Numerical analysis of modified Central Solenoid insert design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khodak, Andrei, E-mail: akhodak@pppl.gov [Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ (United States); Martovetsky, Nicolai; Smirnov, Aleksandre [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Titus, Peter [Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ (United States)

2015-10-15

Highlights: • Modified design of coil for testing ITER superconducting cable is presented. • Numerical analysis allowed design verification. • Three-dimensional current sharing temperature distributions are obtained from the results. - Abstract: The United States ITER Project Office (USIPO) is responsible for fabrication of the Central Solenoid (CS) for ITER project. The ITER machine is currently under construction by seven parties in Cadarache, France. The CS Insert (CSI) project should provide a verification of the conductor performance in relevant conditions of temperature, field, currents and mechanical strain. The US IPO designed the CSI that will be tested at the Central Solenoid Model Coil (CSMC) Test Facility at JAEA, Naka. To validate the modified design three-dimensional numerical simulations were performed using coupled solver for simultaneous structural, thermal and electromagnetic analysis. Thermal and electromagnetic simulations supported structural calculations providing necessary loads and strains. According to current analysis design of the modified coil satisfies ITER magnet structural design criteria for the following conditions: (1) room temperature, no current, (2) temperature 4 K, no current, (3) temperature 4 K, current 60 kA direct charge, and (4) temperature 4 K, current 60 kA reverse charge. Fatigue life assessment analysis is performed for the alternating conditions of: temperature 4 K, no current, and temperature 4 K, current 45 kA direct charge. Results of fatigue analysis show that parts of the coil assembly can be qualified for up to 1 million cycles. Distributions of the Current Sharing Temperature (TCS) in the superconductor were obtained from numerical results using parameterization of the critical surface in the form similar to that proposed for ITER. Special ADPL scripts were developed for ANSYS allowing one-dimensional representation of TCS along the cable, as well as three-dimensional fields of TCS in superconductor

Numerical solution of the unsteady diffusion-convection-reaction equation based on improved spectral Galerkin method

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Jiaqi; Zeng, Cheng; Yuan, Yupeng; Zhang, Yuzhe; Zhang, Ye

2018-04-01

The aim of this paper is to present an explicit numerical algorithm based on improved spectral Galerkin method for solving the unsteady diffusion-convection-reaction equation. The principal characteristics of this approach give the explicit eigenvalues and eigenvectors based on the time-space separation method and boundary condition analysis. With the help of Fourier series and Galerkin truncation, we can obtain the finite-dimensional ordinary differential equations which facilitate the system analysis and controller design. By comparing with the finite element method, the numerical solutions are demonstrated via two examples. It is shown that the proposed method is effective.

Numerical convergence improvements for porflow unsaturated flow simulations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flach, Greg [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)

2017-08-14

Section 3.6 of SRNL (2016) discusses various PORFLOW code improvements to increase modeling efficiency, in preparation for the next E-Area Performance Assessment (WSRC 2008) revision. This memorandum documents interaction with Analytic & Computational Research, Inc. (http://www.acricfd.com/default.htm) to improve numerical convergence efficiency using PORFLOW version 6.42 for unsaturated flow simulations.

Design of heat exchangers by numerical methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Konuk, A.A.

1981-01-01

Differential equations describing the heat tranfer in shell - and tube heat exchangers are derived and solved numerically. The method of ΔT sub(lm) is compared with the proposed method in cases where the specific heat at constant pressure, Cp and the overall heat transfer coefficient, U, vary with temperature. The error of the method of ΔT sub (lm) for the computation of the exchanger lenght is less than + 10%. However, the numerical method, being more accurate and at the same time easy to use and economical, is recommended for the design of shell-and-tube heat exchangers. (Author) [pt

Experimental and Numerical Design and Optimization of a Counter-Flow Heat Exchanger

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bahrami Salman

2018-01-01

Full Text Available A new inexpensive counter-flow heat exchanger has been designed and optimized for a vapor-compression cooling system in this research. The main aim is to experimentally and numerically evaluate the effect of an internal heat exchanger (IHX adaptation in an automotive air conditioning system. In this new design of IHX, the high-pressure liquid passes through the central channel and the low-pressure vapor flows in several parallel channels in the opposite direction. The experimental set-up has been made up of original components of the air conditioning system of a medium sedan car, specially designed and built to analyze vehicle A/C equipment under real operating conditions. The results show that this compact IHX may achieve up to 10% of the evaporator capacity while low pressure drop will be imposed on this refrigeration cycle. Also, they confirm considerable decrease of compressor power consumption (CPC, which is intensified at higher evaporator air flow. A significant improvement of the coefficient of performance (COP is achieved with the IHX employment too. The influence of operating conditions has been also discussed in this paper. Finally, numerical analyses have been briefly presented, which bring more details of the flow behavior and heat transfer phenomena, and help to determine the optimal arrangement of channels.

Design and numerical investigation of swirl recovery vanes for the Fokker 29 propeller

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Yangang

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Swirl recovery vanes (SRVs are a set of stationary vanes located downstream from a propeller, which may recover some of the residual swirl from the propeller, hoping for an improvement in both thrust and efficiency. The SRV concept design for a scaled version representing the Fokker 29 propeller is performed in this paper, which may give rise to a promotion in propulsive performance of this traditional propeller. Firstly the numerical strategy is validated from two aspects of global quantities and the local flow field of the propeller compared with experimental data, and then the exit flow together with the development of propeller wake is analyzed in detail. Three kinds of SRV are designed with multiple circular airfoils. The numerical results show that the swirl behind the propeller is recovered significantly with Model V3, which is characterized by the highest solidity along spanwise, for various working conditions, and the combination of rotor and vane produced 5.76% extra thrust at the design point. However, a lower efficiency is observed asking for a better vane design and the choice of a working point. The vane position is studied which shows that there is an optimum range for higher thrust and efficiency.

Design and implementation of new design of numerical experiments for non linear models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gazut, St.

2007-03-01

This thesis addresses the problem of the construction of surrogate models in numerical simulation. Whenever numerical experiments are costly, the simulation model is complex and difficult to use. It is important then to select the numerical experiments as efficiently as possible in order to minimize their number. In statistics, the selection of experiments is known as optimal experimental design. In the context of numerical simulation where no measurement uncertainty is present, we describe an alternative approach based on statistical learning theory and re-sampling techniques. The surrogate models are constructed using neural networks and the generalization error is estimated by leave-one-out, cross-validation and bootstrap. It is shown that the bootstrap can control the over-fitting and extend the concept of leverage for non linear in their parameters surrogate models. The thesis describes an iterative method called LDR for Learner Disagreement from experiment Re-sampling, based on active learning using several surrogate models constructed on bootstrap samples. The method consists in adding new experiments where the predictors constructed from bootstrap samples disagree most. We compare the LDR method with other methods of experimental design such as D-optimal selection. (author)

Use of numerical modeling in design for co-firing biomass in wall-fired burners

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yin, Chungen; Rosendahl, Lasse Aistrup; Kær, Søren Knudsen

2004-01-01

modification to the motion and reaction due to their non-sphericity. The simulation results show a big difference between the two cases and indicate it is very significant to take into account the non-sphericity of biomass particles in order to model biomass combustion more accurately. Methods to improve...... of numerical modeling. The models currently used to predict solid fuel combustion rely on a spherical particle shape assumption, which may deviate a lot from reality for big biomass particles. A sphere gives a minimum in terms of the surface-area-to-volume ratio, which impacts significantly both motion...... and reaction of a particle. To better understand biomass combustion and thus improve the design for co-firing biomass in wall-fired burners, non-sphericity of biomass particles is considered. To ease comparison, two cases are numerically studied in a 10m long gas/biomass co-fired burner model. (1) The biomass...

Arc plasma devices: Evolving mechanical design from numerical

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

A recipe for obtaining mechanical design of arc plasma devices from numerical ... to the plasma of the mixture of molecular gases like nitrogen and oxygen. ... Temperature field, associated fluid dynamics and electrical characteristics of a ...

Usage of Numerical Optimization in Wind Turbine Airfoil Design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grasso, F. [ECN Wind Energy, Petten (Netherlands)

2011-01-15

One important key element in the aerodynamic design of wind turbines is the use of specially tailored airfoils to increase the ratio of energy capture to the loading and thereby to reduce the cost of energy. This work is focused on the design of a wind turbine airfoil by using numerical optimization. First, the requirements for this class of airfoils are illustrated and discussed in order to have an exhaustive outline of the complexity of the problem. Then the optimization approach is presented; a gradient-based algorithm is used, coupled with RFOIL solver and a composite Bezier geometrical parameterization. A particularly sensitive point is the choice and implementation of constraints; to formalize the design requirements in the most complete and effective way, the effects of activating specific constraints are discussed. Finally, a numerical example regarding the design of a high-efficiency airfoil for the outer part of a blade is illustrated, and the results are compared with existing wind turbine airfoils.

Valve cam design using numerical step-by-step method

OpenAIRE

Vasilyev, Aleksandr; Bakhracheva, Yuliya; Kabore, Ousman; Zelenskiy, Yuriy

2014-01-01

This article studies the numerical step-by-step method of cam profile design. The results of the study are used for designing the internal combustion engine valve gear. This method allows to profile the peak efficiency of cams in view of many restrictions, connected with valve gear serviceability and reliability.

Numerical design of an rf-coupling Iris

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hanaki, H.

1991-07-01

For an rf coupler of an rf system in high-quality transmission an analytical method may be applied to treat the design problem, if a coupling hole between cavities or waveguides is small enough. However, in most cases of accelerator engineering the dimensions of the coupling slots are not so small compared with the size of a cavity and a waveguide. Numerical design of rf coupling slots for a few cases is tried basically according to Henke's method using an equivalent circuit to treat the matching of microwave components, but taking account of beam loading expressed by the coupling coefficient β. The MAFIA code has been applied for the design. (R.P.) 5 refs., 10 figs., 3 tabs

THE EFFECT OF THE PICTORIAL NUMERIC CARD MEDIA TOWARD IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUMMATION COMPUTATION ABILITY FOR STUDENT WITH INTELLECTUAL DISSABILITY

OpenAIRE

Isna Nur Hikmah; Usep Kustiawan

2016-01-01

The reseach’s purpose was to analyze the effect of picture numeric card media toward improvement of the summation computation ability for student with intellectual disability of grade IV in SDLB. Data collected was analyzed with experiment technique and single subject research A-B design. Research result showed that: after being analyzed between condition overlap persentase was 0%. Thus, it could be concluded that there was effect of pictorial numeric card media toward summation computation a...

Numerical Verification Methods for Spherical $t$-Designs

OpenAIRE

Chen, Xiaojun

2009-01-01

The construction of spherical $t$-designs with $(t+1)^2$ points on the unit sphere $S^2$ in $\\mathbb{R}^3$ can be reformulated as an underdetermined system of nonlinear equations. This system is highly nonlinear and involves the evaluation of a degree $t$ polynomial in $(t+1)^4$ arguments. This paper reviews numerical verification methods using the Brouwer fixed point theorem and Krawczyk interval operator for solutions of the underdetermined system of nonlinear equations...

Numerical Modelling of Flow and Settling in Secondary Settling Tanks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahl, Claus Poulsen

This thesis discusses the development of a numerical model for the simulation of secondary settling tanks. In the first part, the status on the development of numerical models for settling tanks and a discussion of the current design practice are presented. A study of the existing numerical models...... and design practice proved a demand for further development to include numerical models in the design of settling tanks, thus improving the future settling tanks....

Numerical Simulation Applications in the Design of EGS Collab Experiment 1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johnston, Henry [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); White, Mark D. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Fu, Pengcheng [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Ghassemi, Ahmad [University of Oklahoma; Huang, Hai [Idaho National Laboratory; Rutqvist, Jonny [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

2018-02-14

The United States Department of Energy, Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) is funding a collaborative investigation of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) processes at the meso-scale. This study, referred to as the EGS Collab project, is a unique opportunity for scientists and engineers to investigate the creation of fracture networks and circulation of fluids across those networks under in-situ stress conditions. The EGS Collab project is envisioned to comprise three experiments and the site for the first experiment is on the 4850 Level (4,850 feet below ground surface) in phyllite of the Precambrian Poorman formation, at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, located at the former Homestake Gold Mine, in Lead, South Dakota. Principal objectives of the project are to develop a number of intermediate-scale field sites and to conduct well-controlled in situ experiments focused on rock fracture behavior and permeability enhancement. Data generated during these experiments will be compared against predictions of a suite of computer codes specifically designed to solve problems involving coupled thermal, hydrological, geomechanical, and geochemical processes. Comparisons between experimental and numerical simulation results will provide code developers with direction for improvements and verification of process models, build confidence in the suite of available numerical tools, and ultimately identify critical future development needs for the geothermal modeling community. Moreover, conducting thorough comparisons of models, modelling approaches, measurement approaches and measured data, via the EGS Collab project, will serve to identify techniques that are most likely to succeed at the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE), the GTO's flagship EGS research effort. As noted, outcomes from the EGS Collab project experiments will serve as benchmarks for computer code verification, but numerical simulation additionally plays an essential

Numerical Modeling and Design of Thermoelectric Cooling Systems and Its Application to Manufacturing Machines

Science.gov (United States)

Gallo, A.; Arana, A.; Oyanguren, A.; García, G.; Barbero, A.; Larrañaga, J.; Ulacia, I.

2013-07-01

In this work the properties of thermoelectric modules (TEMs) and their behavior have been numerically modeled. Moreover, their applications very often require modeling not only of the TEM but also of the working environment and the product in which they will be working. A clear example is the fact that TEMs are very often installed with heat-dissipating elements such as fans, heat sinks, and heat exchangers; thus, the module will only work according to the heat dissipation conditions that these external sources can provide in a certain environment. In this context, analytic approaches, even though they have been proved to be useful, do not provide enough, accurate information in this regard. Therefore, numerical modeling has been identified as a powerful tool to improve detailed designs of thermoelectric solutions. This paper presents numerical simulations of a TEM in different working conditions, as well as with different commercial dissipation devices. The objective is to obtain the characteristic curve of a TEM using a valid numerical model that can be introduced into larger models of different applications. Also, the numerical model of the module and different cooling devices is provided. Both of them are compared against real tested modules, so that the deviation between them can be measured and discussed. Finally, the TEM is introduced into a manufacturing application and results are discussed to validate the model for further use.

Does attentional training improve numerical processing in developmental dyscalculia?

Science.gov (United States)

Ashkenazi, Sarit; Henik, Avishai

2012-01-01

Recently, a deficit in attention was found in those with pure developmental dyscalculia (DD). Accordingly, the present study aimed to examine the influence of attentional training on attention abilities, basic numerical abilities, and arithmetic in participants who were diagnosed as having DD. Nine university students diagnosed as having DD (IQ and reading abilities in the normal range and no indication of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) and nine matched controls participated in attentional training (i.e., video game training). First, training modulated the orienting system; after training, the size of the validity effect (i.e., effect of valid vs. invalid) decreased. This effect was comparable in the two groups. Training modulated abnormalities in the attention systems of those with DD, that is, it reduced their enlarged congruity effect (i.e., faster responding when flanking arrows pointed to the same location as a center arrow). Second, in relation to the enumeration task, training reduced the reaction time of the DD group in the subitizing range but did not change their smaller-than-normal subitizing range. Finally, training improved performance in addition problems in both the DD and control groups. These results imply that attentional training does improve most of the attentional deficits of those with DD. In contrast, training did not improve the abnormalities of the DD group in arithmetic or basic numerical processing. Thus, in contrast to the domain-general hypothesis, the deficits in attention among those with DD and the deficits in numerical processing appear to originate from different sources.

Design and numerical simulation of the electromagnetic field of linear anode layer ion source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Lisheng; Tang Deli; Cheng Changming

2006-01-01

The principle of anode layer ion source for etching, pre-cleaning and ion beam assisted deposition was described. The influence of the magnetic field on the performance of anode layer ion source was analyzed. Design of the magnetic loop for the linear anode layer ion source was given. The electromagnetic field distribution of the ion source was simulated by means of ANSYS code and the simulation results were in agreement with experimental ones. The numerical simulation results of the electromagnetic field are useful for improving the anode layer ion source. (authors)

Integrated numerical design of an innovative Lower Hybrid launcher for Alcator C-Mod

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meneghini, O.; Shiraiwa, S.; Beck, W.; Irby, J.; Koert, P.; Parker, R. R.; Viera, R.; Wukitch, S.; Wilson, J.

2009-01-01

The new Alcator C-Mod LHCD system (LH2) is based on the concept of a four way splitter [1] which evenly splits the RF power among the four waveguides that compose one of the 16 columns of the LH grill. In this work several simulation tools have been used to study the LH2 coupling performance and the launched spectra when facing a plasma, numerically verifying the effectiveness of the four way splitter concept and further improving its design. The TOPLHA code has been used for modeling reflections at the antenna/plasma interface. TOPLHA results have been then coupled to the commercial code CST Microwave Studio to efficiently optimize the four way splitter geometry for several plasma scenarios. Subsequently, the COMSOL Multiphysics code has been used to self consistently take into account the electromagnetic-thermal-structural interactions. This comprehensive and predictive analysis has proven to be very valuable for understanding the behavior of the system when facing the plasma and has profoundly influenced several design choices of the LH2. According to the simulations, the final design ensures even poloidal power splitting for a wide range of plasma parameters, which ultimately results in an improvement of the wave coupling and an increased maximum operating power.

IMPROVEMENT IN HANDWRITTEN NUMERAL STRING RECOGNITION BY SLANT NORMALIZATION AND CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Britto jr., A. de S.; Sabourin, R.; Lethelier, E.; Bortolozzi, F.; Suen, C.Y.

2004-01-01

This work describes a way of enhancing handwritten numeral string recognition by considering slant normalization and contextual information to train an implicit segmentation­based system. A word slant normalization method is modified in order to improve the results for handwritten numeral strings.

A New Language Design for Prototyping Numerical Computation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Derby

1996-01-01

Full Text Available To naturally and conveniently express numerical algorithms, considerable expressive power is needed in the languages in which they are implemented. The language Matlab is widely used by numerical analysts for this reason. Expressiveness or ease-of-use can also result in a loss of efficiency, as is the case with Matlab. In particular, because numerical analysts are highly interested in the performance of their algorithms, prototypes are still often implemented in languages such as Fortran. In this article we describe a language design that is intended to both provide expressiveness for numerical computation, and at the same time provide performance guarantees. In our language, EQ, we attempt to include both syntactic and semantic features that correspond closely to the programmer's model of the problem, including unordered equations, large-granularity state transitions, and matrix notation. The resulting language does not fit into standard language categories such as functional or imperative but has features of both paradigms. We also introduce the notion of language dependability, which is the idea that a language should guarantee that certain program transformations are performed by all implementations. We first describe the interesting features of EQ, and then present three examples of algorithms written using it. We also provide encouraging performance results from an initial implementation of our language.

A calculation method for RF couplers design based on numerical simulation by microwave studio

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Rong; Pei Yuanji; Jin Kai

2006-01-01

A numerical simulation method for coupler design is proposed. It is based on the matching procedure for the 2π/3 structure given by Dr. R.L. Kyhl. Microwave Studio EigenMode Solver is used for such numerical simulation. the simulation for a coupler has been finished with this method and the simulation data are compared with experimental measurements. The results show that this numerical simulation method is feasible for coupler design. (authors)

Numerical Optimization Design of Dynamic Quantizer via Matrix Uncertainty Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kenji Sawada

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In networked control systems, continuous-valued signals are compressed to discrete-valued signals via quantizers and then transmitted/received through communication channels. Such quantization often degrades the control performance; a quantizer must be designed that minimizes the output difference between before and after the quantizer is inserted. In terms of the broadbandization and the robustness of the networked control systems, we consider the continuous-time quantizer design problem. In particular, this paper describes a numerical optimization method for a continuous-time dynamic quantizer considering the switching speed. Using a matrix uncertainty approach of sampled-data control, we clarify that both the temporal and spatial resolution constraints can be considered in analysis and synthesis, simultaneously. Finally, for the slow switching, we compare the proposed and the existing methods through numerical examples. From the examples, a new insight is presented for the two-step design of the existing continuous-time optimal quantizer.

Numerical and experimental investigation of the bell-mouth inlet design of a centrifugal fan for higher internal flow rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Sang Hyeon; Heo, Seung; Cheong, Cheolung; Kim, Tae Hoon

2013-01-01

The energy efficiency of a household refrigerator is one of the most critical characteristics considered by manufacturers and consumers. Numerous studies in various fields have been conducted to increase energy efficiency. One of the most efficient methods to reduce the energy consumption of a refrigerator is by improving the performance of fans inside the refrigerator. A number of studies reported various ways to enhance fan performance. However, the majority of these studies focused solely on the fan and did not consider the working environment of the fan, such as the inlet and outlet flow characteristics. The expected performance of fans developed without consideration of these characteristics cannot be determined because complex inlet and outlet flow passage could adversely affect performance. This study investigates the effects of the design of the bell-mouth inlet on the performance of a centrifugal fan in a household refrigerator. In preliminary numerical studies, significant flow loss is identified through the bell-mouth inlet in the target fan system. Several design factors such as tip clearance, inner fence, motor-box struts, and guide vane are proposed to resolve these flow losses. The effects of these factors on fan performance are investigated using computational fluid dynamics techniques to solve incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for predicting the circulating flow of the fan. Experiments are then performed to validate the numerical predictions. Results indicate that four design factors positively affect fan performance in terms of flow rate. The guide vane is the most effective design factor to consider for improving fan performance. Further studies are conducted to investigate the detailed effects of the guide vane by varying its install angle, install location, height, and length. These studies determine the optimum design of the guide vane to achieve the highest performance of the fan and the related flow characteristics

Numerical and experimental investigation of the bell-mouth inlet design of a centrifugal fan for higher internal flow rate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Sang Hyeon; Heo, Seung; Cheong, Cheolung [Pusan National University, Busan (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Tae Hoon [Refrigeration Division, Changwon (Korea, Republic of)

2013-08-15

The energy efficiency of a household refrigerator is one of the most critical characteristics considered by manufacturers and consumers. Numerous studies in various fields have been conducted to increase energy efficiency. One of the most efficient methods to reduce the energy consumption of a refrigerator is by improving the performance of fans inside the refrigerator. A number of studies reported various ways to enhance fan performance. However, the majority of these studies focused solely on the fan and did not consider the working environment of the fan, such as the inlet and outlet flow characteristics. The expected performance of fans developed without consideration of these characteristics cannot be determined because complex inlet and outlet flow passage could adversely affect performance. This study investigates the effects of the design of the bell-mouth inlet on the performance of a centrifugal fan in a household refrigerator. In preliminary numerical studies, significant flow loss is identified through the bell-mouth inlet in the target fan system. Several design factors such as tip clearance, inner fence, motor-box struts, and guide vane are proposed to resolve these flow losses. The effects of these factors on fan performance are investigated using computational fluid dynamics techniques to solve incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for predicting the circulating flow of the fan. Experiments are then performed to validate the numerical predictions. Results indicate that four design factors positively affect fan performance in terms of flow rate. The guide vane is the most effective design factor to consider for improving fan performance. Further studies are conducted to investigate the detailed effects of the guide vane by varying its install angle, install location, height, and length. These studies determine the optimum design of the guide vane to achieve the highest performance of the fan and the related flow characteristics

THE EFFECT OF THE PICTORIAL NUMERIC CARD MEDIA TOWARD IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUMMATION COMPUTATION ABILITY FOR STUDENT WITH INTELLECTUAL DISSABILITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isna Nur Hikmah

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The reseach’s purpose was to analyze the effect of picture numeric card media toward improvement of the summation computation ability for student with intellectual disability of grade IV in SDLB. Data collected was analyzed with experiment technique and single subject research A-B design. Research result showed that: after being analyzed between condition overlap persentase was 0%. Thus, it could be concluded that there was effect of pictorial numeric card media toward summation computation ability of student with intellectual disability

IMPROVING CONCEPTUAL DESIGN QUALITY

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bush, Stuart; Robotham, Antony John

1999-01-01

designer to identify clear targets for design improvement and to measure the effectiveness of any new solution, whilst attention to QFD ensures customer requirements are still being satisfied.Often, SME's are not aware of many of the best design practices and so are not able to meet the demand......This paper will consider how Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) processes can be used to improve the design quality of products at the concept stage. We appreciate that both QFD and DFMA are techniques that have been used for some time by mature product...... quality is maintained in design project work. The projects described have been carried out with products manufactured by small to medium sized enterprises (SME's), where we have found significant opportunities for product improvement. The quantitative nature of DFMA analysis results allows the novice...

Improved design of special boundary elements for T-shaped reinforced concrete walls

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Xiaodong; Liu, Dan; Qian, Jiaru

2017-01-01

This study examines the design provisions of the Chinese GB 50011-2010 code for seismic design of buildings for the special boundary elements of T-shaped reinforced concrete walls and proposes an improved design method. Comparison of the design provisions of the GB 50011-2010 code and those of the American code ACI 318-14 indicates a possible deficiency in the T-shaped wall design provisions in GB 50011-2010. A case study of a typical T-shaped wall designed in accordance with GB 50011-2010 also indicates the insufficient extent of the boundary element at the non-flange end and overly conservative design of the flange end boundary element. Improved designs for special boundary elements of T-shaped walls are developed using a displacement-based method. The proposed design formulas produce a longer boundary element at the non-flange end and a shorter boundary element at the flange end, relative to those of the GB 50011-2010 provisions. Extensive numerical analysis indicates that T-shaped walls designed using the proposed formulas develop inelastic drift of 0.01 for both cases of the flange in compression and in tension.

Optimum design of vaporizer fin with liquefied natural gas by numerical analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeong, Hyo Min; Chung, Han Shik; Lee, Sang Chul; Kong, Tae Woo; Yi, Chung Seub

2006-01-01

Generally, the temperature drop under 0 .deg. C on vaporizer surface creates frozen dews. This problem seems to increase as the time progress and humidity rises. In addition, the frozen dews create frost deposition. Consequently, heat transfer on vaporizer decreases because frost deposition causes adiabatic condition. Therefore, it is very important to solve this problem. This paper aims to study of the optimum design of used vaporizer at local LNG station. In this paper, experimental results were compared with numerical results. Geometries of numerical and experimental vaporizers were identical. Studied parameters of vaporizer are angle between two fins (Φ) and fin thickness (TH F ). Numerical analysis results were presented through the correlations between the ice layer thickness (TH ICE ) on the vaporizer surface to the temperature distribution of inside vaporizer (T IN ), fin thickness (TH F ), and angle between two fins (Φ). Numerical result shows good agreement with experimental outcome. Finally, the correlations for optimum design of vaporizer are proposed on this paper

Coupling artificial intelligence and numerical computation for engineering design (Invited paper)

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, S. S.

1986-01-01

The possibility of combining artificial intelligence (AI) systems and numerical computation methods for engineering designs is considered. Attention is given to three possible areas of application involving fan design, controlled vortex design of turbine stage blade angles, and preliminary design of turbine cascade profiles. Among the AI techniques discussed are: knowledge-based systems; intelligent search; and pattern recognition systems. The potential cost and performance advantages of an AI-based design-generation system are discussed in detail.

Adaptive OFDM Radar Waveform Design for Improved Micro-Doppler Estimation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sen, Satyabrata [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Engineering Science Advanced Research, Computer Science and Mathematics Division

2014-07-01

Here we analyze the performance of a wideband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal in estimating the micro-Doppler frequency of a rotating target having multiple scattering centers. The use of a frequency-diverse OFDM signal enables us to independently analyze the micro-Doppler characteristics with respect to a set of orthogonal subcarrier frequencies. We characterize the accuracy of micro-Doppler frequency estimation by computing the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) on the angular-velocity estimate of the target. Additionally, to improve the accuracy of the estimation procedure, we formulate and solve an optimization problem by minimizing the CRB on the angular-velocity estimate with respect to the OFDM spectral coefficients. We present several numerical examples to demonstrate the CRB variations with respect to the signal-to-noise ratios, number of temporal samples, and number of OFDM subcarriers. We also analysed numerically the improvement in estimation accuracy due to the adaptive waveform design. A grid-based maximum likelihood estimation technique is applied to evaluate the corresponding mean-squared error performance.

Direct numerical methods of mathematical modeling in mechanical structural design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sahili, Jihad; Verchery, Georges; Ghaddar, Ahmad; Zoaeter, Mohamed

2002-01-01

Full text.Structural design and numerical methods are generally interactive; requiring optimization procedures as the structure is analyzed. This analysis leads to define some mathematical terms, as the stiffness matrix, which are resulting from the modeling and then used in numerical techniques during the dimensioning procedure. These techniques and many others involve the calculation of the generalized inverse of the stiffness matrix, called also the 'compliance matrix'. The aim of this paper is to introduce first, some different existing mathematical procedures, used to calculate the compliance matrix from the stiffness matrix, then apply direct numerical methods to solve the obtained system with the lowest computational time, and to compare the obtained results. The results show a big difference of the computational time between the different procedures

Application of numerical optimization techniques to control system design for nonlinear dynamic models of aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Lan, C. Edward; Ge, Fuying

1989-01-01

Control system design for general nonlinear flight dynamic models is considered through numerical simulation. The design is accomplished through a numerical optimizer coupled with analysis of flight dynamic equations. The general flight dynamic equations are numerically integrated and dynamic characteristics are then identified from the dynamic response. The design variables are determined iteratively by the optimizer to optimize a prescribed objective function which is related to desired dynamic characteristics. Generality of the method allows nonlinear effects to aerodynamics and dynamic coupling to be considered in the design process. To demonstrate the method, nonlinear simulation models for an F-5A and an F-16 configurations are used to design dampers to satisfy specifications on flying qualities and control systems to prevent departure. The results indicate that the present method is simple in formulation and effective in satisfying the design objectives.

Design and Numerical Simulation of Radial Inflow Turbine Volute

Science.gov (United States)

Shah, Samip P.; Channiwala, S. A.; Kulshreshtha, D. B.; Chaudhari, Gaurang

2014-12-01

The volute of a radial inflow turbine has to be designed to ensure that the desired rotor inlet conditions like absolute Mach number, flow angle etc. are attained. For the reasonable performance of vaneless volute turbine care has to be taken for reduction in losses at an appropriate flow angle at the rotor inlet, in the direction of volute, whose function is to convert gas energy into kinetic energy and direct the flow towards the rotor inlet at an appropriate flow angle with reduced losses. In literature it was found that the incompressible approaches failed to provide free vortex and uniform flow at rotor inlet for compressible flow regimes. So, this paper describes a non-dimensional design procedure for a vaneless turbine volute for compressible flow regime and investigates design parameters, such as the distribution of area ratio and radius ratio as a function of azimuth angle. The nondimensional design is converted in dimensional form for three different volute cross sections. A commercial computational fluid dynamics code is used to develop numerical models of three different volute cross sections. From the numerical models, losses generation in the different volutes are identified and compared. The maximum pressure loss coefficient for Trapezoidal cross section is 0.1075, for Bezier-trapezoidal cross section is 0.0677 and for circular cross section is 0.0438 near tongue region, which suggested that the circular cross section will give a better efficiency than other types of volute cross sections.

Thermal design of horizontal tube boilers: numerical and experimental investigation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roser, Robert

1999-01-01

This work concerns the thermal design of kettle re-boilers. Current methods are highly inaccurate, regarded to the correlations for external heat transfer coefficient at one tube scale, as well as to two-phase flow modelling at boiler scale. The aim of this work is to improve these thermal design methods. It contains an experimental investigation with typical operating conditions of such equipment: an hydrocarbon (n-pentane) with low mass flux. This investigation has lead to characterize the local flow pattern through void fraction measurements and, from this, to develop correlations for void fraction, pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient. The approach is original, since the developed correlations are based on the liquid velocity at minimum cross section area between tubes, as variable characterizing the hydrodynamic effects on pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient. These correlations are shown to give much better results than those suggested up to now in the literature, which are empirical transpositions from methods developed for inside tube flows. Furthermore, the numerical code MC3D has been applied using the correlations developed in this work, leading to a modelization of the two-phase flow in the boiler, which is a significant progress compared to current simplified methods. (author) [fr

Numerical simulation and optimized design of cased telescoped ammunition interior ballistic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jia-gang Wang

2018-04-01

Full Text Available In order to achieve the optimized design of a cased telescoped ammunition (CTA interior ballistic design, a genetic algorithm was introduced into the optimal design of CTA interior ballistics with coupling the CTA interior ballistic model. Aiming at the interior ballistic characteristics of a CTA gun, the goal of CTA interior ballistic design is to obtain a projectile velocity as large as possible. The optimal design of CTA interior ballistic is carried out using a genetic algorithm by setting peak pressure, changing the chamber volume and gun powder charge density. A numerical simulation of interior ballistics based on a 35 mm CTA firing experimental scheme was conducted and then the genetic algorithm was used for numerical optimization. The projectile muzzle velocity of the optimized scheme is increased from 1168 m/s for the initial experimental scheme to 1182 m/s. Then four optimization schemes were obtained with several independent optimization processes. The schemes were compared with each other and the difference between these schemes is small. The peak pressure and muzzle velocity of these schemes are almost the same. The result shows that the genetic algorithm is effective in the optimal design of the CTA interior ballistics. This work will be lay the foundation for further CTA interior ballistic design. Keywords: Cased telescoped ammunition, Interior ballistics, Gunpowder, Optimization genetic algorithm

Numerical study on dissimilar guide vane design with SCC piston for air and emulsified biofuel mixing improvement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hamid Mohd Fadzli

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Crude palm oil (CPO is one of the most potential biofuels that can be applied in the conventional diesel engines, where the chemical properties of CPO are comparable to diesel fuel. However, its higher viscosity and heavier molecules can contributes to several engine problems such as low atomization during injection, carbon deposit formation, injector clogging, low mixing with air and lower combustion efficiency. An emulsification of biofuel and modifications of few engine critical components have been identified to mitigate the issues. This paper presents the effects of dissimilar guide vane design (GVD in terms of height variation of 0.25R, 0.3R and 0.35R at the intake manifold with shallow depth re-entrance combustion chamber (SCC piston application to the incylinder air flow characteristics improvement. The simulation results show that the intake manifold with GVD improved the performance of the air flow characteristic particularly swirl, tumble and cross tumble ratios from the intake manifold to the engine. The GVD with the height of 0.3R was found to be the optimum design with respect to the overall improvement of the air flow characteristic. The improvement of the air flow characteristic with the application of GVD and SCC piston in the engine was expected to contribute to a better air fuel mixing, fuel atomization and combustion efficiency of the engine using emulsified biofuel as a source of fuel.

Improved flare tip design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gogolek, P. [Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, ON (Canada). CANMET Energy Technology Centre

2004-07-01

This paper discusses the testing procedures and development of an improved flare tip design. Design objectives included performance equal to or better than utility flares at low wind speed; conversion efficiency; fuel slip; smoking; significant improvement at high wind speed; and no increase in trace emissions. A description of the testing facility of the flare tip was provided, with reference to the fact that the facility allowed for realistic near full scale gas flares in a single-pass flare test facility. Other details of the facility included: an adjustable ceiling; high capacity variable speed fan; sampling ports along working section in stack; windows along working section; and air cooled walls, floor, and ceiling. The fuels used in the flare tip included natural gas, propane, gasoline and inert gases. Details of wind speed, appurtenances and turbulence generating grids were presented, with reference to continuous gas emission measurements. A list of design constraints was provided. Flare performance included wind speed, turbulence and fuel composition. A chart of conversion inefficiencies with a correlation of wind speed and turbulence, fuel flow and pipe size was also presented. Several new tip designs were fabricated for testing, with screening tests for comparison to basic pipe and ranking designs. Significant improvements were found in one of the new designs, including results with 30 per cent propane in fuel. Emissions reduction from 10 to 35 per cent were noted. It was concluded that future work should focus on evaluating improved tip for stability at low wind speeds. Fuel slips are the primary source of emissions, and it was recommended that further research is necessary to improve existing flare tips. tabs, figs.

