• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.12
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• pp.2699-2708
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• 2020

Helical-coil steam generator (HCSG) technology is a major design candidate for small modular reactors due to its compactness and capability to produce superheated steam with high generation efficiency. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of the passively autonomous power maneuvering by coupling the 3-D transient multi-physics of a soluble-boron-free (SBF) core with a time-dependent HCSG model. The predictor corrector quasi-static method was used to reduce the cost of the transient 3-D neutronic solution. In the numerical system simulations, the feedwater flow rate to the secondary of the HCSGs is adjusted to extract the demanded power from the primary loop. This varies the coolant temperature at the inlet of the SBF core, which governs the passively autonomous power maneuvering due to the strongly negative coolant reactivity feedback. Here, we simulate a 100-50-100 load-follow operation with a 5%/minute power ramping speed to investigate the feasibility of the passively autonomous load-follow in a 450 MW_th SBF PWR. In addition, the passively autonomous frequency control operation is investigated. The various system models are coupled, and they are solved by an in-house Fortran-95 code. The results of this work demonstrate constant steam temperature in the secondary side and limited variation of the primary coolant temperature. Meanwhile, the variations of the core axial shape index and the core power peaking are sufficiently small.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2000

The crashworthiness of vehicles with finite element methods depends on the geometry modeling and the material properties. The vehicle body structures are generally composed of various members such as frames, stamped panels and deep-drawn parts from sheet metals. In order to ensure the impact characteristics of auto-body structures, the dynamic behavior of sheet metals must be examined to provide the appropriate constitutive relation. In this paper, high strain-rate tensile tests have been carried out with a tension type split Hopkinson bar apparatus specially designed for sheet metals. Experimental results from both static and dynamic tests with the tension split Hopkinson bar apparatus are interpolated to construct the Johnson-Cook and a modified Johnson-Cook equation as the constitutive relation, that should be applied to simulation of the dynamic behavior of auto-body structures. Simulation of auto-body structures has been carried out with an elasto-plastic finite element method with explicit time integration. The stress integration scheme with the plastic predictor-elastic corrector method is adopted in order to accurately keep track of the stress-strain relation for the rate-dependent model accurately. The crashworthiness of the structure with quasi-static constitutive relation is compared to the one with the rate-dependent constitutive model. Numerical simulation has been carried out for frontal frames and a hood of an automobile. Deformed shapes and the Impact energy absorption of the structure are investigated with the variation of the strain rate.