• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.10
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• pp.3438-3448
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• 2021

Dynamic seals are one of the critical components of Absorber Rod Drive Mechanism of Fast Breeder Reactors, requiring separate experimental development. Their significance can't be overemphasized considering that the availability and re-usability of Control Rod Drive Mechanisms of Fast Breeder Test Reactor is governed by the failure rate of dynamic seals (bellows). For prototype and subsequent Fast Breeder Reactors in India, choice of the dynamic seal is changed to an in-house designed & developed labyrinth type V-ring seal. The present work is related to the numerical investigations carried out to gain insights into the sealing mechanism and the thermal behaviour of these seals. The results indicate that the seal geometry is very important for obtaining optimum performance. By changing the geometry of the present seal, performance enhancement by more than 50% in important indices is obtained. Further, the results point out that caution shall be exercised when the seal material & its operating temperature are changed. Also, the numerical model developed in this study will be useful for developing more robust dynamic seals in future.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.161-184
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• 2021

Strengthening of reinforced concrete beams with externally bonded fiber reinforced polymer plates/sheets technique has become widespread in the last two decades. Although a great deal of research has been conducted on simply supported RC beams, a few studies have been carried out on continuous beams strengthened with FRP composites. This paper presents a simple uniaxial nonlinear analytical model that is able to accurately estimate the load carrying capacity and the behaviour of damaged RC continuous beams flexural strengthened with externally bonded prestressed composite plates on both of the upper and lower fibers, taking into account the thermal load. The model is based on equilibrium and deformations compatibility requirements in and all parts of the strengthened beam, i.e., the damaged concrete beam, the FRP plate and the adhesive layer. The flexural analysis results and analytical predictions for the prestressed composite strengthened damaged RC continuous beams were compared and showed very good agreement in terms of the debonding load, yield load, and ultimate load. The use of composite materials increased the ultimate load capacity compared with the non strengthened beams. The major objective of the current model is to help engineers' model FRP strengthened RC continuous beams in a simple manner. Finally, this research is helpful for the understanding on mechanical behaviour of the interface and design of the FRP-damaged RC hybrid structures.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.19-49
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• 2023

The present study proposes a theoretical and numerical investigation on the dynamic response behaviour of a functional graded (FG) ceramic-metal tapered rotor shaft system, by the differential quadrature finite elements method (DQFEM) to identify the natural frequencies for modelling and analysis of the structure with suitable validations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of heat gradients on the natural frequency of rotation of FG shafts via three-dimensional solid elements, as well as a theoretical examination using the Timoshenko beam mode, which took into account the gyroscopic effect and rotational inertia. The functionally graded material's distribution is described by two distribution laws: the power law and the exponential law. To simulate varied thermal conditions, radial temperature distributions are obtained using the nonlinear temperature distribution (NLTD) and exponential temperature distribution (ETD) approaches. This work deals with the results of the effect on the fundamental frequencies of different material's laws gradation and temperature gradients distributions. Attempts are conducted to identify adequate explanations for the behaviours based on material characteristics. The effect of taper angle and material distribution on the dynamic behaviour of the FG conical rotor system is discussed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2395-2407
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• 2022

The sodium-cooled fast reactor is among the innovative nuclear technologies selected in the framework of the development of Generation IV concepts, allowing the irradiation of uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuels (MOX). A fundamental step for the safety assessment of MOX-fuelled pins for fast reactor applications is the evaluation, by means of fuel performance codes, of the integral thermal-mechanical behaviour under irradiation, involving the fission gas behaviour and release in the fuel-cladding gap. This work is dedicated to the performance analysis of an inner-core fuel pin representative of the ASTRID sodium-cooled concept design, selected as case study for the benchmark between the GERMINAL and TRANSURANUS fuel performance codes. The focus is on fission gas-related mechanisms and integral outcomes as predicted by means of the SCIANTIX module (allowing the physics-based treatment of inert gas behaviour and release) coupled to both fuel performance codes. The benchmark activity involves the application of both GERMINAL and TRANSURANUS in their "pre-INSPYRE" versions, i.e., adopting the state-of-the-art recommended correlations available in the codes, compared with the "post-INSPYRE" code results, obtained by implementing novel models for MOX fuel properties and phenomena (SCIANTIX included) developed in the framework of the INSPYRE H2020 Project. The SCIANTIX modelling includes the consideration of burst releases of the fission gas stored at the grain boundaries occurring during power transients of shutdown and start-up, whose effect on a fast reactor fuel concept is analysed. A clear need to further extend and validate the SCIANTIX module for application to fast reactor MOX emerges from this work; nevertheless, the GERMINAL-TRANSURANUS benchmark on the ASTRID case study highlights the achieved code capabilities for fast reactor conditions and paves the way towards the proper application of fuel performance codes to safety evaluations on Generation IV reactor concepts.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.1061-1069
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• 1998

