Durability study of eleven years old cement-bentonite cut-off wall material

Comprehensive understanding of the long-term performance of cement-bentonite slurry trench cut-off walls is essential as these mixes may degrade when exposed to aggressive environments or when subjected to prolonged drying. A series of wetting-drying and immersion experiments was carried out to evaluate the durability characteristics of laboratory mixed samples and block field samples from 40 days to 11 years of age. For the wetting-drying tests, the samples buried in medium graded sand were subjected to periodical flooding and drying cycles. They were then used for permeability testing and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) testing. For the immersion tests, the samples confined in perforated molds were submerged in magnesium sulfate solution for 16 weeks and their microstructures were then analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. This paper identifies the effects of contaminant exposure on durability of cement-bentonite and the effects of aging by comparing 11 years old samples to younger samples. Test results showed that young or previously contaminated cement-bentonite mixes are more susceptible to sulfate attack than old or less contaminated mixes. Copyright ASCE 2008.

The effect of surface hardening on the elastic shakedown of elliptical contacts

The effect of varying both the aspect ratio and the coefficient of friction of contacts with elliptical geometry on their elastic shakedown performance has been examined theoretically for surfaces with two types of subsurface hardness or strength profiles. In stepwise hardening the hard layer is of uniform strength while in linear hardening its strength reduces from a maximum at the surface to that of the core at the base of the hardened layer. The shakedown load is expressed as the ratio of the maximum Hertzian pressure to the strength of the core material. As the depth of hardening, expressed as a multiple of the elliptical semi-axis, is increased so the potential shakedown load increases from a level that is appropriate to a uniform half-space of unhardened material to a value reflecting the hardness of the surface and near-surface material. In a step-hardened material, the shakedown limit for a surface 'pummelled' by the passage of a sequence of such loads reaches a cut-off or plateau value, which cannot be exceeded by further increases in hardening depth irrespective of the value of the friction coefficient. For a linear-hardened material the corresponding plateau is approached asymptotically. The work confirms earlier results on the upper bounds on shakedown of both point and line contacts and provides numerical values of shakedown loads for intermediate geometries. In general, the case depth required to achieve a given shakedown limit reduces in moving from a transversely moving nominal line load to an axisymmetric point load.

Laminar to turbulent flow transition measurements using an array of SOI-CMOS MEMS wall shear stress sensors

The successful utilization of an array of silicon on insulator complementary metal oxide semiconductor (SOICMOS) micro thermal shear stress sensors for flow measurements at macro-scale is demonstrated. The sensors use CMOS aluminum metallization as the sensing material and are embedded in low thermal conductivity silicon oxide membranes. They have been fabricated using a commercial 1 μm SOI-CMOS process and a post-CMOS DRIE back etch. The sensors with two different sizes were evaluated. The small sensors (18.5 ×18.5 μm2 sensing area on 266 × 266 μm2 oxide membrane) have an ultra low power (100 °C temperature rise at 6mW) and a small time constant of only 5.46 μs which corresponds to a cut-off frequency of 122 kHz. The large sensors (130 × 130 μm2 sensing area on 500 × 500 μm2 membrane) have a time constant of 9.82 μs (cut-off frequency of 67.9 kHz). The sensors' performance has proven to be robust under transonic and supersonic flow conditions. Also, they have successfully identified laminar, separated, transitional and turbulent boundary layers in a low speed flow. © 2008 IEEE.

High frequency multimode radiation from ducts with flow

Multimode sound radiation from hard-walled semi-infinite ducts with uniform subsonic flow is investigated theoretically. An analytic expression, valid in the high frequency limit, is derived for the multimode directivity function in the forward arc for a general family of mode distribution functions. The multimode directivity depends on the amplitude and directivity function of each individual mode. The amplitude of each mode is expressed as a function of cut-off ratio for a uniform distribution of incoherent monopoles, a uniform distribution of incoherent axial dipoles and for equal power per mode. The modes' directivity functions are obtained analytically by applying a Lorentz transformation to the zero flow solution. The analytic formula for the multimode directivity with flow is derived assuming total transmission of power at the open-end of the duct. This formula is compared to the exact numerical result for an unflanged duct, computed utilizing a Wiener-Hopf solution. The agreement is shown to be excellent. Copyright © 2008 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.