CINDA-3G: Improved Numerical Differencing Analyzer Program for Third-Generation Computers

Science.gov (United States)

Gaski, J. D.; Lewis, D. R.; Thompson, L. R.

1970-01-01

The goal of this work was to develop a new and versatile program to supplement or replace the original Chrysler Improved Numerical Differencing Analyzer (CINDA) thermal analyzer program in order to take advantage of the improved systems software and machine speeds of the third-generation computers.

Numerical evaluation of various gas and coolant channel designs for high performance liquid-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sasmito, Agus P.; Kurnia, Jundika C.; Mujumdar, Arun S.

2012-01-01

A careful design of gas and coolant channel is essential to ensure high performance and durability of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack. The channel design should allow for good thermal, water and gas management whilst keeping low pressure drop. This study evaluates numerically the performance of various gas and coolant channel designs simultaneously, e.g. parallel, serpentine, oblique-fins, coiled, parallel-serpentine and a novel hybrid parallel-serpentine-oblique-fins designs. The stack performance and local distributions of key parameters are investigated with regards to the thermal, water and gas management. The results indicate that the novel hybrid channel design yields the best performance as it constitutes to a lower pumping power and good thermal, water and gas management as compared to conventional channels. Advantages and limitation of the designs are discussed in the light of present numerical results. Finally, potential application and further improvement of the design are highlighted. -- Highlights: ► We evaluate various gas and coolant channel designs in liquid-cooled PEM fuel cell stack. ► The model considers coupled electrochemistry, channel design and cooling effect simultaneously. ► We propose a novel hybrid channel design. ► The novel hybrid channel design yields the best thermal, water and gas management which is beneficial for long term durability. ► The novel hybrid channel design exhibits the best performance.

Numerical simulation for the design analysis of kinematic Stirling engines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Araoz, Joseph A.; Salomon, Marianne; Alejo, Lucio; Fransson, Torsten H.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A thermodynamic analysis for kinematic Stirling engines was presented. • The analysis integrated thermal, mechanical and thermodynamic interactions. • The analyses considered geometrical and operational parameters. • The results allowed to map the performance of the engine. • The analysis allow the design assessment of Stirling engines. - Abstract: The Stirling engine is a closed-cycle regenerative system that presents good theoretical properties. These include a high thermodynamic efficiency, low emissions levels thanks to a controlled external heat source, and multi-fuel capability among others. However, the performance of actual prototypes largely differs from the mentioned theoretical potential. Actual engine prototypes present low electrical power outputs and high energy losses. These are mainly attributed to the complex interaction between the different components of the engine, and the challenging heat transfer and fluid dynamics requirements. Furthermore, the integration of the engine into decentralized energy systems such as the Combined Heat and Power systems (CHP) entails additional complications. These has increased the need for engineering tools that could assess design improvements, considering a broader range of parameters that would influence the engine performance when integrated within overall systems. Following this trend, the current work aimed to implement an analysis that could integrate the thermodynamics, and the thermal and mechanical interactions that influence the performance of kinematic Stirling engines. In particular for their use in Combined Heat and Power systems. The mentioned analysis was applied for the study of an engine prototype that presented very low experimental performance. The numerical methodology was selected for the identification of possible causes that limited the performance. This analysis is based on a second order Stirling engine model that was previously developed and validated. The

Numerical study on optimal Stirling engine regenerator matrix designs taking into account the effects of matrix temperature oscillations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Stig Kildegård; Carlsen, Henrik; Thomsen, Per Grove

2006-01-01

A new regenerator matrix design that improves the efficiency of a Stirling engine has been developed in a numerical study of the existing SM5 Stirling engine. A new, detailed, one-dimensional Stirling engine model that delivers results in good agreement with experimental data was used for mapping...... the per- formance of the engine, for mapping the effects of regenerator matrix temperature oscillations, and for optimising the regenerator design. The regenerator matrix temperatures were found to oscillate in two modes. The first mode was oscillation of a nearly linear axial matrix temperature profile...... while the second mode bended the ends of the axial matrix temperature profile when gas flowed into the regenerator with a temperature significantly different from the matrix temperature. The first mode of oscillation improved the efficiency of the engine but the second mode reduced both the work output...

Thickness determination in textile material design: dynamic modeling and numerical algorithms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Dinghua; Ge, Meibao

2012-01-01

Textile material design is of paramount importance in the study of functional clothing design. It is therefore important to determine the dynamic heat and moisture transfer characteristics in the human body–clothing–environment system, which directly determine the heat–moisture comfort level of the human body. Based on a model of dynamic heat and moisture transfer with condensation in porous fabric at low temperature, this paper presents a new inverse problem of textile thickness determination (IPTTD). Adopting the idea of the least-squares method, we formulate the IPTTD into a function minimization problem. By means of the finite-difference method, quasi-solution method and direct search method for one-dimensional minimization problems, we construct iterative algorithms of the approximated solution for the IPTTD. Numerical simulation results validate the formulation of the IPTTD and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed numerical algorithms. (paper)

Numerical study on optimal Stirling engine regenerator matrix designs taking into account the effects of matrix temperature oscillations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andersen, Stig Kildegard; Carlsen, Henrik; Thomsen, Per Grove

2006-01-01

A new regenerator matrix design that improves the efficiency of a Stirling engine has been developed in a numerical study of the existing SM5 Stirling engine. A new, detailed, one-dimensional Stirling engine model that delivers results in good agreement with experimental data was used for mapping the performance of the engine, for mapping the effects of regenerator matrix temperature oscillations, and for optimising the regenerator design. The regenerator matrix temperatures were found to oscillate in two modes. The first mode was oscillation of a nearly linear axial matrix temperature profile while the second mode bended the ends of the axial matrix temperature profile when gas flowed into the regenerator with a temperature significantly different from the matrix temperature. The first mode of oscillation improved the efficiency of the engine but the second mode reduced both the work output and efficiency of the engine. A new regenerator with three differently designed matrix sections that amplified the first mode of oscillation and reduced the second improved the efficiency of the engine from the current 32.9 to 33.2% with a 3% decrease in power output. An efficiency of 33.0% was achievable with uniform regenerator matrix properties

Direct design of LPV feedback controllers: technical details and numerical examples

OpenAIRE

Novara, Carlo

2014-01-01

The paper contains technical details of recent results developed by the author, regarding the design of LPV controllers directly from experimental data. Two numerical examples are also presented, about control of the Duffing oscillator and control of a two-degree-of-freedom manipulator.

Theoretical and numerical study of an optimum design algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Destuynder, Philippe.

1976-08-01

This work can be separated into two main parts. First, the behavior of the solution of an elliptic variational equation is analyzed when the domain is submitted to a small perturbation. The case of inequations is also considered. Secondly the previous results are used for deriving an optimum design algorithm. This algorithm was suggested by the center-method proposed by Huard. Numerical results show the superiority of the method on other different optimization techniques [fr

Dynamic load synthesis for shock numerical simulation in space structure design

Science.gov (United States)

Monti, Riccardo; Gasbarri, Paolo

2017-08-01

Pyroshock loads are the most stressing environments that a space equipment experiences during its operating life from a mechanical point of view. In general, the mechanical designer considers the pyroshock analysis as a very demanding constraint. Unfortunately, due to the non-linear behaviour of the structure under such loads, only the experimental tests can demonstrate if it is able to withstand these dynamic loads. By taking all the previous considerations into account, some preliminary information about the design correctness could be done by performing ;ad-hoc; numerical simulations, for example via commercial finite element software (i.e. MSC Nastran). Usually these numerical tools face the shock solution in two ways: 1) a direct mode, by using a time dependent enforcement and by evaluating the time-response and space-response as well as the internal forces; 2) a modal basis approach, by considering a frequency dependent load and of course by evaluating internal forces in the frequency domain. This paper has the main aim to develop a numerical tool to synthetize the time dependent enforcement based on deterministic and/or genetic algorithm optimisers. In particular starting from a specified spectrum in terms of SRS (Shock Response Spectrum) a time dependent discrete function, typically an acceleration profile, will be obtained to force the equipment by simulating the shock event. The synthetizing time and the interface with standards numerical codes will be two of the main topics dealt with in the paper. In addition a congruity and consistency methodology will be presented to ensure that the identified time dependent loads fully match the specified spectrum.

Dental implant customization using numerical optimization design and 3-dimensional printing fabrication of zirconia ceramic.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Yung-Chang; Lin, Deng-Huei; Jiang, Cho-Pei; Lin, Yuan-Min

2017-05-01

This study proposes a new methodology for dental implant customization consisting of numerical geometric optimization and 3-dimensional printing fabrication of zirconia ceramic. In the numerical modeling, exogenous factors for implant shape include the thread pitch, thread depth, maximal diameter of implant neck, and body size. Endogenous factors are bone density, cortical bone thickness, and non-osseointegration. An integration procedure, including uniform design method, Kriging interpolation and genetic algorithm, is applied to optimize the geometry of dental implants. The threshold of minimal micromotion for optimization evaluation was 100 μm. The optimized model is imported to the 3-dimensional slurry printer to fabricate the zirconia green body (powder is bonded by polymer weakly) of the implant. The sintered implant is obtained using a 2-stage sintering process. Twelve models are constructed according to uniform design method and simulated the micromotion behavior using finite element modeling. The result of uniform design models yields a set of exogenous factors that can provide the minimal micromotion (30.61 μm), as a suitable model. Kriging interpolation and genetic algorithm modified the exogenous factor of the suitable model, resulting in 27.11 μm as an optimization model. Experimental results show that the 3-dimensional slurry printer successfully fabricated the green body of the optimization model, but the accuracy of sintered part still needs to be improved. In addition, the scanning electron microscopy morphology is a stabilized t-phase microstructure, and the average compressive strength of the sintered part is 632.1 MPa. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Integration of artificial intelligence and numerical optimization techniques for the design of complex aerospace systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tong, S.S.; Powell, D.; Goel, S.

1992-02-01

A new software system called Engineous combines artificial intelligence and numerical methods for the design and optimization of complex aerospace systems. Engineous combines the advanced computational techniques of genetic algorithms, expert systems, and object-oriented programming with the conventional methods of numerical optimization and simulated annealing to create a design optimization environment that can be applied to computational models in various disciplines. Engineous has produced designs with higher predicted performance gains that current manual design processes - on average a 10-to-1 reduction of turnaround time - and has yielded new insights into product design. It has been applied to the aerodynamic preliminary design of an aircraft engine turbine, concurrent aerodynamic and mechanical preliminary design of an aircraft engine turbine blade and disk, a space superconductor generator, a satellite power converter, and a nuclear-powered satellite reactor and shield. 23 refs

Numerical simulation of CICC design based on optimization of ratio of copper to superconductor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang Huawei; Li Yuan; Yan Shuailing

2007-01-01

For cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC) structure design, a numeric simulation is proposed for conductor configuration based on optimization of ratio of copper to superconductor. The simulation outcome is in agreement with engineering design one. (authors)

Hydraulic performance numerical simulation of high specific speed mixed-flow pump based on quasi three-dimensional hydraulic design method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Y X; Su, M; Hou, H C; Song, P F

2013-01-01

This research adopts the quasi three-dimensional hydraulic design method for the impeller of high specific speed mixed-flow pump to achieve the purpose of verifying the hydraulic design method and improving hydraulic performance. Based on the two families of stream surface theory, the direct problem is completed when the meridional flow field of impeller is obtained by employing iterative calculation to settle the continuity and momentum equation of fluid. The inverse problem is completed by using the meridional flow field calculated in the direct problem. After several iterations of the direct and inverse problem, the shape of impeller and flow field information can be obtained finally when the result of iteration satisfies the convergent criteria. Subsequently the internal flow field of the designed pump are simulated by using RANS equations with RNG k-ε two-equation turbulence model. The static pressure and streamline distributions at the symmetrical cross-section, the vector velocity distribution around blades and the reflux phenomenon are analyzed. The numerical results show that the quasi three-dimensional hydraulic design method for high specific speed mixed-flow pump improves the hydraulic performance and reveal main characteristics of the internal flow of mixed-flow pump as well as provide basis for judging the rationality of the hydraulic design, improvement and optimization of hydraulic model

Design improvements in TRIGA reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batch, John M.

1970-01-01

There have been many design improvements to TRIGA reactor hardware in the past twelve years. One of the more important and most obvious improvements has been in the area of reactor instrumentation. The low profile, completely transistorized Mark III console was a great step forward in a low maintenance, high reliability instrumentation system. Other design improvements include the lazy susan specimen pickup assembly; the specimen container; an empty stainless steel fuel element which can be filled with samples and can be located anywhere in the core; the flexible fuel handling tool; a new fuel measuring tool design; the shock absorber on the adjustable transient rod drive; new testing and evaluation procedures on the thermocouples and other

Numerical simulation and design optimization of an electrohydrodynamic pump for dielectric liquids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernandes, D.V.; Suh, Y.K.

2016-01-01

Highlight: • We firstly demonstrated that optimized set of parameters exists in the design of an electrohydrodynamic(EHD) pump. • We applied recently developed techniques of optimization to the EHD pump composed of a pair of flat plates and one circular cylinder. • Our work serves as driving knowledge for the research area on EHD pumping. - Abstract: With an ever increasing demand for more effective heat sinks, liquid based electronic cooling has become a new prospect in the field. The present study introduces an electrohydrodynamic (EHD) pump with a simple design for dielectric liquids which have potential applications for electronic cooling. The pump consists of an eccentrically sandwiched wire electrode placed at the horizontal centerline between two parallel flat-plate electrodes. The EHD flow of dielectric liquid induced by the space charge generated due to the Onsager effect was obtained by the numerical solution of the Poisson–Nernst–Planck equations for ion transport and the Navier–Stokes equations for fluid flow. Good agreement obtained in the comparison of the numerical and the experimental results of velocity for the centrally sandwiched wire electrode case confirmed the validity of the numerical results. For a fixed voltage, the pump flow rate depends on the eccentricity of the wire electrode with respect to the plate electrodes and also with the electrode dimensions. By using the Taguchi method an optimum design for the EHD pump is obtained considering the wire electrode diameter, the flat plate electrode length and the eccentricity (the horizontal distance between the centers of wire and flat-plate electrodes) as the design parameters for fixed channel dimensions.

An experimental and numerical study on the improvement of the performance of Savonius wind rotor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Altan, Burcin Deda; Atilgan, Mehmet

2008-01-01

In the present study, a curtain has been designed to increase the low performance of the Savonius wind rotor, a type of vertical-axis wind rotor, and the effect of this curtain on the static rotor performance has been analyzed both experimentally and numerically. Designed to prevent the torque that occurs on the convex blade of the rotor in the negative direction, this curtain has been placed in front of the rotor. Experimental measurements and numerical analysis have been conducted when the Savonius wind rotor is with and without curtain. The static torque values of the rotor have been measured by experiments and calculated by numerical analysis, and finally they have been compared. The best results have been obtained by means of the rotor with curtain. Low static torque values have been obtained with the short curtain dimensions, while a considerable increase has been acquired in the static torque values with the long curtain dimensions. Fluent 6.0 trade software has been used as the numerical method

Numerical simulation of flood barriers

Science.gov (United States)

Srb, Pavel; Petrů, Michal; Kulhavý, Petr

This paper deals with testing and numerical simulating of flood barriers. The Czech Republic has been hit by several very devastating floods in past years. These floods caused several dozens of causalities and property damage reached billions of Euros. The development of flood measures is very important, especially for the reduction the number of casualties and the amount of property damage. The aim of flood control measures is the detention of water outside populated areas and drainage of water from populated areas as soon as possible. For new flood barrier design it is very important to know its behaviour in case of a real flood. During the development of the barrier several standardized tests have to be carried out. Based on the results from these tests numerical simulation was compiled using Abaqus software and some analyses were carried out. Based on these numerical simulations it will be possible to predict the behaviour of barriers and thus improve their design.

Improved Titanium Billet Inspection Sensitivity through Optimized Phased Array Design, Part I: Design Technique, Modeling and Simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lupien, Vincent; Hassan, Waled; Dumas, Philippe

2006-01-01

Reductions in the beam diameter and pulse duration of focused ultrasound for titanium inspections are believed to result in a signal-to-noise ratio improvement for embedded defect detection. It has been inferred from this result that detection limits could be extended to smaller defects through a larger diameter, higher frequency transducer resulting in a reduced beamwidth and pulse duration. Using Continuum Probe Designer TM (Pat. Pending), a transducer array was developed for full coverage inspection of 8 inch titanium billets. The main challenge in realizing a large aperture phased array transducer for billet inspection is ensuring that the number of elements remains within the budget allotted by the driving electronics. The optimization technique implemented by Continuum Probe Designer TM yields an array with twice the aperture but the same number of elements as existing phased arrays for the same application. The unequal area element design was successfully manufactured and validated both numerically and experimentally. Part I of this two-part series presents the design, simulation and modeling steps, while Part II presents the experimental validation and comparative study to multizone

Numerical Analysis of the Unsteady Propeller Performance in the Ship Wake Modified By Different Wake Improvement Devices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bugalski Tomasz

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the summary of results of the numerical analysis of the unsteady propeller performance in the non-uniform ship wake modified by the different wake improvement devices. This analysis is performed using the lifting surface program DUNCAN for unsteady propeller analysis. Te object of the analysis is a 7000 ton chemical tanker, for which four different types of the wake improvement devices have been designed: two vortex generators, a pre-swirl stator, and a boundary layer alignment device. These produced five different cases of the ship wake structure: the original hull and hull equipped alternatively with four wake improvement devices. Two different propellers were analyzed in these five wake fields, one being the original reference propeller P0 and the other - a specially designed, optimized propeller P3. Te analyzed parameters were the pictures of unsteady cavitation on propeller blades, harmonics of pressure pulses generated by the cavitating propellers in the selected points and the fluctuating bearing forces on the propeller shaft. Some of the calculated cavitation phenomena were confronted with the experimental. Te objective of the calculations was to demonstrate the differences in the calculated unsteady propeller performance resulting from the application of different wake improvement devices. Te analysis and discussion of the results, together with the appropriate conclusions, are included in the paper.