The thermal instability of Al2TiO5 Ceramics was contrlled by solid solution with MgO SiO2 and ZrO2 through electrofusion in an arc furnace. The thermal expansion properties of Al2TiO5 composites show the hysteresis due to the strong anisotropy of The crystal axes of these material. These phenomena are ex-plained by the opening and closing of microcracks. The difference in microcracking temperatures e.g 587.6(ATG2), 405.9(ATG3) and 519.7$^{\circ}C$(ATG4) is caused by the difference in grain size and stabilizer type. The thermal shock behaviour under cyclic conditions between 750-1400-75$0^{\circ}C$ show no change in mi-crostructure and phase assemblage for all three stabilized specimens. After the thermal loading test at 110$0^{\circ}C$ for 100hrs. ATG1 and ATG2 materials decomposes completely to its components corundum and ru-tile in both cases. However with approximatelly 20% retention of the Al2TiO5 Thus in order to prevent decomposition of the stabilized material in the critical temperature range 800-130$0^{\circ}C$ it must be traversed within a short period of time.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.9
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• pp.3112-3121
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• 2021

One of the major factors affecting the life span of a Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) is the Pressurised Thermal Shock (PTS). PTS is a thermo-mechanical load on the RPV wall due to steep temperature gradients and structural load created by internal pressure of the fluid within the RPV. Safe operating life of a nuclear power plant is ensured by carrying out fracture analysis of the RPV against thermal shock. Carrying out fracture tests on RPV/large scale components is not always feasible. Hence, studies on laboratory level specimens are necessary to validate and supplement the prototype results. This paper aims to study the fracture behaviour of standard Compact Tension [C(T)] specimens, made of RPV steel 20MnMoNi55, subjected to thermal shock through experimental and numerical investigations. Fracture tests have been carried out on the C(T) specimens subjected to thermal transient load and tensile load to quantify the effect of thermal shock. Crack resistance curves are obtained from the fracture tests as per ASTM E1820 and compared with those obtained numerically using XFEM and a good agreement was found. A quantitative study on the crack tip plastic zone, computed using cohesive segment approach, from the numerical analyses justified the experimental crack initiation toughness.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.403-414
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• 1994

Nonlinear analysis of RC containment structure under thermal load and pressure is presented to trace the behaviour after an assumed LOCA. The temperature distribution varying with time through the wall thickness is determined by transient finite element analysis with the two time level scheme in time domain. The layered shell finite elements are used to represent the containment structures in nuclear power plants. Both geometric and material nonlinearities are taken into account in the finite element formulation. The constitutive relation of concrete is modeled according to Drucker-Prager yield criteria in compression. Tension stiffening model is used to represent the tensile behaviour of concrete including bond effect. The reinforcing bars are modeled by smeared layer at the location of reinforcements accounting elasto-plastic axial behaviors. The steel liner model under Von Mises yield criteria is adopted to represent elastic-perfect plastic behaviour. Geometric nonlinearity is formulated to consider the large displacement effect. Thermal stress components are determined by the initial strain concept during each time step. The temperature differential between any two consecutive time steps is considered as a load incremental. The numerical results from this study reveal that nonlinear temperature gradient based on transient thermal analysis will produces excessive large displacement. Nonlinear behavior of containment structures up to ultimate stage can be traced reallistically. The present study allows more realistic analysis of concrete containment structures in nuclear power plants.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.407-414
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• 2020

Thermal decomposition of the uranyl phosphate mineral phase meta-ankoleite (KUO₂PO₄·3H₂O) has been considered in relation to high temperature thermal sintering for the immobilisation of a uranyl phosphate containing waste. Meta-ankoleite thermal decomposition was studied across the temperature range 25 - 1200℃ under an inert N₂ atmosphere at 1 atm. It is shown that the meta-ankoleite mineral phase undergoes a double de-hydration event at 56.90 and 125.85℃. Subsequently, synthetically produced pure meta-ankoleite remains stable until at least 1150℃ exhibiting no apparent phase changes. In contrast, when present in a mixed waste the meta-ankoleite phase is not identifiable after thermal treatment indicating incorporation within the bulk waste either as an amorphous phase and/or as uranium oxide. Visual inspection of the waste post thermal treatment showed evidence of self-sintering owing to the presence of glass former materials, namely, silica (SiO₂) and antimony(V) oxide (Sb₂O₅). Therefore, incorporation of the uranium phase into the waste as part of waste sentencing and immobilisation via high temperature sintering for the purpose of long-term disposal is deemed feasible.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.205-221
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• 2016

In this article, the buckling responses of functionally graded curved (spherical, cylindrical, hyperbolic and elliptical) shell panels under elevated temperature load are investigated numerically using finite element steps. The effective material properties of the functionally graded shell panel are evaluated using Voigt's micromechanical model through the power-law distribution with and without temperature dependent properties. The mathematical model is developed using the higher-order shear deformation theory in conjunction with Green-Lagrange type nonlinear strain to consider large geometrical distortion under thermal load. The efficacy of the proposed model has been checked and the effects of various geometrical and material parameters on the buckling load are analysed in details.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.201-216
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• 2008

The Eurocode system provides limited information regarding the structural fire design of external steel structures. Eurocode 1 provides thermal action for external member but only in steady-state conditions. On the other hand, Eurocode 3 provides a methodology to determine heat transfer to external steelwork, but there is no distinction in cross section shapes and, in addition, the calculated temperature distribution is assumed to be uniform in the cross section. This paper presents the results of a research carried out to develop a new transient heat transfer model for external steel elements to improve the current approach of the Eurocodes. This research was carried out as part of the project EXFIRE "Development of design rules for the fire behaviour of external steel structures", funded by the European Research Programme of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS).