behavior of cementitious composites; ten mixes were designed, and five levels of NS were considered. This study proposes a new method, using a four-point bending test to assess the use of nano-silica (NS) on the flexural behavior, first cracking strength, fracture energy, and micromechanical parameters including interfacial friction bond strength and maximum bridging stress. Digital image correlation (DIC) was used for monitoring the initiation and propagation of the cracks. In addition, to attain a deep comprehension of fiber/matrix interaction, scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis was used. It was discovered that using nano-silica (NS) in cementitious materials results in an enhancement in the matrix toughness, which prevents multiple cracking and, therefore, strain-hardening. In addition, adding NS enhanced the interfacial transition zone between matrix and fiber, leading to a higher interfacial friction bond strength, which helps multiple cracking in the composite due to the hydrophobic nature of polypropylene (PP) fibers. The findings of this research provide insight into finding the optimum percent of NS in which both ductility and high tensile strength of the composites would be satisfied. As a concluding remark, a new criterion is proposed, showing that the optimum value of nano-silica is 2%. The findings and proposed method of this study can facilitate the design and utilization of green cementitious composites in structures.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2021

The quantitative measurement of interfacial adhesion energy (Gc) of multilayer thin films for Cu interconnects was investigated using a double cantilever beam (DCB) and 4-point bending (4-PB) test. In the case of a sample with Ta diffusion barrier applied, all Gc values measured by the DCB and 4-PB tests were higher than 5 J/㎡, which is the minimum criterion for Cu/low-k integration without delamination. However, in the case of the Ta/Cu sample, measured Gc value of the DCB test was lower than 5 J/㎡. All Gc values measured by the 4-PB test were higher than those of the DCB test. Measured Gc values increase with increasing phase angle, that is, 4-PB test higher than DCB test due to increasing plastic energy dissipation and roughness-related shielding effects, which matches well interfacial fracture mechanics theory. As a result of the 4-PB test, Ta/Cu and Cu/Ta interfaces measured Gc values were higher than 5 J/㎡, suggesting that Ta is considered to be applicable as a diffusion barrier and a capping layer for Cu interconnects. The 4-PB test method is recommended for quantitative adhesion energy measurement of the Cu interconnect interface because the thermal stress due to the difference in coefficient of thermal expansion and the delamination due to chemical mechanical polishing have a large effect of the mixing mode including shear stress.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.299-311
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• 2022

Water-resisting key stratum (WKS) between coal seams is an important barrier that prevents water inrush from goaf in roof under multi-seam mining. The occurrence of water inrush can be evaluated effectively by analyzing the fracture of WKS in multi-seam mining. A "long beam" water inrush mechanical model was established using the multi-seam mining of No. 2+3 and No. 8 coal seams in Xiqu Mine as the research basis. The model comprehensively considers the pressure from goaf, the gravity of overburden rock, the gravity of accumulated water, and the constraint conditions. The stress distribution expression of the WKS was obtained under different mining distances in No. 8 coal seam. The criterion of breakage at any point of the WKS was obtained by introducing linear Mohr strength theory. By using the mechanical model, the fracture of the WKS in Xiqu Mine was examined and its breaking position was calculated. And the risk of water inrush was also evaluated. Moreover, breaking process of the WKS was reproduced with Flac3D numerical software, and was analyzed with on-site microseismic monitoring data. The results showed that when the coal face of No. 8 coal seam in Xiqu Mine advances to about 80 m ~ 100 m, the WKS is stretched and broken at the position of 60 m ~ 70 m away from the open-off cut, increasing the risk of water inrush from goaf in roof. This finding matched the result of microseismic analysis, confirming the reliability of the water inrush mechanical model. This study therefore provides a theoretical basis for the prevention of water inrush from goaf in roof in Xiqu Mine. It also provides a method for evaluating and monitoring water inrush from goaf in roof.