• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제18권5호
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• pp.459-469
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• 2019

It is important to estimate the shear strength of shallow compacted soils as a construction material. A series of constant water content triaxial compression (CWCC) tests under low confining state in this study were performed on compacted geomaterials. For establishing a relationship of the shear strengths between saturated and unsaturated states on compacted geomaterials, the suction stresses were derived by two methods: the conventional suction-measured method and the Suction stress-SWRC Method (SSM). Considering the suction stress as an equivalent confining stress component in the (${\sigma}_{net}$, ${\tau}$) plane, it was found that the peak deviator stress states agree well with the failure line of the saturated state from the triaxial compression test when the SSM is applied to obtain the suction stress. On the other hand, the cavitation phenomenon on the measurement of suction affected the results of the conventional suction-measured method. These results mean that the SSM is distinctly favorable for obtaining the suction value in the CWCC test because the SSM is not restricted by the cavitation phenomenon. It is expected that the application of the SSM would reduce the time required, and the projected cost with the additional equipment such as a pore water measuring device in the CWCC test.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권3호
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• pp.719-722
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• 2019

Gamma-ray images generally suffer from a lot of noise because of low photon detection in the gamma camera system. The purpose of this study is to improve the image quality in gamma-ray images using a gamma camera system with a fast nonlocal means (FNLM) noise reduction algorithm with an acceleration function. The designed FNLM algorithm is based on local region considerations, including the Euclidean distance in the gamma-ray image and use of the encoded information. To evaluate the noise characteristics, the normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and coefficient of variation (COV) were used. According to the NNPS result, the lowest values can be obtained using the FNLM noise reduction algorithm. In addition, when the conventional methods and the FNLM noise reduction algorithm were compared, the average CNR and COV using the proposed algorithm were approximately 2.23 and 7.95 times better than those of the noisy image, respectively. In particular, the image-processing time of the FNLM noise reduction algorithm can achieve the fastest time compared with conventional noise reduction methods. The results of the image qualities related to noise characteristics demonstrated the superiority of the proposed FNLM noise reduction algorithm in a gamma camera system.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권2호
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• pp.439-443
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• 2019

To improve the noise characteristics, software-based noise reduction algorithms are widely used in cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) pixelated semiconductor gamma camera system. The purpose of this study was to develop an improved median filtering algorithm using a thresholding method for noise reduction in a CZT pixelated semiconductor gamma camera system. The gamma camera system simulated is a CZT pixelated semiconductor detector with a pixel-matched parallel-hole collimator and the spatial resolution phatnom was designed with the Geant4 Application for Tomography Emission (GATE). In addition, a noise reduction algorithm with a median filter using an improved thresholding method is developed and we applied our proposed algorithm to an acquired spatial resolution phantom image. According to the results, the proposed median filter improved the noise characteristics compared to a conventional median filter. In particular, the average for normalized noise power spectrum, contrast to noise ratio, and coefficient of variation results using the proposed median filter were 10, 1.11, and 1.19 times better than results using conventional median filter, respectively. In conclusion, our results show that the proposed median filter using improved the thresholding method results in high imaging performance when applied in a CZT semiconductor gamma camera system.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권1호
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• pp.263-268
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• 2019

The $^3He$ proportional chamber is widely used for neutron measurement owing to its high neutron detection efficiency and simplicity for gamma-ray rejection. In general, the neutron and gamma-ray signals obtained from the $^3He$ proportional chamber can be easily separated by the difference in the pulse heights. However, for a high gamma-ray field, the gamma-ray signal cannot be precisely eliminated by the pulse height due to gamma-ray pulse pileup which causes the pulse height of gamma-ray pulse to increase and making the pulses due to neutrons and gamma rays indistinguishable. In this study, an improved algorithm for $n/{\gamma}$ discrimination using a parameter, which is the ratio of the rise time to the pulse height, is proposed. The $n/{\gamma}$ discrimination performance of the algorithm is evaluated by applying it to $^{252}Cf$ neutron signal separation from various gamma-ray exposure rate levels ranging 0.1-5 R/h. The performance is compared to that of the conventional pulse-height analysis method in terms of the gamma elimination ratio. The suggested algorithm shows better performance than the conventional one by 1.7% (at 0.1 R/h) to 70% (at 5 R/h) for gamma elimination.

• 한국가시화정보학회지
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.136-142
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• 2021

Submerged and semi-submerged vehicles expel cooling water through an outlet. In this process, induced noise and vibration by the flow around the outlet have been reported, and it may cause problems directly related to survivability of the navy vessels. The coolant outlet has a net-type structure and circular columns are mostly used. In this study, flow measurements using PIV and LDV were performed for different type outlets; conventional (flat plate with round bar) and improved (flat and flat plate) configurations. Experiments were conducted at a cavitation tunnel where pressure and steady flow rate conditions are ensured for sufficient time to measure the flow. The average velocity field of the outlets were measured and compared through LDV measurements, and instantaneous vorticities were evaluated through PIV measurements. The results show that the improved type of the outlet is advantageous in terms of flow stability compared to the conventional type of the outlet.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권8호
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• pp.2974-2988
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• 2022

Implementation of component isolation in nuclear industry is challenging due to gaps in research and the lack of specific guidelines. In this study, parameters affecting component-level isolation of advanced reactor vessels are identified based on a representative numerical model with explicit consideration of nonlinear soil-structure interaction (SSI). The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of, and to identify potential limitations of using conventional friction pendulum bearings to seismically isolate vessels. It is found that slender vessels or components are particularly vulnerable to rotational accelerations at the isolation interface, which are caused by rotation of the sub-structure and by excitation of higher modes in the horizontal direction of the seismically isolated system. Component isolation is found to be more effective for relatively stiffer vessels and at sites with stiff soil. Considering that conventional isolators are deficient in resisting axial tension, it is observed that the optimum location for supporting a component to achieve seismic isolation, is at a cross-sectional plane passing through the center of mass of the vessel. These findings are corroborated by numerous simulations of the response of seismically isolated reactor vessels at different nuclear power plant sites subject to a variety of ground motions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권9호
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• pp.3380-3389
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• 2022

We evaluated the performance of an improved hybrid median filter (IHMF) applied to X-ray computed tomography (CT) images obtained using a high-resolution photon-counting cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector. To study how the proposed approach improves the image quality, we measured the noise levels and the overall CT-image quality. We established a CZT imaging system with a detector length of 5.12 cm and thickness of 0.3 cm and acquired phantom images. To evaluate the efficacy of the proposed filter, we first modeled two conventional median filters. Subsequently, we were able to achieve a normalized noise power spectrum result of ~10^-8 mm², and furthermore, the proposed method improved the contrast-to-noise ratio by a factor of ~1.51 and the coefficient of variation by 1.55 relative to the counterpart values of the no-filter image. In addition, the IHMF exhibited the best performance among the three filters considered as regards the peak signal-to-noise ratio and no-reference-based image-quality evaluation parameters. Thus, our results demonstrate that the IHMF approach provides a superior image performance over conventional median filtering methods when applied to actual CZT X-ray CT images.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• 제23권5호
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• pp.121-127
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• 2023

A 500 km/h linear motor high speed terrestrial transportation service is planned to launch 2027 in Japan. In order to support 5G service in the train, the Sub-carrier spacing frequency of 30 kHz is planned to be used instead of common 15 kHz sub-carrier spacing to mitigate Doppler effect in such high-speed transportation. In addition, to increase the cell size of 5G mobile system, plural Base Station antenna will transmit the identical Down Link (DL) signal to form the expanded cell size along the train rail. In this situation, forward and backward antenna signals will be Doppler shifted by reverse direction respectively and the receiver in the train might suffer to estimate accurate Channel Transfer Function (CTF) for its demodulation. In this paper, Delay and Doppler Profiler (DDP) based Channel Estimator is proposed and it is successfully implemented in signal processing simulation system. Then the simulated performances are compared with the conventional Time domain linear interpolated estimator. According to the simulation results, QPSK modulation can be used even under severe channel condition such as 500 km/h, 2 path reverse Doppler Shift condition, although QPSK modulation can be used less than 200 km/h with conventional Channel estimator.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권1호
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• pp.119-130
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• 2023

Among the various elements of probabilistic safety assessment (PSA), human failure events (HFEs) and their dependencies are major contributors to the quantification of risk of a nuclear power plant. Currently, the dependency among HFEs is reflected using a post-processing method in PSA, wherein several drawbacks, such as limited propagation of minimal cutsets through the fault tree and improper truncation of minimal cutsets exist. In this paper, we propose a method to model the HFE dependency directly in a fault tree using the if-then-else logic. The proposed method proved to be equivalent to the conventional post-processing method while addressing the drawbacks of the latter. We also developed a software tool to facilitate the implementation of the proposed method considering the need for modeling the dependency between multiple HFEs. We applied the proposed method to a specific case to demonstrate the drawbacks of the conventional post-processing method and the advantages of the proposed method. When applied appropriately under specific conditions, the direct fault-tree modeling of HFE dependency enhances the accuracy of the risk quantification and facilitates the analysis of minimal cutsets.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권4호
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• pp.1225-1232
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• 2023

The ¹⁸⁰W is the lightest isotope of Tungsten with small abundance ratio. It is slightly radioactive (α decay), with an extremely long half-life. Its separation is possible by non-conventional single withdrawal cascades. The ¹⁸⁰W is used in radioisotopes production and study of metals through gamma-ray spectroscopy. In this paper, single withdrawal cascade model is developed to evaluate multicomponent separation in non-conventional transient cascades, and available experimental results are used for validation. Numerical studies for separation of ¹⁸⁰W in a transient single withdrawal cascade are performed. Parameters affecting the separation and equilibrium time of cascade such as number of stages, cascade arrangements, feed location and flow rate for a fixed number of gas centrifuges (GC) are investigated. The Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA) as a bio-inspired optimization algorithm is applied as a novel method to minimize the feed consumption to obtain desired concentration in the collection tank. Examining different cascade arrangements, it is observed in arrangements with more stages, the separation is further efficient. Based on the obtained results, with increasing feed flow rate, for fixed product concentration, the cascade equilibrium time decreases. Also, it is shown while the feed location is the farthest stage from the collection tank, the separation and cascade equilibrium time are well-organized. Finally, using SSA optimal parameters of the cascade is calculated, and optimal arrangement to produce 5 gr of ¹⁸⁰W with 90% concentration in the tank, is proposed.