Soil mix technology for land remediation: Recent innovations

The past 15 years have seen increasing applications of soil mix technology in land remediation, mainly in stabilisation/solidification treatments and the construction of low-permeability cut-off walls and permeable reactive barriers; clear evidence of the versatility of the technology and its wide-ranging applications. This paper provides an overview of some of the recent innovations of soil mix technology in land remediation covering equipment developments and applications, including systems for rectangular panels and trenching systems, treatments, such as chemical oxidation, and additives, such as modified clays, zeolites and reactive magnesia. The paper also provides case studies for such innovations. The paper concludes with an overview of an on-going research and development project SMiRT (Soil Mix Remediation Technology) which will involve field trials on a contaminated site and will employ some of the innovations discussed in the paper. The range of significant advantages that soil mix technology now offers compared to other remediation techniques is likely to place this remediation method at the forefront of remedial options for future brownfield projects.

Long-term performance of cement-bentonite containment wall

The paper presents hydraulic conductivity, unconfined compression strength (UCS) and triaxial test results of an 11 year old slag-cement-bentonite (CB) cut-off wall material and identifies factors affecting their long-term performance. The laboratory tests were performed on three types of CB samples ranging from contaminated block field samples to uncontaminated laboratory cast samples. The results showed that hydraulic conductivity reduces till 3 years and UCS increases till 90 days, but there after it remains constant till 11 years of age. The mean hydraulic conductivity and UCS values of block field samples are inferior and have large variability than laboratory cured samples. Such variations are mainly because of heterogeneity caused by aggressive environment and impurities within the specimen. Consolidated undrained triaxial test found that under an effective confining pressure of less than 200 kPa, tension failure occurred since the minor principal stress dropped to zero value at failure. The research outcome is useful for understanding future liability of CB wall and improving their design. © 2009 IOS Press.

Accelerator-induced transients in Accelerator Driven Subcritical Reactors

Achieving higher particles energies and beam powers have long been the main focus of research in accelerator technology. Since Accelerator Driven Subcritical Reactors (ADSRs) have become the subject of increasing interest, accelerator reliability and modes of operation have become important matters that require further research and development in order to accommodate the engineering and economic needs of ADSRs. This paper focuses on neutronic and thermo-mechanical analyses of accelerator-induced transients in an ADSR. Such transients fall into three main categories: beam interruptions (trips), pulsed-beam operation, and beam overpower. The concept of a multiple-target ADSR is shown to increase system reliability and to mitigate the negative effects of beam interruptions, such as thermal cyclic fatigue in the fuel cladding and the huge financial cost of total power loss. This work also demonstrates the effectiveness of the temperature-to-reactivity feedback mechanisms in ADSRs. A comparison of shutdown mechanisms using control rods and beam cut-off highlights the intrinsic safety features of ADSRs. It is evident that the presence of control rods is crucial in an industrial-scale ADSR. This paper also proposes a method to monitor core reactivity online using the repetitive pattern of beam current fluctuations in a pulsed-beam operation mode. Results were produced using PTS-ADS, a computer code developed specifically to study the dynamic neutronic and thermal responses to beam transients in subcritical reactor systems. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

A priori assessment of algebraic flame surface density models in the context of large eddy simulation for nonunity lewis number flames in the thin reaction zones regime

The performance of algebraic flame surface density (FSD) models has been assessed for flames with nonunity Lewis number (Le) in the thin reaction zones regime, using a direct numerical simulation (DNS) database of freely propagating turbulent premixed flames with Le ranging from 0.34 to 1.2. The focus is on algebraic FSD models based on a power-law approach, and the effects of Lewis number on the fractal dimension D and inner cut-off scale η i have been studied in detail. It has been found that D is strongly affected by Lewis number and increases significantly with decreasing Le. By contrast, η i remains close to the laminar flame thermal thickness for all values of Le considered here. A parameterisation of D is proposed such that the effects of Lewis number are explicitly accounted for. The new parameterisation is used to propose a new algebraic model for FSD. The performance of the new model is assessed with respect to results for the generalised FSD obtained from explicitly LES-filtered DNS data. It has been found that the performance of the most existing models deteriorates with decreasing Lewis number, while the newly proposed model is found to perform as well or better than the most existing algebraic models for FSD. © 2012 Mohit Katragadda et al.

Effects of turbulent reynolds number on the performance of algebraic flame surface density models for large eddy simulation in the thin reaction zones regime: A direct numerical simulation analysis

A direct numerical simulation (DNS) database of freely propagating statistically planar turbulent premixed flames with a range of different turbulent Reynolds numbers has been used to assess the performance of algebraic flame surface density (FSD) models based on a fractal representation of the flame wrinkling factor. The turbulent Reynolds number Ret has been varied by modifying the Karlovitz number Ka and the Damköhler number Da independently of each other in such a way that the flames remain within the thin reaction zones regime. It has been found that the turbulent Reynolds number and the Karlovitz number both have a significant influence on the fractal dimension, which is found to increase with increasing Ret and Ka before reaching an asymptotic value for large values of Ret and Ka. A parameterisation of the fractal dimension is presented in which the effects of the Reynolds and the Karlovitz numbers are explicitly taken into account. By contrast, the inner cut-off scale normalised by the Zel'dovich flame thickness ηi/δz does not exhibit any significant dependence on Ret for the cases considered here. The performance of several algebraic FSD models has been assessed based on various criteria. Most of the algebraic models show a deterioration in performance with increasing the LES filter width. © 2012 Mohit Katragadda et al.

Shock Propagation and MPT Noise From a Transonic Rotor in Nonuniform Flow

One of the major challenges in high-speed fan stages used in compact, embedded propulsion systems is inlet distortion noise. A body-force-based approach for the prediction of multiple-pure-tone (MPT) noise was previously introduced and validated. In this paper, it is employed with the objective of quantifying the effects of nonuniform flow on the generation and propagation of MPT noise. First-of-their-kind back-to-back coupled aero-acoustic computations were carried out using the new approach for conventional and serpentine inlets. Both inlets delivered flow to the same NASA/GE R4 fan rotor at equal corrected mass flow rates. Although the source strength at the fan is increased by 38 dB in sound power level due to the nonuniform inflow, far-field noise for the serpentine inlet duct is increased on average by only 3.1 dBA overall sound pressure level in the forward arc. This is due to the redistribution of acoustic energy to frequencies below 11 times the shaft frequency and the apparent cut-off of tones at higher frequencies including blade-passing tones. The circumferential extent of the inlet swirl distortion at the fan was found to be two blade pitches, or 1/11th of the circumference, suggesting a relationship between the circumferential extent of the inlet distortion and the apparent cut-off frequency perceived in the far field. A first-principles-based model of the generation of shock waves from a transonic rotor in nonuniform flow showed that the effects of nonuniform flow on acoustic wave propagation, which cannot be captured by the simplified model, are more dominant than those of inlet flow distortion on source noise. It demonstrated that nonlinear, coupled aerodynamic and aero-acoustic computations, such as those presented in this paper, are necessary to assess the propagation through nonuniform mean flow. A parametric study of serpentine inlet designs is underway to quantify these propagation effects. © 2013 American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Shock propagation and MPT noise from a transonic rotor in non-uniform flow

One of the major challenges in hig4h-speed fan stages used in compact, embedded propulsion systems is inlet distortion noise. A body-force-based approach for the prediction of multiple-pure-tone (MPT) noise was previously introduced and validated. In this paper, it is employed with the objective of quantifying the effects of non-uniform flow on the generation and propagation of MPT noise. First-of-their-kind back-to-back coupled aero-acoustic computations were carried out using the new approach for conventional and serpentine inlets. Both inlets delivered flow to the same NASA/GE R4 fan rotor at equal corrected mass flow rates. Although the source strength at the fan is increased by 45 dB in sound power level due to the non-uniform inflow, farfield noise for the serpentine inlet duct is increased on average by only 3.1 dBA overall sound pressure level in the forward arc. This is due to the redistribution of acoustic energy to frequencies below 11 times the shaft frequency and the apparent cut-off of tones at higher frequencies including blade-passing tones. The circumferential extent of the inlet swirl distortion at the fan was found to be 2 blade pitches, or 1/11th of the circumference, suggesting a relationship between the circumferential extent of the inlet distortion and the apparent cut-off frequency perceived in the far field. A first-principles-based model of the generation of shock waves from a transonic rotor in non-uniform flow showed that the effects of non-uniform flow on acoustic wave propagation, which cannot be captured by the simplified model, are more dominant than those of inlet flow distortion on source noise. It demonstrated that non-linear, coupled aerodynamic and aeroacoustic computations, such as those presented in this paper, are necessary to assess the propagation through non-uniform mean flow. A parametric study of serpentine inlet designs is underway to quantify these propagation effects. Copyright © 2011 by ASME.

Use of axially graded burnable boron for hot-spot temperature reduction in a pressurized water reactor core

Shortly after the loading of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) core, the axial power distribution in fresh fuel has already attained the characteristic, almost flat shape, typical of burned fuel. At beginning of cycle (BOC), however, the axial distribution is centrally peaked. In assemblies hosting uniform burnable boron rods, this BOC peaking is even more pronounced. A reduction in the axial peaking is today often achieved by shortening the burnable boron rods by some 30 cm at each edge. It is shown that a two-zone grading of the boron rod leads, in a representative PWR cycle, to a reduction of the hot-spot temperature of approximately 70 °C, compared with the nongraded case. However, with a proper three-zone grading of the boron rod, an additional 20 °C may be cut off the hot-spot temperature. Further, with a slightly skewed application of this three-zone grading, an additional 50 °C may be cut off. The representative PWR cycle studied was cycle 11 of the Indian Point 2 station, with a simplification in the number of fuel types and in the burnup distribution. The analysis was based on a complete three-dimensional burnup calculation. The code system was ELCOS, with BOXER as an assembly code for the generation of burnup-dependent cross sections and SILWER as a three-dimensional core code with thermal-hydraulic feedback.

Wave propagation in a slowly-varying duct with mean vortical swirling flow

The propagation of unsteady disturbances in a slowlyvarying cylindrical duct carrying mean swirling flow is investigated using a multiple-scales technique. This is applicable to turbomachinery flow behind a rotor stage when the swirl and axial velocities are of the same order. The presence of mean vorticity couples acoustic and vorticity equations which produces an eigenvalue problem that is not self-adjoint unlike that for irrotational mean flow. In order to determine the amplitude variation along the duct, an adjoint solution for the coupled system of equations is derived. The solution breaks down where a mode changes from cut on to cut off. In this region the amplitude is governed by a form of Airy's equation, and the effect of swirl is to introduce a small shift in the origin of the Airy function away from the turning-point location. The variation of axial wavenumber and amplitude along the duct is calculated. In hard-walled ducts mean swirl is shown to produce much larger amplitude variation along the duct compared with a nonswirling flow. Mean swirl also has a large effect in ducts with finite-impedance walls which differs depending on whether modes are co-rotating with the swirl or counter rotating. © 2001 by A.J. Cooper, Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.