• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.1209-1217
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• 2019

Due to the limitation of the computers, the conventional homogenization method is based on many assumptions and approximations, and some tough problems such as energy spectrum and boundary condition are faced. To deal with those problems, the Monte Carlo global homogenization is adopted. The Reactor Monte Carlo code RMC is used to study the global homogenization method, and the one-step global homogenization method is proposed. The superimposed mesh geometry is also used to divide the physical models, leading to better geometric flexibility. A set of multigroup homogenization cross sections is online generated for each mesh under the real neutron energy spectrum and boundary condition, the cross sections are adjusted by the superhomogenization method, and no leakage correction is required. During the process of superhomogenization, the author-developed reactor core program NLSP3 is used for global calculation, so the global flux distribution and equivalent homogenization cross sections could be solved simultaneously. Meanwhile, the calculated homogenization cross section could accurately reconstruct the non-homogenization flux distribution and could also be used for fine calculation. This one-step global homogenization method was tested by a PWR assembly and a small reactor model, and the results show the validity.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.370-377
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• 2004

The density approach and the homogenization design method are representative methods in topology optimization problems. In the topology optimization in magnetic fields, those methods are applied based on the results of the applications In elastic fields. In this study, the density method is modified considering the concept of the homogenization design method. Also, the results of the topology optimization in magnetic fields by the modified density method as well as the homogenization method are compared especially focusing the change of the penalization parameter in the density approach. The effect of the definition of the design domain such as global/local design domain is also discussed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.613-630
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• 1996

The homogenization method is used to develop a beam element in space for thermo-mechanical analysis of unidirectional composites. Local stress and temperature field in the microscale are described using the function of homogenization. The global (macroscopic) behaviour of the structure is supposed to be that of a beam. Beam-type kinematical hypotheses (including independent shear rotations) are hence applied and superposed on the microdescription. A macroscopic stiffness matrix for such a beam element is then developed which contains the microscale properties of the single cell of periodicity. The presented model enables us to analyse without too much computational effort complicated composite structures such as e.g. toroidal coils of a fusion reactor. We need only a FE mesh sufficiently fine for a correct description of the local geometry of a single cell and a few of the newly developed elements for the description of the global behaviour. An unsmearing procedure gives the stress and temperature field in the different materials of a single cell.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.565-576
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• 1997

The material-based homogenization design method generates arbitrary topologies of initial structural design as well as reinforcement structural design by controlling the amount of material available. However, if a small volume constraint is specified in the design of Lightweight structures, thin and slender structures are usually obtained. For these structures stability becomes one of the most important requirements. Thus, to prevent overall buckling (that is, to increase stability), the objective of the design is to maximize the buckling load of a structure. In this paper, the buckling analysis is restricted to the linear buckling behavior of a structure. The global stability requirement is defined as a stiffness constraint, and determined by solving the eigenvalue problem. The optimality conditions to update the design variables are derived based on the sequential convex approximation method and the dual method. Illustrated examples are presented to validate the feasibility of this method in the design of structures.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.7
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• pp.1347-1354
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• 2020

To improve the efficiency of MC criticality calculation, an acceleration method of fission source convergence which gives an improved initial fission source is proposed. In this method, the MC global homogenization is carried out to obtain the macroscopic cross section of each material mesh, and then the nonlinear iterative solution of the SP3 equations is used to determine the fission source distribution. The calculated fission source is very close to the real fission source, which describes its space and energy distribution. This method is an automatic computation process and is tested by the C5G7 benchmark, the results show that this acceleration method is helpful to reduce the inactive cycles and overall running time.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.213-234
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• 2010

A multiscale method is presented for analysis of thin slab structures in which the microstructures can not be reduced to two-dimensional plane stress models and thus three dimensional treatment of microstructures is necessary. This method is based on the classical asymptotic expansion multiscale approach but with consideration of the special geometric characteristics of the slab structures. This is achieved via a special form of multiscale asymptotic expansion of displacement field. The expanded three dimensional displacement field only exhibits in-plane periodicity and the thickness dimension is in the global scale. Consequently by employing the multiscale asymptotic expansion approach the global macroscopic structural problem and the local microscopic unit cell problem are rationally set up. It is noted that the unit cell is subjected to the in-plane periodic boundary conditions as well as the traction free conditions on the out of plane surfaces of the unit cell. The variational formulation and finite element implementation of the unit cell problem are discussed in details. Thereafter the in-plane material response is systematically characterized via homogenization analysis of the proposed special unit cell problem for different microstructures and the reasoning of the present method is justified. Moreover the present multiscale analysis procedure is illustrated through a plane stress beam example.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.202-216
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• 1984

The success of coarse-mesh nodal solution methods provides strong motivation for finding homogenized parameters which, when used in global nodal calculation, will reproduce exactly all average nodal reaction rates for large nodes. Two approximate theories for finding these ideal parameters, namely, simplified equivalence theory and approximate node equivalence theory, are described herein and then applied to the PWR benchmark problem. Nodal code, ANM, is used for the global calculation as well as for the homogenization calculation. From the comparative analysis, it is recommended that homogenization be carried out only for the unique type of fuel assemblies and for core boundary color-sets. The use of approximate homogenized cross-sections and approximate discontinuity factors predicts nodal powers with maximum error of 0.8% and criticality within 0.1% error relative to the fine-mesh KIDD calculations.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.107-122
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• 2011

Mechanical behavior in nano-sized structures differs from those in macro sized structures due to surface effect. As the ratio of surface to volume increases, surface effect is not negligible and causes size-dependent mechanical behavior. In order to identify this size effect, atomistic simulations are required; however, it has many limitations because too much computational resource and time are needed. To overcome the restrictions of the atomistic simulations and graft the well-established continuum theories, the continuum model considering surface effect, which is based on the bridging technique between atomistic and continuum simulations, is introduced. Because it reflects the size effect, it is possible to carry out a variety of analysis which is intractable in the atomistic simulations. As a part of the application examples, the homogenization method is applied to micro/nano thin films with porosity and the homogenized elastic coefficients of the nano scale thickness porous films are computed in this paper.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1435-1450
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• 2004

The investigation, which includes the material homogenization and the calculation of local stress concentration of long-fibrous composites in a microscopic level, has been performed to analyze the behavior of fiber-reinforced composites by using finite element method. In order to carry out this study, the finite element models of composites have been generated by the idealized arrays as square and hexagonal-packed type. In the FE analysis, the boundary conditions of micromechanical finite element method(MFEM) have been defined and verified by comparing with the results from multi-cells, and the effective material properties of composites composed of graphite/epoxy have been also evaluated by rules of mixture. For acquiring the relation between the global and local behaviors of composites, the magnifications of strain, stress, and interfacial stress of composites subjected to a longitudinal and transverse loading respectively have been calculated. And the magnifications have been proposed as the stress concentration in the microscopic level at composite material.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.207-224
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• 2012

This article discusses selects of some outstanding problems in nuclear reactor analysis, with proposed approaches thereto and numerical test results, as follows: i) multi-group approximation in the transport equation, ii) homogenization based on isolated single-assembly calculation, and iii) critical spectrum in Monte Carlo depletion.