An Instructional Design Framework to Improve Student Learning in a First-Year Engineering Class

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kumar Yelamarthi

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Increasingly, numerous universities have identified benefits of flipped learning environments and have been encouraging instructors to adapt such methodologies in their respective classrooms, at a time when departments are facing significant budget constraints. This article proposes an instructional design framework utilized to strategically enhance traditional flipped methodologies in a first-year engineering course, by using low-cost technology aids and proven pedagogical techniques to enhance student learning. Implemented in a first-year engineering course, this modified flipped model demonstrated an improved student awareness of essential engineering concepts and improved academic performance through collaborative and active learning activities, including flipped learning methodologies, without the need for expensive, formal active learning spaces. These findings have been validated through two studies and have shown similar results confirming that student learning is improved by the implementation of multi-pedagogical strategies in-formed by the use of an instructional design in a traditional classroom setting.

Improved design for a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope with an in situ tip treatment stage.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, J-J; Joo, S H; Lee, K S; Yoo, J H; Park, M S; Kwak, J S; Lee, Jinho

2017-04-01

The Low Temperature Scanning Tunneling Microscope (LT-STM) is an extremely valuable tool not only in surface science but also in condensed matter physics. For years, numerous new ideas have been adopted to perfect LT-STM performances-Ultra-Low Vibration (ULV) laboratory and the rigid STM head design are among them. Here, we present three improvements for the design of the ULV laboratory and the LT-STM: tip treatment stage, sample cleaving stage, and vibration isolation system. The improved tip treatment stage enables us to perform field emission for the purpose of tip treatment in situ without exchanging samples, while our enhanced sample cleaving stage allows us to cleave samples at low temperature in a vacuum without optical access by a simple pressing motion. Our newly designed vibration isolation system provides efficient space usage while maintaining vibration isolation capability. These improvements enhance the quality of spectroscopic imaging experiments that can last for many days and provide increased data yield, which we expect can be indispensable elements in future LT-STM designs.

Numerical Simulations and Design Optimization of the PHT Loop of Natural Circulation BWR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. V. Durga Prasad

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Mathematical modeling and numerical simulation of natural circulation boiling water reactor (NCBWR are very important in order to study its performance for different designs and various off-design conditions and for design optimization. In the present work, parametric studies of the primary heat transport loop of NCBWR have been performed using lumped parameter models and RELAP5/MOD3.4 code. The lumped parameter models are based on the drift flux model and homogeneous equilibrium mixture (HEM model of two-phase flow. Numerical simulations are performed with both models. Compared to the results obtained from the HEM model, those obtained from the drift flux model are closer to RELAP5. The variations of critical heat flux with various geometric parameters and operating conditions are thoroughly investigated. The material required to construct the primary heat transport (PHT loop of NCBWR has been minimized using sequential quadratic programming. The stability of NCBWR has also been verified at the optimum point.

Design and numerical study of turbines operating with MDM as working fluid

Science.gov (United States)

Klonowicz, Piotr; Surwiło, Jan; Witanowski, Łukasz; Suchocki, Tomasz K.; Kozanecki, Zbigniew; Lampart, Piotr

2015-12-01

Design processes and numerical simulations have been presented for a few cases of turbines designated to work in ORC systems. The chosen working fluid isMDM. The considered design configurations include single stage centripetal reaction and centrifugal impulse turbines as well as multistage axial turbines. The power outputs vary from about 75 kW to 1 MW. The flow in single stage turbines is supersonic and requires special design of blades. The internal efficiencies of these configurations exceed 80% which is considered high for these type of machines. The efficiency of axial turbines exceed 90%. Possible turbine optimization directions have been also outlined in the work.

Numerical analysis of ion wind flow using space charge for optimal design

Science.gov (United States)

Ko, Han Seo; Shin, Dong Ho; Baek, Soo Hong

2014-11-01

Ion wind flow has been widly studied for its advantages of a micro fluidic device. However, it is very difficult to predict the performance of the ion wind flow for various conditions because of its complicated electrohydrodynamic phenomena. Thus, a reliable numerical modeling is required to design an otimal ion wind generator and calculate velocity of the ion wind for the proper performance. In this study, the numerical modeling of the ion wind has been modified and newly defined to calculate the veloctiy of the ion wind flow by combining three basic models such as electrostatics, electrodynamics and fluid dynamics. The model has included presence of initial space charges to calculate transfer energy between space charges and air gas molecules using a developed space charge correlation. The simulation has been performed for a geometry of a pin to parallel plate electrode. Finally, the results of the simulation have been compared with the experimental data for the ion wind velocity to confirm the accuracy of the modified numerical modeling and to obtain the optimal design of the ion wind generator. This work was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MEST) (No. 2013R1A2A2A01068653).

Numerical modeling and design of a disk-type rotating permanent magnet induction pump

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koroteeva, E., E-mail: koroteeva@physics.msu.ru [Institute of Physics of University of Latvia, Salaspils 2169 (Latvia); Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119991 (Russian Federation); Ščepanskis, M. [Laboratory for Mathematical Modelling of Environmental and Technological Processes, University of Latvia, Rīga 1002 (Latvia); Bucenieks, I.; Platacis, E. [Institute of Physics of University of Latvia, Salaspils 2169 (Latvia)

2016-05-15

Highlights: • The design and performance of a disk-type induction pump are described. • A 3D numerical model based on an iterative coupling between EM and hydrodynamic solvers is developed. • The model is verified by comparing with the experiments in a Pb-Bi loop facility. • The suggestions are given to estimate the pump performance in a Pb-Li loop at high pressures. - Abstract: Electromagnetic induction pumps with rotating permanent magnets appear to be the most promising devices to transport liquid metals in high-temperature applications. Here we present a numerical methodology to simulate the operation of one particular modification of these types of pumps: a disk-type induction pump. The numerical model allows for the calculation and analysis of the flow parameters, including the pressure–flow rate characteristics of the pump. The simulations are based on an iterative fully coupled scheme for electromagnetic and hydrodynamic solvers. The developed model is verified by comparing with experimental data obtained using a Pb-Bi loop test facility, for pressures up to 4 bar and flow rates up to 9 kg/s. The verified model is then expanded to higher pressures, beyond the limits of the experimental loop. Based on the numerical simulations, suggestions are given to extrapolate experimental data to higher (industrially important) pressure ranges. Using the numerical model and analytical estimation, the pump performance for the Pb-Li loop is also examined, and the ability of the designed pump to develop pressure heads over 6 bar and to provide flow rates over 15 kg/s is shown.

Numerical methods for the design of large-scale nonlinear discrete ill-posed inverse problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haber, E; Horesh, L; Tenorio, L

2010-01-01

Design of experiments for discrete ill-posed problems is a relatively new area of research. While there has been some limited work concerning the linear case, little has been done to study design criteria and numerical methods for ill-posed nonlinear problems. We present an algorithmic framework for nonlinear experimental design with an efficient numerical implementation. The data are modeled as indirect, noisy observations of the model collected via a set of plausible experiments. An inversion estimate based on these data is obtained by a weighted Tikhonov regularization whose weights control the contribution of the different experiments to the data misfit term. These weights are selected by minimization of an empirical estimate of the Bayes risk that is penalized to promote sparsity. This formulation entails a bilevel optimization problem that is solved using a simple descent method. We demonstrate the viability of our design with a problem in electromagnetic imaging based on direct current resistivity and magnetotelluric data

Planning design of Ukrainian mines by the means of numerical calculations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ruppel, Ulrich; Scior, Carsten [DMT GmbH und Co. KG (DMT), Essen (Germany). Rock Mechanic Dept.

2008-08-21

Using a mine in the Ukraine as an example it is shown how the DMT performs rock mechanical and support planning or roadways in hard coal mines worldwide. Therefore it is necessary to analyse existing measurements and operating experience within a few days as well as organising further surveys on site on short notice. Based on these results the numerical models are calibrated. Using the numerical simulation technology it is possible for DMT to quantify and analyse the rock mechanical impact of different support systems within a short time. Finally the results of the numerical calculations are set in comparison in a rating matrix. Besides making a decision on implementing new roadway and support systems with the objective to use the roadways up to the second longwall panel, the rating matrix is also used for analysing the optimization potentials of existing support systems. This allows the recommendations to immediate improvement of the strata control in the miner's roadways. (orig.)

Design aspects of PHWR for improved performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Das, M.

1989-01-01

The PHWR fuel bundle is elegantly simple in design consisting of only six components. The unique features of the design include high density natural UO 2 pellets, collapsible zircaloy cladding, no gas plenums and short (50 cm), simple bundle configuration. Over the last 20 years, considerable efforts have been expended and still being continued on development of analytical tools and computer codes generation of technical specifications tests and experimental studies type tests on prototype bundles irradiation of special documented fuel bundles in power reactors and monitoring and analysis of fuel performance. The knowledge thus gained has helped us to modify design requirements, relax technical specifications and to evolve new, improved designs. The PHWR fuel technology in India can now be considered as well proven but there is considerable scope for further improvements both in design and manufacturing. For example, in design, use of thinner wall cladding (to improve burn up) bundle design with graded elements, double dished pellet, improved coatings, use of MOX fuel etc. are being explored. On the manufacturing side emphasis need to be given on maintaining the quality, improvement on production and process control. The use of automation and advances in machine control techniques, for example, using micro processors can effectively contribute to improvements in quality, productivity and lowering of fuel fabrication costs. In this paper, the PHWR fuel design features, different fuel designs evolved, fuel specifications, influence of fabrication variables and future direction in improved fuel performance are discussed. (author) 9 refs., 7 figs

Current and planned numerical development for improving computing performance for long duration and/or low pressure transients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faydide, B.

1997-01-01

This paper presents the current and planned numerical development for improving computing performance in case of Cathare applications needing real time, like simulator applications. Cathare is a thermalhydraulic code developed by CEA (DRN), IPSN, EDF and FRAMATOME for PWR safety analysis. First, the general characteristics of the code are presented, dealing with physical models, numerical topics, and validation strategy. Then, the current and planned applications of Cathare in the field of simulators are discussed. Some of these applications were made in the past, using a simplified and fast-running version of Cathare (Cathare-Simu); the status of the numerical improvements obtained with Cathare-Simu is presented. The planned developments concern mainly the Simulator Cathare Release (SCAR) project which deals with the use of the most recent version of Cathare inside simulators. In this frame, the numerical developments are related with the speed up of the calculation process, using parallel processing and improvement of code reliability on a large set of NPP transients

Current and planned numerical development for improving computing performance for long duration and/or low pressure transients

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Faydide, B. [Commissariat a l`Energie Atomique, Grenoble (France)

1997-07-01

This paper presents the current and planned numerical development for improving computing performance in case of Cathare applications needing real time, like simulator applications. Cathare is a thermalhydraulic code developed by CEA (DRN), IPSN, EDF and FRAMATOME for PWR safety analysis. First, the general characteristics of the code are presented, dealing with physical models, numerical topics, and validation strategy. Then, the current and planned applications of Cathare in the field of simulators are discussed. Some of these applications were made in the past, using a simplified and fast-running version of Cathare (Cathare-Simu); the status of the numerical improvements obtained with Cathare-Simu is presented. The planned developments concern mainly the Simulator Cathare Release (SCAR) project which deals with the use of the most recent version of Cathare inside simulators. In this frame, the numerical developments are related with the speed up of the calculation process, using parallel processing and improvement of code reliability on a large set of NPP transients.

Design safety improvements of Kozloduy NPP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hinovski, I.

1999-01-01

Design safety improvements of Kozloduy NPP, discussed in detail, are concerned with: primary circuit integrity; reactor pressure vessel integrity; primary coolant piping integrity; primary coolant overpressure protection; leak before break status; design basis accidents and transients; severe accident analysis; improvements of safety and support systems; containment/confinement leak tightness and strength; seismic safety improvements; WWER-1000 control rod insertion; upgrading and modernization of Units 5 and 6; Year 2000 problem

Design Parameter Optimization of a Silicon-Based Grating Waveguide for Performance Improvement in Biochemical Sensor Application.

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Yoo-Seung; Cho, Chun-Hyung; Sung, Hyuk-Kee

2018-03-05

We performed numerical analysis and design parameter optimization of a silicon-based grating waveguide refractive index (RI) sensor. The performance of the grating waveguide RI sensor was determined by the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) and the shift in the resonance wavelength in the transmission spectrum. The transmission extinction, a major figure-of-merit of an RI sensor that reflects both FWHM and resonance shift performance, could be significantly improved by the proper determination of three major grating waveguide parameters: duty ratio, grating period, and etching depth. We analyzed the transmission characteristics of the grating waveguide under various design parameter conditions using a finite-difference time domain method. We achieved a transmission extinction improvement of >26 dB under a given bioenvironmental target change by the proper choice of the design procedure and parameters. This design procedure and choice of appropriate parameters would enable the widespread application of silicon-based grating waveguide in high-performance RI biochemical sensor.

Improved design features of KSNP+ BOP Fluid System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Heung Gyu; Yoon, Kyung Sup

2002-01-01

KOPEC (Korea Power Engineering Co.) in conjunction with the client KHNP (Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co.) has been developing the KSNP + (Improved Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plants) design concept since 1998. The main objective of the KSNP + is to enhance safety and economy of KSNP. The design concepts of the KSNP + will be implemented in Shin-Kori Units 1 and 2 Shin-Wolsung Units 1 and 2. This paper provides on an introduction to the improved design features of the KSNP + BOP fluid system consisting of 45 design improvement items. The design improvement concepts of the BOP fluid system have been developed as follows: optimization of system configuration and capacity, simplification of system, and adoption of advanced design features. Improved design features of the BOP fluid system allow additional benefits due to making a contribution to the optimization of plant arrangement and the reduction of operating costs during the plant life time. In conclusion, design improvement to the BOP fluid system have contributed to the KSNP + design concept being more reliable, safe and economically competitive

Numerical simulation and optimal design of Segmented Planar Imaging Detector for Electro-Optical Reconnaissance

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Qiuhui; Shen, Yijie; Yuan, Meng; Gong, Mali

2017-12-01

Segmented Planar Imaging Detector for Electro-Optical Reconnaissance (SPIDER) is a cutting-edge electro-optical imaging technology to realize miniaturization and complanation of imaging systems. In this paper, the principle of SPIDER has been numerically demonstrated based on the partially coherent light theory, and a novel concept of adjustable baseline pairing SPIDER system has further been proposed. Based on the results of simulation, it is verified that the imaging quality could be effectively improved by adjusting the Nyquist sampling density, optimizing the baseline pairing method and increasing the spectral channel of demultiplexer. Therefore, an adjustable baseline pairing algorithm is established for further enhancing the image quality, and the optimal design procedure in SPIDER for arbitrary targets is also summarized. The SPIDER system with adjustable baseline pairing method can broaden its application and reduce cost under the same imaging quality.

Design of Parallel Air-Cooled Battery Thermal Management System through Numerical Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kai Chen

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In electric vehicles, the battery pack is one of the most important components that strongly influence the system performance. The battery thermal management system (BTMS is critical to remove the heat generated by the battery pack, which guarantees the appropriate working temperature for the battery pack. Air cooling is one of the most commonly-used solutions among various battery thermal management technologies. In this paper, the cooling performance of the parallel air-cooled BTMS is improved through choosing appropriate system parameters. The flow field and the temperature field of the system are calculated using the computational fluid dynamics method. Typical numerical cases are introduced to study the influences of the operation parameters and the structure parameters on the performance of the BTMS. The operation parameters include the discharge rate of the battery pack, the inlet air temperature and the inlet airflow rate. The structure parameters include the cell spacing and the angles of the divergence plenum and the convergence plenum. The results show that the temperature rise and the temperature difference of the batter pack are not affected by the inlet air flow temperature and are increased as the discharge rate increases. Increasing the inlet airflow rate can reduce the maximum temperature, but meanwhile significantly increase the power consumption for driving the airflow. Adopting smaller cell spacing can reduce the temperature and the temperature difference of the battery pack, but it consumes much more power. Designing the angles of the divergence plenum and the convergence plenum is an effective way to improve the performance of the BTMS without occupying more system volume. An optimization strategy is used to obtain the optimal values of the plenum angles. For the numerical cases with fixed power consumption, the maximum temperature and the maximum temperature difference at the end of the five-current discharge process for

Numerical analysis of an entire ceramic kiln under actual operating conditions for the energy efficiency improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Milani, Massimo; Montorsi, Luca; Stefani, Matteo; Saponelli, Roberto; Lizzano, Maurizio

2017-12-01

The paper focuses on the analysis of an industrial ceramic kiln in order to improve the energy efficiency and thus the fuel consumption and the corresponding carbon dioxide emissions. A lumped and distributed parameter model of the entire system is constructed to simulate the performance of the kiln under actual operating conditions. The model is able to predict accurately the temperature distribution along the different modules of the kiln and the operation of the many natural gas burners employed to provide the required thermal power. Furthermore, the temperature of the tiles is also simulated so that the quality of the final product can be addressed by the modelling. Numerical results are validated against experimental measurements carried out on a real ceramic kiln during regular production operations. The developed numerical model demonstrates to be an efficient tool for the investigation of different design solutions for the kiln's components. In addition, a number of control strategies for the system working conditions can be simulated and compared in order to define the best trade off in terms of fuel consumption and product quality. In particular, the paper analyzes the effect of a new burner type characterized by internal heat recovery capability aimed at improving the energy efficiency of the ceramic kiln. The fuel saving and the relating reduction of carbon dioxide emissions resulted in the order of 10% when compared to the standard burner. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Design of analog networks in the control theory formulation. Part 2: Numerical results

OpenAIRE

Zemliak, A. M.

2005-01-01

The paper presents numerical results of design of nonlinear electronic networks based on the problem formulation in terms of the control theory. Several examples illustrate the prospects of the approach suggested in the first part of the work.

Numerical simulation for design of biped locomotion robots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kume, Etsuo; Takanishi, Atsuo

1993-01-01

A mechanical design study of anthropomorphic walking robots for patrol and inspection in nuclear facilities is being performed at Computing and Information Systems Center (CISC) of JAERI. We mainly focus on developing a software system to find a stable walking pattern, given robot models described by links, joints and so on. One of the features of our software is that some of the body elements, such as actuators and sensors, can be modeled as material particles as well as rigid bodies. The other is that our software has the cabability of obtaining unknown part of robot motions under given part of robot motions, satisfying a stable constraint. In this paper, we present the numerical models and the simulated results. (orig.)

Extensible numerical library in JAVA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aso, T.; Okazawa, H.; Takashimizu, N.

2001-01-01

The authors present the current status of the project for developing the numerical library in JAVA. The authors have presented how object-oriented techniques improve usage and also development of numerical libraries compared with the conventional way at previous conference. The authors need many functions for data analysis which is not provided within JAVA language, for example, good random number generators, special functions and so on. Authors' development strategy is focused on easiness of implementation and adding new features by users themselves not only by developers. In HPC field, there are other focus efforts to develop numerical libraries in JAVA. However, their focus is on the performance of execution, not easiness of extension. Following the strategy, the authors have designed and implemented more classes for random number generators and so on

Design of an ultraprecision computerized numerical control chemical mechanical polishing machine and its implementation

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Chupeng; Zhao, Huiying; Zhu, Xueliang; Zhao, Shijie; Jiang, Chunye

2018-01-01

The chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is a key process during the machining route of plane optics. To improve the polishing efficiency and accuracy, a CMP model and machine tool were developed. Based on the Preston equation and the axial run-out error measurement results of the m circles on the tin plate, a CMP model that could simulate the material removal at any point on the workpiece was presented. An analysis of the model indicated that lower axial run-out error led to lower material removal but better polishing efficiency and accuracy. Based on this conclusion, the CMP machine was designed, and the ultraprecision gas hydrostatic guideway and rotary table as well as the Siemens 840Dsl numerical control system were incorporated in the CMP machine. To verify the design principles of machine, a series of detection and machining experiments were conducted. The LK-G5000 laser sensor was employed for detecting the straightness error of the gas hydrostatic guideway and the axial run-out error of the gas hydrostatic rotary table. A 300-mm-diameter optic was chosen for the surface profile machining experiments performed to determine the CMP efficiency and accuracy.

Experimental and numerical assessment of the improvement of the load-carrying capacities of butterfly-shaped coupling components in composite structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Altan, Gurkan; Topcu, Muzaffer

2010-01-01

This study was designed to analyze the load-carrying capacities of composite structures connected face-to-face by a butterfly coupling component experimentally and numerically without adhesive. The results of the experimental studies were supported with numerical analysis. In addition, the butterfly coupling component was developed geometrically with a view to the results of the numerical and experimental studies. The change in the load-carrying capacity of the improved butterfly coupling components was analyzed numerically and experimentally to obtain new results. Half-specimens and butterfly-shaped lock components were cut with a water jet machine. Experiments and analyses were conducted to analyze the effects of coupling geometry parameters, such as the ratio of the butterfly end width to the specimen width (w/b), the ratio of the butterfly middle width to the butterfly end width (x/w), and the ratio of the butterfly half height to the specimen width (y/b). It was intended to determine the damage in the butterfly before any damage to the composite structure and to increase the service-life span of the composite structure with the repair of the butterfly lock. As a result of this study, it was determined that the geometrical fixed ratios (w/b) and (x/w) were 0.4 and 0.2 at 0.4 of (y/b) according to the experimental and numerical studies with basic and modified models

Testing gravitational-wave searches with numerical relativity waveforms: results from the first Numerical INJection Analysis (NINJA) project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aylott, Benjamin; Baker, John G; Camp, Jordan; Centrella, Joan; Boggs, William D; Buonanno, Alessandra; Boyle, Michael; Buchman, Luisa T; Chu, Tony; Brady, Patrick R; Brown, Duncan A; Bruegmann, Bernd; Cadonati, Laura; Campanelli, Manuela; Faber, Joshua; Chatterji, Shourov; Christensen, Nelson; Diener, Peter; Dorband, Nils; Etienne, Zachariah B

2009-01-01

The Numerical INJection Analysis (NINJA) project is a collaborative effort between members of the numerical relativity and gravitational-wave data analysis communities. The purpose of NINJA is to study the sensitivity of existing gravitational-wave search algorithms using numerically generated waveforms and to foster closer collaboration between the numerical relativity and data analysis communities. We describe the results of the first NINJA analysis which focused on gravitational waveforms from binary black hole coalescence. Ten numerical relativity groups contributed numerical data which were used to generate a set of gravitational-wave signals. These signals were injected into a simulated data set, designed to mimic the response of the initial LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave detectors. Nine groups analysed this data using search and parameter-estimation pipelines. Matched filter algorithms, un-modelled-burst searches and Bayesian parameter estimation and model-selection algorithms were applied to the data. We report the efficiency of these search methods in detecting the numerical waveforms and measuring their parameters. We describe preliminary comparisons between the different search methods and suggest improvements for future NINJA analyses.

Numerical simulation of CTE mismatch and thermal-structural stresses in the design of interconnects

Science.gov (United States)

Peter, Geoffrey John M.

With the ever-increasing chip complexity, interconnects have to be designed to meet the new challenges. Advances in optical lithography have made chip feature sizes available today at 70 nm dimensions. With advances in Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography, X-ray Lithography, and Ion Projection Lithography it is expected that the line width will further decrease to 20 nm or less. With the decrease in feature size, the number of active devices on the chip increases. With higher levels of circuit integration, the challenge is to dissipate the increased heat flux from the chip surface area. Thermal management considerations include coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) matching to prevent failure between the chip and the board. This in turn calls for improved system performance and reliability of the electronic structural systems. Experience has shown that in most electronic systems, failures are mostly due to CTE mismatch between the chip, board, and the solder joint (solder interconnect). The resulting high thermal-structural stress and strain due to CTE mismatch produces cracks in the solder joints with eventual failure of the electronic component. In order to reduce the thermal stress between the chip, board, and the solder joint, this dissertation examines the effect of inserting wire bundle (wire interconnect) between the chip and the board. The flexibility of the wires or fibers would reduce the stress at the rigid joints. Numerical simulations of two, and three-dimensional models of the solder and wire interconnects are examined. The numerical simulation is linear in nature and is based on linear isotropic material properties. The effect of different wire material properties is examined. The effect of varying the wire diameter is studied by changing the wire diameter. A major cause of electronic equipment failure is due to fatigue failure caused by thermal cycling, and vibrations. A two-dimensional modal and harmonic analysis was simulated for the wire interconnect

Numerical Modeling of Fin and Tube Heat Exchanger for Waste Heat Recovery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Singh, Shobhana; Sørensen, Kim; Condra, Thomas Joseph

In the present work, multiphysics numerical modeling is carried out to predict the performance of a liquid-gas fin and tube heat exchanger design. Three-dimensional (3D) steady-state numerical model using commercial software COMSOL based on finite element method (FEM) is developed. The study...... associates conjugate heat transfer phenomenon with the turbulent flow to describe the variable temperature and velocity profile. The performance of heat exchanger design is investigated in terms of overall heat transfer coefficient, Nusselt number, Colburn j-factor, flow resistance factor, and efficiency...... between fin and tube. The present numerical model predicts the performance of the heat exchanger design, therefore, can be applied to existing waste heat recovery systems to improve the overall performance with optimized design and process-dependent parameters....

CANDU 9 Design improvements based on experience feedback

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, S. K. W.; Bonechi, M.; Snell, V. G.

2000-01-01

An evolutionary approach utilizing advance technologies has been implenented for the enhancement introduced in the CANDU 9 Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) design. The design of these systems and associated equipment has also benfited from experience feedback from operating CANDU stations and from including advanced products from CANDU engineering and research programs. This paper highlights the design features that contribute to the safety improvements of the CANDU 9 design, summarizes the analysis results which demonstrate the improved performance and also emphasizes design features which reduce operation and maintenance (Q and M) costs. The safety design features highlighted include the increased use of passive devices and heat sinks to achieve extensive system simplification; this also improves reliability and reduces maintenance workloads. System features that contribute to improved operability are also described. The CANDU 9 Control Center provides plant staff with enhanced operating, maintenance and diagnostics features which significantly improve operability, testing and maintainability due to the integration of human factors engineering with a systematic design process. (author)

Cross-flow turbines: physical and numerical model studies towards improved array simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Wosnik, M.; Bachant, P.

2015-12-01

Cross-flow, or vertical-axis turbines, show potential in marine hydrokinetic (MHK) and wind energy applications. As turbine designs mature, the research focus is shifting from individual devices towards improving turbine array layouts for maximizing overall power output, i.e., minimizing wake interference for axial-flow turbines, or taking advantage of constructive wake interaction for cross-flow turbines. Numerical simulations are generally better suited to explore the turbine array design parameter space, as physical model studies of large arrays at large model scale would be expensive. However, since the computing power available today is not sufficient to conduct simulations of the flow in and around large arrays of turbines with fully resolved turbine geometries, the turbines' interaction with the energy resource needs to be parameterized, or modeled. Most models in use today, e.g. actuator disk, are not able to predict the unique wake structure generated by cross-flow turbines. Experiments were carried out using a high-resolution turbine test bed in a large cross-section tow tank, designed to achieve sufficiently high Reynolds numbers for the results to be Reynolds number independent with respect to turbine performance and wake statistics, such that they can be reliably extrapolated to full scale and used for model validation. To improve parameterization in array simulations, an actuator line model (ALM) was developed to provide a computationally feasible method for simulating full turbine arrays inside Navier--Stokes models. The ALM predicts turbine loading with the blade element method combined with sub-models for dynamic stall and flow curvature. The open-source software is written as an extension library for the OpenFOAM CFD package, which allows the ALM body force to be applied to their standard RANS and LES solvers. Turbine forcing is also applied to volume of fluid (VOF) models, e.g., for predicting free surface effects on submerged MHK devices. An

EC6 safety design improvements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yu, S.; Lee, A.G.; Soulard, M. [Candu Energy Inc., Mississauga, ON (Canada)

2014-07-01

The Enhanced CANDU 6 (EC6) builds on the proven high performance design such as the Qinshan CANDU 6 reactor, and has made improvements to safety, operational performance, and has incorporated extensive operational feedback. Completion of all three phases of the pre-licensing design review by the Canadian Regulator - the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has provided a higher level of assurance that the EC6 reference design has taken modern regulatory requirements and expectations into account and further confirmed that there are no fundamental barriers to licensing the EC6 design in Canada. The EC6 design is based on the defence-in-depth principles in INSAG-10 and provides further safety features that address the lessons learned from Fukushima. With these safety features, the EC6 design has strengthened accident prevention as the first priority in the defence-in-depth strategy, as outlined in INSAG-10. As well, the EC6 design has incorporated further mitigation measures to provide additional protection of the public and the environment if the preventive measures fail. The EC6 design has an appropriate combination of inherent, passive safety characteristics, engineered features and administrative safety measures to effectively prevent and mitigate severe accident progressions. A strong contributor to the robustness and redundancy of CANDU design is the two-group separation philosophy. This ensures a high degree of independence between safety systems as well as physical separation and functional independence in how fundamental safety functions are provided. This paper will describe the following safety features based on the application of defence-in-depth and design approach to prevent beyond design basis events progressing to severe accidents and to mitigate the consequences if it occurs: Improved steam generator heat sink via a more reliable emergency heat removal system; Increased time before manual field actions are required via enhanced capacity of

Improving the Numerical Knowledge of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Benefits of Linear Board Games

Science.gov (United States)

Satsangi, Rajiv; Bofferding, Laura

2017-01-01

A lack of numerical knowledge early on can impede a child's academic development. In past research, playing linear board games improved children's understanding of numerical relations, which the authors theorised could extend to children with autism spectrum disorder. For this pilot study, 10 children played a board game where they moved tokens…

Numerical study of heat transfer enhancement due to the use of fractal-shaped design for impingement cooling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cai Lin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a numerical analysis of a heat transfer enhancement technique that introduces fractal-shaped design for impingement cooling. Based on the gas turbine combustion chamber cooling, a fractal-shaped nozzle is designed for the constant flow area in a single impingement cooling model. The incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are applied to the system using CFD software. The numerical results are compared with the experiment results for array impingement cooling.

Towards a suite of test cases and a pycomodo library to assess and improve numerical methods in ocean models

Science.gov (United States)

Garnier, Valérie; Honnorat, Marc; Benshila, Rachid; Boutet, Martial; Cambon, Gildas; Chanut, Jérome; Couvelard, Xavier; Debreu, Laurent; Ducousso, Nicolas; Duhaut, Thomas; Dumas, Franck; Flavoni, Simona; Gouillon, Flavien; Lathuilière, Cyril; Le Boyer, Arnaud; Le Sommer, Julien; Lyard, Florent; Marsaleix, Patrick; Marchesiello, Patrick; Soufflet, Yves

2016-04-01

The COMODO group (http://www.comodo-ocean.fr) gathers developers of global and limited-area ocean models (NEMO, ROMS_AGRIF, S, MARS, HYCOM, S-TUGO) with the aim to address well-identified numerical issues. In order to evaluate existing models, to improve numerical approaches and methods or concept (such as effective resolution) to assess the behavior of numerical model in complex hydrodynamical regimes and to propose guidelines for the development of future ocean models, a benchmark suite that covers both idealized test cases dedicated to targeted properties of numerical schemes and more complex test case allowing the evaluation of the kernel coherence is proposed. The benchmark suite is built to study separately, then together, the main components of an ocean model : the continuity and momentum equations, the advection-diffusion of the tracers, the vertical coordinate design and the time stepping algorithms. The test cases are chosen for their simplicity of implementation (analytic initial conditions), for their capacity to focus on a (few) scheme or part of the kernel, for the availability of analytical solutions or accurate diagnoses and lastly to simulate a key oceanic processus in a controlled environment. Idealized test cases allow to verify properties of numerical schemes advection-diffusion of tracers, - upwelling, - lock exchange, - baroclinic vortex, - adiabatic motion along bathymetry, and to put into light numerical issues that remain undetected in realistic configurations - trajectory of barotropic vortex, - interaction current - topography. When complexity in the simulated dynamics grows up, - internal wave, - unstable baroclinic jet, the sharing of the same experimental designs by different existing models is useful to get a measure of the model sensitivity to numerical choices (Soufflet et al., 2016). Lastly, test cases help in understanding the submesoscale influence on the dynamics (Couvelard et al., 2015). Such a benchmark suite is an interesting

Numerical Simulation and Mechanical Design for TPS Electron Beam Position Monitors

Science.gov (United States)

Hsueh, H. P.; Kuan, C. K.; Ueng, T. S.; Hsiung, G. Y.; Chen, J. R.

2007-01-01

Comprehensive study on the mechanical design and numerical simulation for the high resolution electron beam position monitors are key steps to build the newly proposed 3rd generation synchrotron radiation research facility, Taiwan Photon Source (TPS). With more advanced electromagnetic simulation tool like MAFIA tailored specifically for particle accelerator, the design for the high resolution electron beam position monitors can be tested in such environment before they are experimentally tested. The design goal of our high resolution electron beam position monitors is to get the best resolution through sensitivity and signal optimization. The definitions and differences between resolution and sensitivity of electron beam position monitors will be explained. The design consideration is also explained. Prototype deign has been carried out and the related simulations were also carried out with MAFIA. The results are presented here. Sensitivity as high as 200 in x direction has been achieved in x direction at 500 MHz.

Numerical Simulation and Mechanical Design for TPS Electron Beam Position Monitors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hsueh, H. P.; Kuan, C. K.; Ueng, T. S.; Hsiung, G. Y.; Chen, J. R.

2007-01-01

Comprehensive study on the mechanical design and numerical simulation for the high resolution electron beam position monitors are key steps to build the newly proposed 3rd generation synchrotron radiation research facility, Taiwan Photon Source (TPS). With more advanced electromagnetic simulation tool like MAFIA tailored specifically for particle accelerator, the design for the high resolution electron beam position monitors can be tested in such environment before they are experimentally tested. The design goal of our high resolution electron beam position monitors is to get the best resolution through sensitivity and signal optimization. The definitions and differences between resolution and sensitivity of electron beam position monitors will be explained. The design consideration is also explained. Prototype deign has been carried out and the related simulations were also carried out with MAFIA. The results are presented here. Sensitivity as high as 200 in x direction has been achieved in x direction at 500 MHz

DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS IN MODERN DISTRIBUTION TRANSFORMERS

OpenAIRE

Ćućić, Branimir; Meško, Nina; Mikulić, Martina; Trstoglavec, Dominik

2017-01-01

In the paper design improvements of distribution transformers related to improved energy efficiency and environmental awareness are discussed. Eco design of transformers, amorphous transformers, voltage regulated transformers and transformers filled with ester liquids are analyzed. As a consequence of growing energy efficiency importance, European Commission has adopted new regulation which defines maximum permissible levels of load and no-load losses of transformers with rated...

Improvement of numerical analysis method for FBR core characteristics. 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takeda, Toshikazu; Yamamoto, Toshihisa; Kitada, Takanori; Katagi, Yousuke

1998-03-01

As the improvement of numerical analysis method for FBR core characteristics, studies on several topics have been conducted; multiband method, Monte Carlo perturbation and nodal transport method. This report is composed of the following three parts. Part 1: Improvement of Reaction Rate Calculation Method in the Blanket Region Based on the Multiband Method; A method was developed for precise evaluation of the reaction rate distribution in the blanket region using the multiband method. With the 3-band parameters obtained from the ordinary fitting method, major reaction rates such as U-238 capture, U-235 fission, Pu-239 fission and U-238 fission rate distributions were analyzed. Part 2: Improvement of Estimation Method for Reactivity Based on Monte-Carlo Perturbation Theory; Perturbation theory based on Monte-Carlo perturbation theory have been investigated and introduced into the calculational code. The Monte-Carlo perturbation code was applied to MONJU core and the calculational results were compared to the reference. Part 3: Improvement of Nodal Transport Calculation for Hexagonal Geometry; A method to evaluate the intra-subassembly power distribution from the nodal averaged neutron flux and surface fluxes at the node boundaries, was developed based on the transport theory. (J.P.N.)

Theoretical and numerical studies of TWR based on ESFR core design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Dalin; Chen, Xue-Nong; Flad, Michael; Rineiski, Andrei; Maschek, Werner

2013-01-01

Highlights: • The traveling wave reactor (TWR) is studied based on the core design of the European Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (ESFR). • The conventional fuel shuffling technique is used to produce a continuous radial fuel movement. • A stationary self sustainable nuclear fission power can be established asymptotically by only loading natural or depleted uranium. • The multi-group deterministic neutronic code ERANOS is applied. - Abstract: This paper deals with the so-called traveling wave reactor (TWR) based on the core design of the European Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (ESFR). The current concept of TWR is to use the conventional radial fuel shuffling technique to produce a continuous radial fuel movement so that a stationary self sustainable nuclear fission power can be established asymptotically by only loading fertile material consisting of natural or depleted uranium. The core design of ESFR loaded with metallic uranium fuel without considering the control mechanism is used as a practical application example. The theoretical studies focus mainly on qualitative feasibility analyses, i.e. to identify out in general essential parameter dependences of such a kind of reactor. The numerical studies are carried out more specifically on a certain core design. The multi-group deterministic neutronic code ERANOS with the JEFF3.1 data library is applied as a basic tool to perform the neutronics and burn-up calculations. The calculations are performed in a 2-D R-Z geometry, which is sufficient for the current core layout. Numerical results of radial fuel shuffling indicate that the asymptotic k eff parabolically varies with the shuffling period, while the burn-up increases linearly. Typical shuffling periods investigated in this study are in the range of 300–1000 days. The important parameters, e.g. k eff , the burn-up, the power peaking factor, and safety coefficients are calculated

Numerically controlled oscillator for the Fermilab Booster

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crisp, J.L.; Ducar, R.J.

1989-01-01

In order to improve the stability of the Fermilab Booster low level rf system, a numerically controlled oscillator system is being constructed. Although the system has not been implemented to date, the design is outlined in this paper. The heart of the new system consists of a numerically synthesized frequency generator manufactured by the Sciteq Company. The 3 GHz/sec rate and 30 to 53 MHz range of the Booster frequency program required the design of a CAMAC based, fast-cycling (1 MHz), 65K x 32 bit, digital function generator. A 1 MHz digital adder and 12 bit analog to digital converter will be used to correct small program errors by phase locking the oscillator to the beam. 6 refs., 1 fig

Improving Communication in Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maier, Anja; Doenmez, Denniz; Hepperle, Clemens

2011-01-01

Communication permeates every aspect of an engineer’s work – from clarifying product specifications to shaping social ties. This paper offers an overview of recommendations from literature to improve communication within and among engineering teams. We assume communication problems are often...... of tasks. To improve these factors in order to enable effective communication, this paper collates more than hundred recommendations from journal articles and textbooks published in the fields of engineering design, management science, sociology, and psychology. Recommendations include, for example...

Improvement of patient return electrodes in electrosurgery by experimental investigations and numerical field calculations.

Science.gov (United States)

Golombeck, M A; Dössel, O; Raiser, J

2003-09-01

Numerical field calculations and experimental investigations were performed to examine the heating of the surface of human skin during the application of a new electrode design for the patient return electrode. The new electrode is characterised by an equipotential ring around the central electrode pads. A multi-layer thigh model was used, to which the patient return electrode and the active electrode were connected. The simulation geometry and the dielectric tissue parameters were set according to the frequency of the current. The temperature rise at the skin surface due to the flow of current was evaluated using a two-step numerical solving procedure. The results were compared with experimental thermographical measurements that yielded a mean value of maximum temperature increase of 3.4 degrees C and a maximum of 4.5 degrees C in one test case. The calculated heating patterns agreed closely with the experimental results. However, the calculated mean value in ten different numerical models of the maximum temperature increase of 12.5 K (using a thermodynamic solver) exceeded the experimental value owing to neglect of heat transport by blood flow and also because of the injection of a higher test current, as in the clinical tests. The implementation of a simple worst-case formula that could significantly simplify the numerical process led to a substantial overestimation of the mean value of the maximum skin temperature of 22.4 K and showed only restricted applicability. The application of numerical methods confirmed the experimental assertions and led to a general understanding of the observed heating effects and hotspots. Furthermore, it was possible to demonstrate the beneficial effects of the new electrode design with an equipotential ring. These include a balanced heating pattern and the absence of hotspots.

System 80+ Design and Licensing : Improving Plant Reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Newman, Robert E.

1989-01-01

The U. S. nuclear industry is striving to improve plant reliability and availability through improved plant design, component designs and plant maintenance. In an effort to improve safety and to demonstrate that commercial nuclear power is economically competitive with other energy sources, the utilities, nuclear vendors, architect engineers and constructors, and component suppliers are all participating in an industry-wide effort to develop improved Light Water Reactor (LWR) designs that are based upon the many years of successful LWR operation. In an age when the world faces the environmental pressures of the greenhouse effect and acid rain, electricity generated from nuclear energy must play an increasing role in the energy picture of Korea, the United States and the rest of the world. This paper discusses the plant availability requirement that has been established by the industry-wide effort mentioned above. After briefly describing Combustion Engineering's program for development of the System 80 Plus standard design and the participation of the Korea Advanced Energy Research Institute (KAERI) in the program, the paper then describes the design features that are being incorporated into System 80+. The industry ALRR Program has established a very ambitious criterion of 87% for the plant availability of future nuclear units. To satisfy such a requirement, the next generation of nuclear plants will include a great many design improvements that reflect the hundreds of years of operating experience that we have accrued. C-ESA's System 80+ will include a number of design changes that improve operating margins and make the plant easier to operate and maintain. Not surprisingly, there is a great deal of overlap between improved safety and improved reliability. In the end, our design will satisfy the future needs of the utilities, the regulators, and the public. C-E is very pleased that KAERI is working with US to achieve these important goals

THE DESIGN OF AXIAL PUMP ROTORS USING THE NUMERICAL METHODS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali BEAZIT

2010-06-01

Full Text Available The researches in rotor theory, the increasing use of computers and the connection between design and manufacturing of rotors, have determined the revaluation and completion of classical rotor geometry. This paper presents practical applications of mathematical description of rotor geometry. A program has been created to describe the rotor geometry for arbitrary shape of the blade. The results can be imported by GAMBIT - a processor for geometry with modeling and mesh generations, to create a mesh needed in hydrodynamics analysis of rotor CFD. The results obtained are applicable in numerical methods and are functionally convenient for CAD/CAM systems.

A new numerical technique to design satellite energetic electron detectors

CERN Document Server

Tuszewski, M G; Ingraham, J C

2002-01-01

Energetic charged particles trapped in the magnetosphere are routinely detected by satellite instruments. However, it is generally difficult to extract quantitative energy and angular information from such measurements because the interaction of energetic electrons with matter is rather complex. Beam calibrations and Monte-Carlo (MC) simulations are often used to evaluate a flight instrument once it is built. However, rules of thumb and past experience are common tools to design the instrument in the first place. Hence, we have developed a simple numerical procedure, based on analytical probabilities, suitable for instrumental design and evaluation. In addition to the geometrical response, the contributions of surface backscattering, edge penetration, and bremsstrahlung radiation are estimated. The new results are benchmarked against MC calculations for a simple test case. Complicated effects, such as the contribution of the satellite to the instrumental response, can be estimated with the new formalism.

Consumers' Kansei Needs Clustering Method for Product Emotional Design Based on Numerical Design Structure Matrix and Genetic Algorithms.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yan-Pu; Chen, Deng-Kai; Gu, Rong; Gu, Yu-Feng; Yu, Sui-Huai

2016-01-01

Consumers' Kansei needs reflect their perception about a product and always consist of a large number of adjectives. Reducing the dimension complexity of these needs to extract primary words not only enables the target product to be explicitly positioned, but also provides a convenient design basis for designers engaging in design work. Accordingly, this study employs a numerical design structure matrix (NDSM) by parameterizing a conventional DSM and integrating genetic algorithms to find optimum Kansei clusters. A four-point scale method is applied to assign link weights of every two Kansei adjectives as values of cells when constructing an NDSM. Genetic algorithms are used to cluster the Kansei NDSM and find optimum clusters. Furthermore, the process of the proposed method is presented. The details of the proposed approach are illustrated using an example of electronic scooter for Kansei needs clustering. The case study reveals that the proposed method is promising for clustering Kansei needs adjectives in product emotional design.

Numerical Approach for Goaf-Side Entry Layout and Yield Pillar Design in Fractured Ground Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Lishuai; Zhang, Peipeng; Chen, Lianjun; Hao, Zhen; Sainoki, Atsushi; Mitri, Hani S.; Wang, Qingbiao

2017-11-01

Entry driven along goaf-side (EDG), which is the development of an entry of the next longwall panel along the goaf-side and the isolation of the entry from the goaf with a small-width yield pillar, has been widely employed in China over the past several decades . The width of such a yield pillar has a crucial effect on EDG layout in terms of the ground control, isolation effect and resource recovery rate. Based on a case study, this paper presents an approach for evaluating, designing and optimizing EDG and yield pillar by considering the results from numerical simulations and field practice. To rigorously analyze the ground stability, the numerical study begins with the simulation of goaf-side stress and ground conditions. Four global models with identical conditions, except for the width of the yield pillar, are built, and the effect of pillar width on ground stability is investigated by comparing aspects of stress distribution, failure propagation, and displacement evolution during the entire service life of the entry. Based on simulation results, the isolation effect of the pillar acquired from field practice is also considered. The suggested optimal yield pillar design is validated using a field test in the same mine. Thus, the presented numerical approach provides references and can be utilized for the evaluation, design and optimization of EDG and yield pillars under similar geological and geotechnical circumstances.

Technology and Jobs: Computer-Aided Design. Numerical-Control Machine-Tool Operators. Office Automation.

Science.gov (United States)

Stanton, Michael; And Others

1985-01-01

Three reports on the effects of high technology on the nature of work include (1) Stanton on applications and implications of computer-aided design for engineers, drafters, and architects; (2) Nardone on the outlook and training of numerical-control machine tool operators; and (3) Austin and Drake on the future of clerical occupations in automated…

Validations of BWR nuclear design code using ABWR MOX numerical benchmark problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takano, Shou; Sasagawa, Masaru; Yamana, Teppei; Ikehara, Tadashi; Yanagisawa, Naoki

2017-01-01

BWR core design code package (the HINES assembly code and the PANACH core simulator), being used for full MOX-ABWR core design, has been benchmarked against the high-fidelity numerical solutions as references, for the purpose of validating its capability of predicting the BWR core design parameters systematically from UO 2 to 100% MOX cores. The reference solutions were created by whole core critical calculations using MCNPs with the precisely modeled ABWR cores both in hot and cold conditions at BOC and EOC of the equilibrium cycle. A Doppler-Broadening Rejection Correction (DCRB) implemented MCNP5-1.4 with ENDF/B-VII.0 was mainly used to evaluate the core design parameters, except for effective delayed neutron fraction (β eff ) and prompt neutron lifetime (l) with MCNP6.1. The discrepancies in the results between the design codes HINES-PANACH and MCNPs for the core design parameters such as the bundle powers, hot pin powers, control rod worth, boron worth, void reactivity, Doppler reactivity, β eff and l, are almost within target accuracy, leading to the conclusion that HINES-PANACH has sufficient fidelity for application to full MOX-ABWR core design. (author)

Numerical investigation of the variable nozzle effect on the mixed flow turbine performance characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Meziri, B.; Hamel, M.; Hireche, O.; Hamidou, K.

2016-09-01

There are various matching ways between turbocharger and engine, the variable nozzle turbine is the most significant method. The turbine design must be economic with high efficiency and large capacity over a wide range of operational conditions. These design intents are used in order to decrease thermal load and improve thermal efficiency of the engine. This paper presents an original design method of a variable nozzle vane for mixed flow turbines developed from previous experimental and numerical studies. The new device is evaluated with a numerical simulation over a wide range of rotational speeds, pressure ratios, and different vane angles. The compressible turbulent steady flow is solved using the ANSYS CFX software. The numerical results agree well with experimental data in the nozzleless configuration. In the variable nozzle case, the results show that the turbine performance characteristics are well accepted in different open positions and improved significantly in low speed regime and at low pressure ratio.

Design optimization of axial flow hydraulic turbine runner: Part I - an improved Q3D inverse method

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Guoyi; Cao, Shuliang; Ishizuka, Masaru; Hayama, Shinji

2002-06-01

With the aim of constructing a comprehensive design optimization procedure of axial flow hydraulic turbine, an improved quasi-three-dimensional inverse method has been proposed from the viewpoint of system and a set of rotational flow governing equations as well as a blade geometry design equation has been derived. The computation domain is firstly taken from the inlet of guide vane to the far outlet of runner blade in the inverse method and flows in different regions are solved simultaneously. So the influence of wicket gate parameters on the runner blade design can be considered and the difficulty to define the flow condition at the runner blade inlet is surmounted. As a pre-computation of initial blade design on S2m surface is newly adopted, the iteration of S1 and S2m surfaces has been reduced greatly and the convergence of inverse computation has been improved. The present model has been applied to the inverse computation of a Kaplan turbine runner. Experimental results and the direct flow analysis have proved the validation of inverse computation. Numerical investigations show that a proper enlargement of guide vane distribution diameter is advantageous to improve the performance of axial hydraulic turbine runner. Copyright

Numerical design of in-line X-ray phase-contrast imaging based on ellipsoidal single-bounce monocapillary

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sun, Weiyuan; Liu, Zhiguo [The Key Laboratory of Beam Technology and Materials Modification of the Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); Beijing Radiation Center, Beijing 100875 (China); Sun, Tianxi, E-mail: stx@bnu.edu.cn [The Key Laboratory of Beam Technology and Materials Modification of the Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); Beijing Radiation Center, Beijing 100875 (China); Peng, Song [The Key Laboratory of Beam Technology and Materials Modification of the Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); Beijing Radiation Center, Beijing 100875 (China); Ma, Yongzhong [Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Beijing, Beijing 100013 (China); Ding, Xunliang [The Key Laboratory of Beam Technology and Materials Modification of the Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China); Beijing Radiation Center, Beijing 100875 (China)

2014-05-11

A new device using an ellipsoidal single-bounce monocapillary X-ray optics was numerically designed to realize in-line X-ray phase-contrast imaging by using conventional laboratory X-ray source with a large spot. Numerical simulation results validated the effectiveness of the proposed device and approach. The ellipsoidal single-bounce monocapillary X-ray optics had potential applications in the in-line phase contrast imaging with polychromatic X-rays.

Numerical design of in-line X-ray phase-contrast imaging based on ellipsoidal single-bounce monocapillary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun, Weiyuan; Liu, Zhiguo; Sun, Tianxi; Peng, Song; Ma, Yongzhong; Ding, Xunliang

2014-01-01

A new device using an ellipsoidal single-bounce monocapillary X-ray optics was numerically designed to realize in-line X-ray phase-contrast imaging by using conventional laboratory X-ray source with a large spot. Numerical simulation results validated the effectiveness of the proposed device and approach. The ellipsoidal single-bounce monocapillary X-ray optics had potential applications in the in-line phase contrast imaging with polychromatic X-rays

Design Patterns Application in the ERP Systems Improvements

Science.gov (United States)

Jovičić, Bojan; Vlajić, Siniša

Design patterns application have long been present in software engineering. The same is true for ERP systems in business software. Is it possible that ERP systems do not have a good maintenance score? We have found out that there is room for maintenance improvement and that it is possible to improve ERP systems using design patterns. We have conducted comparative analysis of ease of maintenance of the ERP systems. The results show that the average score for our questions is 64%, with most answers for ERP systems like SAP, Oracle EBS, Dynamics AX. We found that 59% of ERP system developer users are not familiar with design patterns. Based on this research, we have chosen Dynamics AX as the ERP system for examination of design patterns improvement possibilities. We used software metrics to measure improvement possibility. We found that we could increase the Conditional Complexity score 17-fold by introducing design patterns.

Recent developments in KTF. Code optimization and improved numerics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jimenez, Javier; Avramova, Maria; Sanchez, Victor Hugo; Ivanov, Kostadin

2012-01-01

The rapid increase of computer power in the last decade facilitated the development of high fidelity simulations in nuclear engineering allowing a more realistic and accurate optimization as well as safety assessment of reactor cores and power plants compared to the legacy codes. Thermal hydraulic subchannel codes together with time dependent neutron transport codes are the options of choice for an accurate prediction of local safety parameters. Moreover, fast running codes with the best physical models are needed for high fidelity coupled thermal hydraulic / neutron kinetic solutions. Hence at KIT, different subchannel codes such as SUBCHANFLOW and KTF are being improved, validated and coupled with different neutron kinetics solutions. KTF is a subchannel code developed for best-estimate analysis of both Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) and BWR. It is based on the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) version of COBRA-TF (Coolant Boling in Rod Arrays Two Fluids) named CTF. In this paper, the investigations devoted to the enhancement of the code numeric and informatics structure are presented and discussed. By some examples the gain on code speed-up will be demonstrated and finally an outlook of further activities concentrated on the code improvements will be given. (orig.)

Recent developments in KTF. Code optimization and improved numerics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jimenez, Javier; Avramova, Maria; Sanchez, Victor Hugo; Ivanov, Kostadin [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) (Germany). Inst. for Neutron Physics and Reactor Technology (INR)

2012-11-01

The rapid increase of computer power in the last decade facilitated the development of high fidelity simulations in nuclear engineering allowing a more realistic and accurate optimization as well as safety assessment of reactor cores and power plants compared to the legacy codes. Thermal hydraulic subchannel codes together with time dependent neutron transport codes are the options of choice for an accurate prediction of local safety parameters. Moreover, fast running codes with the best physical models are needed for high fidelity coupled thermal hydraulic / neutron kinetic solutions. Hence at KIT, different subchannel codes such as SUBCHANFLOW and KTF are being improved, validated and coupled with different neutron kinetics solutions. KTF is a subchannel code developed for best-estimate analysis of both Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) and BWR. It is based on the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) version of COBRA-TF (Coolant Boling in Rod Arrays Two Fluids) named CTF. In this paper, the investigations devoted to the enhancement of the code numeric and informatics structure are presented and discussed. By some examples the gain on code speed-up will be demonstrated and finally an outlook of further activities concentrated on the code improvements will be given. (orig.)

Design Process Improvement for Electric CAR Harness

Science.gov (United States)

Sawatdee, Thiwarat; Chutima, Parames

2017-06-01

In an automobile parts design company, the customer satisfaction is one of the most important factors for product design. Therefore, the company employs all means to focus its product design process based on the various requirements of customers resulting in high number of design changes. The objective of this research is to improve the design process of the electric car harness that effects the production scheduling by using Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) as the main tools. FTA is employed for root cause analysis and FMEA is used to ranking a High Risk Priority Number (RPN) which is shows the priority of factors in the electric car harness that have high impact to the design of the electric car harness. After the implementation, the improvements are realized significantly since the number of design change is reduced from 0.26% to 0.08%.

Improving Design Understandings and Skills through Enhanced Metacognition: Reflective Design Journals

Science.gov (United States)

Kurt, Mustafa; Kurt, Sevinc

2017-01-01

The main aim of this study was to investigate and discover whether going through the process of reflection by keeping reflective design journals (RDJ) enhances architecture students' metacognition and whether this enhanced metacognition improves their design understandings and skills. The study was a mixed-methods design and utilised content…

Numerical simulation of several impact attenuator design for a formula student car

Science.gov (United States)

Sinaga, Farlian Rizky; Ubaidillah, Kurniawan, Krishna Eka; Fadhil, Muhamad Ivan; Cahyono, Sukmaji Indro; Idris, Muhamad Hafiz

2018-02-01

In the Formula Society of Automotive Engineer (SAE), safety is a vigorous factor. One of the safety components in the Formula SAE car is the impact attenuator. The purpose of this study is to get the impact attenuator design with the best ability to absorb kinetic energy from several existing designs, through numerical approaches, for estimating conditions against dynamic impacts. Material of impact attenuator use combination of aluminum and Zirconium G350. The simulation was caried out by crashing the impact with the rigid wall, to find the deformation that occurs and the energies are absorbed. The impact attenuator design to be simulated should be optimized to meet some parameters in the SAE Formula. The result of impact attenuator simulation should be able to absorb energy of 7350 joules at move 7 m/s and deformation at bulkhead less than 25.4 mm.

Direct fuel cell product design improvement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maru, H.C.; Farooque, M. [Energy Research Corp., Danbury, CT (United States)

1996-12-31

Significant milestones have been attained towards the technology development field testing and commercialization of direct fuel cell power plant since the 1994 Fuel Cell Seminar. Under a 5-year cooperative agreement with the Department of Energy signed in December 1994, Energy Research Corporation (ERC) has been developing the design for a MW-scale direct fuel cell power plant with input from previous technology efforts and the Santa Clara Demonstration Project. The effort encompasses product definition in consultation with the Fuel Cell Commercialization Group, potential customers, as well as extensive system design and packaging. Manufacturing process improvements, test facility construction, cell component scale up, performance and endurance improvements, stack engineering, and critical balance-of-plant development are also addressed. Major emphasis of this product design improvement project is on increased efficiency, compactness and cost reduction to establish a competitive place in the market. A 2.85 MW power plant with an efficiency of 58% and a footprint of 420 m{sup 2} has been designed. Component and subsystem testing is being conducted at various levels. Planning and preparation for verification of a full size prototype unit are in progress. This paper presents the results obtained since the last fuel cell seminar.

Numerical analysis of high-power broad-area laser diode with improved heat sinking structure using epitaxial liftoff technique

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Younghyun; Sung, Yunsu; Yang, Jung-Tack; Choi, Woo-Young

2018-02-01

The characteristics of high-power broad-area laser diodes with the improved heat sinking structure are numerically analyzed by a technology computer-aided design based self-consistent electro-thermal-optical simulation. The high-power laser diodes consist of a separate confinement heterostructure of a compressively strained InGaAsP quantum well and GaInP optical cavity layers, and a 100-μm-wide rib and a 2000-μm long cavity. In order to overcome the performance deteriorations of high-power laser diodes caused by self-heating such as thermal rollover and thermal blooming, we propose the high-power broad-area laser diode with improved heat-sinking structure, which another effective heat-sinking path toward the substrate side is added by removing a bulk substrate. It is possible to obtain by removing a 400-μm-thick GaAs substrate with an AlAs sacrificial layer utilizing well-known epitaxial liftoff techniques. In this study, we present the performance improvement of the high-power laser diode with the heat-sinking structure by suppressing thermal effects. It is found that the lateral far-field angle as well as quantum well temperature is expected to be improved by the proposed heat-sinking structure which is required for high beam quality and optical output power, respectively.

Size and Topology Optimization for Trusses with Discrete Design Variables by Improved Firefly Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yue Wu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Firefly Algorithm (FA, for short is inspired by the social behavior of fireflies and their phenomenon of bioluminescent communication. Based on the fundamentals of FA, two improved strategies are proposed to conduct size and topology optimization for trusses with discrete design variables. Firstly, development of structural topology optimization method and the basic principle of standard FA are introduced in detail. Then, in order to apply the algorithm to optimization problems with discrete variables, the initial positions of fireflies and the position updating formula are discretized. By embedding the random-weight and enhancing the attractiveness, the performance of this algorithm is improved, and thus an Improved Firefly Algorithm (IFA, for short is proposed. Furthermore, using size variables which are capable of including topology variables and size and topology optimization for trusses with discrete variables is formulated based on the Ground Structure Approach. The essential techniques of variable elastic modulus technology and geometric construction analysis are applied in the structural analysis process. Subsequently, an optimization method for the size and topological design of trusses based on the IFA is introduced. Finally, two numerical examples are shown to verify the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method by comparing with different deterministic methods.

Application of numerical simulation on optimum design of two-dimensional sedimentation tanks in the wastewater treatment plant.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Guang-Ming; Zhang, Shuo-Fu; Qin, Xiao-Sheng; Huang, Guo-He; Li, Jian-Bing

2003-05-01

The paper establishes the relationship between the settling efficiency and the sizes of the sedimentation tank through the process of numerical simulation, which is taken as one of the constraints to set up a simple optimum designing model of sedimentation tank. The feasibility and advantages of this model based on numerical calculation are verified through the application of practical case.

Numerical Analysis of a Centrifugal Fan for Improved Performance using Splitter Vanes

OpenAIRE

N. Yagnesh Sharma; K. Vasudeva Karanth

2009-01-01

The flow field in a centrifugal fan is highly complex with flow reversal taking place on the suction side of impeller and diffuser vanes. Generally performance of the centrifugal fan could be enhanced by judiciously introducing splitter vanes so as to improve the diffusion process. An extensive numerical whole field analysis on the effect of splitter vanes placed in discrete regions of suspected separation points is possible using CFD. This paper examines the effect of sp...

Practical considerations in developing numerical simulators for thermal recovery

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abou-Kassem, J.H. [Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department, UAE University, Al-Ain (United Arab Emirates)

1996-08-15

Numerical simulation of steam injection and in-situ combustion-based oil recovery processes is of great importance in project design. Development of such numerical simulators is an on-going process, with improvements made as the process description becomes more complete, and also as better methods are devised to resolve certain numerical difficulties. This paper addresses some of the latter, and based on the author`s experience gives useful guidelines for developing more efficient numerical simulators of steam injection and in-situ combustion. The paper takes up a series of questions related to simulating thermal processes. Included are: the elimination of constraint equations at the matrix level, phase change, steam injection rate, alternative treatments of heat loss, relative permeabilities and importance of hysteresis effects, improved solutions to the grid orientation problem and other simulation problems such as potential inversion, grid block size, time-step size control and induced fractures. The points discussed in the paper should be of use to both simulator developers and users alike, and will lead to a better understanding of simulation results

Two-Phase Flow in Pipes: Numerical Improvements and Qualitative Analysis for a Refining Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teixeira R.G.D.

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Two-phase flow in pipes occurs frequently in refineries, oil and gas production facilities and petrochemical units. The accurate design of such processing plants requires that numerical algorithms be combined with suitable models for predicting expected pressure drops. In performing such calculations, pressure gradients may be obtained from empirical correlations such as Beggs and Brill, and they must be integrated over the total length of the pipe segment, simultaneously with the enthalpy-gradient equation when the temperature profile is unknown. This paper proposes that the set of differential and algebraic equations involved should be solved as a Differential Algebraic Equations (DAE System, which poses a more CPU-efficient alternative to the “marching algorithm” employed by most related work. Demonstrating the use of specific regularization functions in preventing convergence failure in calculations due to discontinuities inherent to such empirical correlations is also a key feature of this study. The developed numerical techniques are then employed to examine the sensitivity to heat-transfer parameters of the results obtained for a typical refinery two-phase flow design problem.

Numerical Study of Flow Characteristics in a Solid Particle Incinerator for Various Design Parameters of Injectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Son, Jin Woo; Kim, Su Ho; Sohn, Chae Hoon [Sejong Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2013-12-15

The flow characteristics in a solid particle incinerator are investigated numerically for high burning rate of wastes. The studied incinerator employs both a swirl flow used in the furnace of power plants and a design concept applied to a rocket combustor. As the first step, the non-reactive flow field is analyzed in the incinerator with primary and secondary injectors through which solid fuel and air are injected. The deflection angle of a primary injector, inclination angle of a secondary injector, and gap between the two types of injectors are selected as design parameters. The swirl number is adopted for evaluating the degree of swirl flow and estimated over wide ranges of three parameters. The swirl number increases with deflection angle, but it is affected little by inclination angle. Recirculation zones are formed near the injectors, and their size affects the swirl number. The swirl number decreases with the zonal size of recirculation. From the numerical results, the design points can be found with strong swirl flow.

Improved forward wave propagation and adjoint-based sensitivity kernel calculations using a numerically stable finite-element PML

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xie, Zhinan; Komatitsch, Dimitri; Martin, Roland

2014-01-01

with perfectly matched absorbing layers we introduce a computationally efficient boundary storage strategy by saving information along the interface between the CFS-UPML and the main domain only, thus avoiding the need to solve a backward wave propagation problem inside the CFS-UPML, which is known to be highly......In recent years, the application of time-domain adjoint methods to improve large, complex underground tomographic models at the regional scale has led to new challenges for the numerical simulation of forward or adjoint elastic wave propagation problems. An important challenge is to design...... convolution formulation of the complex-frequency-shifted unsplit-field perfectly matched layer (CFS-UPML) derived in previous work more flexible by providing a new treatment to analytically remove singular parameters in the formulation. We also extend this new formulation to 3-D. Furthermore, we derive...

Physical barriers formed from gelling liquids: 1. numerical design of laboratory and field experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finsterle, S.; Moridis, G.J.; Pruess, K.; Persoff, P.

1994-01-01

The emplacement of liquids under controlled viscosity conditions is investigated by means of numerical simulations. Design calculations are performed for a laboratory experiment on a decimeter scale, and a field experiment on a meter scale. The purpose of the laboratory experiment is to study the behavior of multiple gout plumes when injected in a porous medium. The calculations for the field trial aim at designing a grout injection test from a vertical well in order to create a grout plume of a significant extent in the subsurface

Improving STEM Undergraduate Education with Efficient Learning Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Godsk, Mikkel

2018-01-01

The project investigates the potential of Learning Design for efficiently improving STEM undergraduate education with technology. In order to investigate this potential, the project consists of two main studies at Aarhus University: a study of the perspectives of the main stakeholders on Learning...... Design uptake. The project concludes that it is possible to improve STEM undergraduate education with Learning Design for technology-enhanced learning efficiently and that Efficient Learning Design provides a useful concept for qualifying educational decisions....... provided by technology-enhanced learning based on Learning Design, and in particular students’ learning was of a high common interest. However, only the educators were directly interested in Learning Design and its support for design, reuse in their practice and to inform pedagogy. A holistic concept...

A Method of Numerical Control Equipment Appearance Design Based on Product Identity

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Zhijuan; Zhou, Qi; Li, Bin; Visser, Steve

Research on numerical control (NC) equipment has been more and more abundant; however, there are few existing studies in the field of appearance design for NC equipments. This paper provided a method to generate new appearance design of NC equipments based on product identity (PI). For the purpose of providing guidelines to generate new concept of NC equipment design, this paper, therefore, took the DMG Company (a Germen NC equipment company) as a case, examined the total products of this company from two aspects: Product Image and Product Family. Task 1 was an evaluate task about the Product Image by using the semantic differential (SD) evaluation method; Task 2 was a study task about Product Family to find out features of the products and classify these features. During the Task 2, several features have been found out and summarized, and these features were classified into 3 different levels according to their frequency and importance. In the end, two appearance design samples have been generated based on the analysis above to prove the application of the research.

Developing Teaching Material Software Assisted for Numerical Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Handayani, A. D.; Herman, T.; Fatimah, S.

2017-09-01

The NCTM vision shows the importance of two things in school mathematics, which is knowing the mathematics of the 21st century and the need to continue to improve mathematics education to answer the challenges of a changing world. One of the competencies associated with the great challenges of the 21st century is the use of help and tools (including IT), such as: knowing the existence of various tools for mathematical activity. One of the significant challenges in mathematical learning is how to teach students about abstract concepts. In this case, technology in the form of mathematics learning software can be used more widely to embed the abstract concept in mathematics. In mathematics learning, the use of mathematical software can make high level math activity become easier accepted by student. Technology can strengthen student learning by delivering numerical, graphic, and symbolic content without spending the time to calculate complex computing problems manually. The purpose of this research is to design and develop teaching materials software assisted for numerical method. The process of developing the teaching material starts from the defining step, the process of designing the learning material developed based on information obtained from the step of early analysis, learners, materials, tasks that support then done the design step or design, then the last step is the development step. The development of teaching materials software assisted for numerical methods is valid in content. While validator assessment for teaching material in numerical methods is good and can be used with little revision.

Improved Casting Furnace Conceptual Design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fielding, Randall Sidney [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Tolman, David Donald [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2017-02-01

In an attempt to ensure more consistent casting results and remove some schedule variance associated with casting, an improved casting furnace concept has been developed. The improved furnace uses the existing arc melter hardware and glovebox utilities. The furnace concept was designed around physical and operational requirements such as; a charge sized of less than 30 grams, high heating rates and minimal additional footprint. The conceptual model is shown in the report as well as a summary of how the requirements were met.

Integration of finite element analysis and numerical optimization techniques for RAM transport package design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harding, D.C.; Eldred, M.S.; Witkowski, W.R.

1995-01-01

Type B radioactive material transport packages must meet strict Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations specified in 10 CFR 71. Type B containers include impact limiters, radiation or thermal shielding layers, and one or more containment vessels. In the past, each component was typically designed separately based on its driving constraint and the expertise of the designer. The components were subsequently assembled and the design modified iteratively until all of the design criteria were met. This approach neglects the fact that components may serve secondary purposes as well as primary ones. For example, an impact limiter's primary purpose is to act as an energy absorber and protect the contents of the package, but can also act as a heat dissipater or insulator. Designing the component to maximize its performance with respect to both objectives can be accomplished using numerical optimization techniques

Energy efficiency improvement and fuel savings in water heaters using baffles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moeini Sedeh, Mahmoud; Khodadadi, J.M.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Thermal efficiency improved by simple/novel design of baffles inside water reservoir. ► Noticeable steady-state natural gas savings of about 5%. ► Extensive 3-D numerical investigations followed by experimental verifications. ► Baffle designs prototyped in identical water heaters for ANSI/US DOE test protocols. ► Numerical/experimental results verified thermal efficiency improvement and fuel savings. -- Abstract: Thermal efficiency improvement of a water heater was investigated numerically and experimentally in response to presence of a baffle, particularly designed for modifying the flow field within the water reservoir and enhancing heat transfer extracted into the water tank. A residential natural gas-fired water heater was selected for modifying its water tank through introducing a baffle for lowering natural gas consumption by 5% as a target. Based on the geometric features of the selected water heater, three-dimensional models of the water heater subsections were developed. Upon detailed studies of flow and heat transfer in each subsection, various sub-models were integrated to a complete model of the water heater. Thermal performance of the selected water heater was investigated numerically using computational fluid dynamics analysis. Prior to baffle design process and in order to verify the developed model of the water heater, time-dependent numerically-predicted temperatures were compared to the experimentally-measured temperatures under the same conditions at six (6) different locations inside the water tank and good agreement was observed. Upon verifying the numerical model, the fluid flow and heat transfer patterns were characterized for the selected water heater. The overall design of the baffle and its location and orientation were finalized based on the numerical results and a set of parametric studies. Finally, two baffle designs were proposed, with the second design being an optimized version of the first design. The

Experimental research and numerical simulation on flow resistance of integrated valve

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cai Wei; Bo Hanliang; Qin Benke

2008-01-01

The flow resistance of the integrated valve is one of the key parameters for the design of the control rod hydraulic drive system (CRHDS). Experimental research on the improved new integrated valve was performed, and the key data such as pressure difference, volume flow, resistance coefficient and flow coefficient of each flow channel were obtained. With the computational fluid dynamics software CFX, numerical simulation was executed to analyze the effect of Re on the flow resistance. On the basis of experimental and numerical results, fitting empirical formulas of resistance coefficient were obtained, which provide experimental and theoretical foundations for CRHDS's optimized design and theoretical analysis. (authors)

Representation of Numerical and Non-Numerical Order in Children

Science.gov (United States)

Berteletti, Ilaria; Lucangeli, Daniela; Zorzi, Marco

2012-01-01

The representation of numerical and non-numerical ordered sequences was investigated in children from preschool to grade 3. The child's conception of how sequence items map onto a spatial scale was tested using the Number-to-Position task (Siegler & Opfer, 2003) and new variants of the task designed to probe the representation of the alphabet…

Improved numerical algorithm and experimental validation of a system thermal-hydraulic/CFD coupling method for multi-scale transient simulations of pool-type reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toti, A.; Vierendeels, J.; Belloni, F.

2017-01-01

Highlights: • A system thermal-hydraulic/CFD coupling methodology is proposed for high-fidelity transient flow analyses. • The method is based on domain decomposition and implicit numerical scheme. • A novel interface Quasi-Newton algorithm is implemented to improve stability and convergence rate. • Preliminary validation analyses on the TALL-3D experiment. - Abstract: The paper describes the development and validation of a coupling methodology between the best-estimate system thermal-hydraulic code RELAP5-3D and the CFD code FLUENT, conceived for high fidelity plant-scale safety analyses of pool-type reactors. The computational tool is developed to assess the impact of three-dimensional phenomena occurring in accidental transients such as loss of flow (LOF) in the research reactor MYRRHA, currently in the design phase at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, SCK• CEN. A partitioned, implicit domain decomposition coupling algorithm is implemented, in which the coupled domains exchange thermal-hydraulics variables at coupling boundary interfaces. Numerical stability and interface convergence rates are improved by a novel interface Quasi-Newton algorithm, which is compared in this paper with previously tested numerical schemes. The developed computational method has been assessed for validation purposes against the experiment performed at the test facility TALL-3D, operated by the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden. This paper details the results of the simulation of a loss of forced convection test, showing the capability of the developed methodology to predict transients influenced by local three-dimensional phenomena.

Design of cladding rods-assisted depressed-core few-mode fibers with improved modal spacing

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Jiawei; Zhang, Jie

2018-03-01

This paper investigates the design details of cladding rods-assisted (CRA) depressed-core (DC) few-mode fibers (FMFs) that feature more equally spaced linearly polarized (LP) modal effective indices, suitable for high-spatial-density weakly-coupled mode-division multiplexing systems. The influences of the index profile of cladding rods on LP mode-resolved effective index, bending sensitivity, and effective area Aeff, are numerically described. Based on the design considerations of LP modal Aeff-dependent spatial efficiency and LP modal bending loss-dependent robustness, the small LP21-LP02 and LP22-LP03 modal spacing limitations, encountered in state-of-the-art weakly-coupled step-index FMFs, have been substantially improved by at least 25%. In addition, the proposed CRA DC FMFs also show sufficiently large effective areas (in excess of 110 μm2) for all guided LP modes, which are expected to exhibit good nonlinear performance.

Strength and Numerical Analysis in the Design of Permeable Reactive Barriers

Science.gov (United States)

Pawluk, Katarzyna; Wrzesiński, Grzegorz; Lendo-Siwicka, Marzena

2017-10-01

Permeable reactive barriers are one of the most important in situ technologies in groundwater remediation. Most of the installed PRBs have tended to use singular reactive media, but there is an increasing number of applications using combined or sequenced media to treat mixtures of contaminants within a groundwater plume. The concept of a multi-layered permeable reactive barrier (MPRB) to prevent and protect groundwater along traffic routes, especially in ecologically and naturally valuable areas, was developed following several field and laboratory investigations conducted in the Department of Geotechnical Engineering of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. In accordance with the guidelines of the Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council for the selection of reactive materials, numerous laboratory and field investigations should be performed to determine the environmental conditions, type and concentrations of the contaminants, and the physical-chemical and permeability properties of the reactive materials. However, the deformation and strength properties of the reactive materials should be also considered in the design and evaluation of the safety conditions. In this paper, strength and deformation properties of silica spongolite, zeolite, and activated carbon were investigated using direct shear and oedometer tests. The laboratory test results were used in numerical calculations with the application of the finite element method. The aim of this study was to define the impact of the installation stages of a multi-layered permeable reactive barrier on the stability of a road embankment. Numerical analysis may prevent, reduce or eliminate the risk in the case of a breakdown during the construction or/and exploitation of a PRB.

Improved design on Qinshan 300 MWe nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi Peihua; Cheng Wanli; Lu Rongliang

1993-01-01

The main aim, guiding ideology, general performance and parameters of improved design on Qinshan 300 MWe nuclear power plant are presented. Improved items are also introduced including the characteristic of layout in nuclear island building, decreasing unnecessary devices increasing necessary safety facilities and unifying code and standard. The progress of improved design is presented

Improved design on Qinshan 300 MWe nuclear power plant

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peihua, Shi; Wanli, Cheng; Rongliang, Lu [Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Inst. (China)

1993-06-01

The main aim, guiding ideology, general performance and parameters of improved design on Qinshan 300 MWe nuclear power plant are presented. Improved items are also introduced including the characteristic of layout in nuclear island building, decreasing unnecessary devices increasing necessary safety facilities and unifying code and standard. The progress of improved design is presented.

Reactions, accuracy and response complexity of numerical typing on touch screens.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Cheng-Jhe; Wu, Changxu

2013-01-01

Touch screens are popular nowadays as seen on public kiosks, industrial control panels and personal mobile devices. Numerical typing is one frequent task performed on touch screens, but this task on touch screen is subject to human errors and slow responses. This study aims to find innate differences of touch screens from standard physical keypads in the context of numerical typing by eliminating confounding issues. Effects of precise visual feedback and urgency of numerical typing were also investigated. The results showed that touch screens were as accurate as physical keyboards, but reactions were indeed executed slowly on touch screens as signified by both pre-motor reaction time and reaction time. Provision of precise visual feedback caused more errors, and the interaction between devices and urgency was not found on reaction time. To improve usability of touch screens, designers should focus more on reducing response complexity and be cautious about the use of visual feedback. The study revealed that slower responses on touch screens involved more complex human cognition to formulate motor responses. Attention should be given to designing precise visual feedback appropriately so that distractions or visual resource competitions can be avoided to improve human performance on touch screens.

Numerical optimization of circulation control airfoil at high subsonic speed

Science.gov (United States)

Tai, T. C.; Kidwell, G. H., Jr.

1984-01-01

A numerical procedure for optimizing the design of the circulation control airfoil for use at high subsonic speeds is presented. The procedure consists of an optimization scheme coupled with a viscous potential flow analysis for the blowing jet. The desired airfoil is defined by a combination of three baseline shapes (cambered ellipse and cambered ellipse with drooped and spiraled trailing edges). The coefficients of these shapes are used as design variables in the optimization process. Under the constraints of lift augmentation and lift-to-drag ratios, the airfoil, optimized at free-stream Mach 0.54 and alpha = -2 degrees can be characterized as a cambered ellipse with a drooped trailing edge. Experimental tests support the performance improvement predicted by numerical optimization.

Rational design of improved pharmabiotics.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Sleator, Roy D

2009-01-01

Herein we review the most recent advances in probiotic research and applications with particular emphasis on the novel concept of patho-biotechnology: the application of pathogen-derived (ex vivo and in vivo) stress survival strategies for the design of more technologically robust and effective probiotic cultures with improved biotechnological and clinical applications.

Numerical determination of injector design for high beam quality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boyd, J.K.

1985-01-01

The performance of a free electron laser strongly depends on the electron beam quality or brightness. The electron beam is transported into the free electron laser after it has been accelerated to the desired energy. Typically the maximum beam brightness produced by an accelerator is constrained by the beam brightness deliverd by the accelerator injector. Thus it is important to design the accelerator injector to yield the required electron beam brightness. The DPC (Darwin Particle Code) computer code has been written to numerically model accelerator injectors. DPC solves for the transport of a beam from emission through acceleration up to the full energy of the injector. The relativistic force equation is solved to determine particle orbits. Field equations are solved for self consistent electric and magnetic fields in the Darwin approximation. DPC has been used to investigate the beam quality consequences of A-K gap, accelerating stress, electrode configuration and axial magnetic field profile

Numerical analysis

CERN Document Server

Rao, G Shanker

2006-01-01

About the Book: This book provides an introduction to Numerical Analysis for the students of Mathematics and Engineering. The book is designed in accordance with the common core syllabus of Numerical Analysis of Universities of Andhra Pradesh and also the syllabus prescribed in most of the Indian Universities. Salient features: Approximate and Numerical Solutions of Algebraic and Transcendental Equation Interpolation of Functions Numerical Differentiation and Integration and Numerical Solution of Ordinary Differential Equations The last three chapters deal with Curve Fitting, Eigen Values and Eigen Vectors of a Matrix and Regression Analysis. Each chapter is supplemented with a number of worked-out examples as well as number of problems to be solved by the students. This would help in the better understanding of the subject. Contents: Errors Solution of Algebraic and Transcendental Equations Finite Differences Interpolation with Equal Intervals Interpolation with Unequal Int...

Improved optical design of nontracking concentrators

Science.gov (United States)

Kwan, B. M.; Bannerot, R. B.

1984-08-01

Optical designs based on a two reflections or less criterion have been developed for one and two-facet trapezoidal concentrators. Collector designs resulting from this criterion have been evaluated with the aid of a ray-trace computer simulation which includes the effects of nonideal reflectors. Results indicate a marked increase in performance, particularly for the one-facet designs, as compared to the collectors previously designed with the one reflection or less criterion. A significant result is that when a proper accounting is made for the actual acceptance angle for the concentrators, the performances of the optimal one and two-facet designs become nearly identical, indicating that the previously held contention that improved performance could be achieved with multifaceted reflectors (geometrically approaching the compound parabolic shape) may be incorrect.

Rational Design of Improved Pharmabiotics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roy D. Sleator

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Herein we review the most recent advances in probiotic research and applications with particular emphasis on the novel concept of patho-biotechnology: the application of pathogen-derived (ex vivo and in vivo stress survival strategies for the design of more technologically robust and effective probiotic cultures with improved biotechnological and clinical applications.

Improvements in numerical modelling of highly injected crystalline silicon solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Altermatt, P.P. [University of New South Wales, Centre for Photovoltaic Engineering, 2052 Sydney (Australia); Sinton, R.A. [Sinton Consulting, 1132 Green Circle, 80303 Boulder, CO (United States); Heiser, G. [University of NSW, School of Computer Science and Engineering, 2052 Sydney (Australia)

2001-01-01

We numerically model crystalline silicon concentrator cells with the inclusion of band gap narrowing (BGN) caused by injected free carriers. In previous studies, the revised room-temperature value of the intrinsic carrier density, n{sub i}=1.00x10{sup 10}cm{sup -3}, was inconsistent with the other material parameters of highly injected silicon. In this paper, we show that high-injection experiments can be described consistently with the revised value of n{sub i} if free-carrier induced BGN is included, and that such BGN is an important effect in silicon concentrator cells. The new model presented here significantly improves the ability to model highly injected silicon cells with a high level of precision.

Shark skin-inspired designs that improve aerodynamic performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Domel, August G; Saadat, Mehdi; Weaver, James C; Haj-Hariri, Hossein; Bertoldi, Katia; Lauder, George V

2018-02-01

There have been significant efforts recently aimed at improving the aerodynamic performance of aerofoils through the modification of their surfaces. Inspired by the drag-reducing properties of the tooth-like denticles that cover the skin of sharks, we describe here experimental and simulation-based investigations into the aerodynamic effects of novel denticle-inspired designs placed along the suction side of an aerofoil. Through parametric modelling to query a wide range of different designs, we discovered a set of denticle-inspired surface structures that achieve simultaneous drag reduction and lift generation on an aerofoil, resulting in lift-to-drag ratio improvements comparable to the best-reported for traditional low-profile vortex generators and even outperforming these existing designs at low angles of attack with improvements of up to 323%. Such behaviour is enabled by two concurrent mechanisms: (i) a separation bubble in the denticle's wake altering the flow pressure distribution of the aerofoil to enhance suction and (ii) streamwise vortices that replenish momentum loss in the boundary layer due to skin friction. Our findings not only open new avenues for improved aerodynamic design, but also provide new perspective on the role of the complex and potentially multifunctional morphology of shark denticles for increased swimming efficiency. © 2018 The Author(s).

Improving Creativity Training: A Study of Designer Skills

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Valgeirsdóttir, Dagný; Onarheim, Balder; Li-Ying, Jason

2016-01-01

and Cross2001]. Establishing that creativity is important for design and innovation implies that identifying ways of improving creativity is a relevant research area within design studies. Creativity is a basic human skill and multiple studies have been published showing that creativity is a skill that can...... be directed at the individual level by enhancing individual creativity skills, but also improvement at the team level, rendering it important to first improve the understanding of both these levels of creativity in the design process.There are multiple ways to train creativity, although currently most...... optimal way of training creativity is through a combination of (1) educating individuals about creativity, thereby building a solid theoretical understanding, and (2) providing them with a real world case where they are trained in the use of creative tools and processes[Scott et al. 2004]. The latter...

A Spreadsheet-Based Visualized Mindtool for Improving Students' Learning Performance in Identifying Relationships between Numerical Variables

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Chiu-Lin; Hwang, Gwo-Jen

2015-01-01

In this study, a spreadsheet-based visualized Mindtool was developed for improving students' learning performance when finding relationships between numerical variables by engaging them in reasoning and decision-making activities. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, an experiment was conducted on the "phenomena of climate…

Lesson learned from PSA in the design improvement program of KSNP+

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, M.R.; Lim, H.K.; Kang, S.K.; Park, K.S.

2001-01-01

KOPEC (Korea Power Engineering Co.) in conjunction with the client KEPCO (Korea Electric Power Corp.) has been developing a highly competitive Improved Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plant named KSNP+. From the beginning of Design Improvement Program, PSA was carried out to assure that the safety level of KSNP+ is maintained or improved in comparison with that of KSNP, the Korean Standard NPP. To achieve the safety goal of KSNP+, PSA team reviewed all design changes that might affect the plant safety. Design vulnerabilities were identified from the PSA results and safety improvement items were recommended to the system designers. Through the Design Improvement Program, KSNP+ became more reliable, safer and economically competitive than KSNP. This was achieved by systematic approach for design optimization and effective use of PSA technology based on past experience and expertise of nuclear power plant. (author)

Improving Building Performance through Integrating Constructability in the Design Process

OpenAIRE

Ezzat Othman, Ayman Ahmed

2011-01-01

The traditional procurment approaches commonly adopted in construction projects and the involvement of multitude of various project participants with diverse objectives, skills and interests tended to separate design from construction.This separation obstructs contractors from providing designers with construction feedback and suggestions for design improvement, which ultimately hampers the improvement of building performance. Because of the importance of the design phase and the vit...

Computational study of a magnetic design to improve the diagnosis of malaria: 2D model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vyas, Siddharth; Genis, Vladimir; Friedman, Gary

2017-01-01

This paper investigates the feasibility of a cost effective high gradient magnetic separation based device for the detection and identification of malaria parasites in a blood sample. The design utilizes magnetic properties of hemozoin present in malaria-infected red blood cells (mRBCs) in order to separate and concentrate them inside a microfluidic channel slide for easier examination under the microscope. The design consists of a rectangular microfluidic channel with multiple magnetic wires positioned on top of and underneath it along the length of the channel at a small angle with respect to the channel axis. Strong magnetic field gradients, produced by the wires, exert sufficient magnetic forces on the mRBCs in order to separate and concentrate them in a specific region small enough to fit within the microscope field of view at magnifications typically required to identify the malaria parasite type. The feasibility of the device is studied using a model where the trajectories of the mRBCs inside the channel are determined using first-order ordinary differential equations (ODEs) solved numerically using a multistep ODE solver available within MATLAB. The mRBCs trajectories reveal that it is possible to separate and concentrate the mRBCs in less than 5 min, even in cases of very low parasitemia (1–10 parasites/µL of blood) using blood sample volumes of around 3 µL employed today. - Highlights: • A simple and cost-effective design is presented to improve the diagnosis of malaria. • The design is studied using a computational model. • It is possible to concentrate malaria-infected cells in a small area. • This can improve slide-examination and the efficiency of microscopists. • This can improve diagnosis of low-parasitemia and asymptomatic malaria.

Computational study of a magnetic design to improve the diagnosis of malaria: 2D model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vyas, Siddharth, E-mail: svyas76@gmail.com [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Department of Engineering Technology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Genis, Vladimir [Department of Engineering Technology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Friedman, Gary [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States)

2017-02-01

This paper investigates the feasibility of a cost effective high gradient magnetic separation based device for the detection and identification of malaria parasites in a blood sample. The design utilizes magnetic properties of hemozoin present in malaria-infected red blood cells (mRBCs) in order to separate and concentrate them inside a microfluidic channel slide for easier examination under the microscope. The design consists of a rectangular microfluidic channel with multiple magnetic wires positioned on top of and underneath it along the length of the channel at a small angle with respect to the channel axis. Strong magnetic field gradients, produced by the wires, exert sufficient magnetic forces on the mRBCs in order to separate and concentrate them in a specific region small enough to fit within the microscope field of view at magnifications typically required to identify the malaria parasite type. The feasibility of the device is studied using a model where the trajectories of the mRBCs inside the channel are determined using first-order ordinary differential equations (ODEs) solved numerically using a multistep ODE solver available within MATLAB. The mRBCs trajectories reveal that it is possible to separate and concentrate the mRBCs in less than 5 min, even in cases of very low parasitemia (1–10 parasites/µL of blood) using blood sample volumes of around 3 µL employed today. - Highlights: • A simple and cost-effective design is presented to improve the diagnosis of malaria. • The design is studied using a computational model. • It is possible to concentrate malaria-infected cells in a small area. • This can improve slide-examination and the efficiency of microscopists. • This can improve diagnosis of low-parasitemia and asymptomatic malaria.

Improvement of product design process by knowledge value analysis

OpenAIRE

XU, Yang; BERNARD, Alain; PERRY, Nicolas; LAROCHE, Florent

2013-01-01

Nowadays, design activities remain the core issue for global product development. As knowledge is more and more integrated, effective analysis of knowledge value becomes very useful for the improvement of product design processes. This paper aims at proposing a framework of knowledge value analysis in the context of product design process. By theoretical analysis and case study, the paper illustrates how knowledge value can be calculated and how the results can help the improvement of product...

Current control design for three-phase grid-connected inverters using a pole placement technique based on numerical models

OpenAIRE

Citro, Costantino; Gavriluta, Catalin; Nizak Md, H. K.; Beltran, H.

2012-01-01

This paper presents a design procedure for linear current controllers of three-phase grid-connected inverters. The proposed method consists in deriving a numerical model of the converter by using software simulations and applying the pole placement technique to design the controller with the desired performances. A clear example on how to apply the technique is provided. The effectiveness of the proposed design procedure has been verified through the experimental results obtained with ...

Verification of a novel innovative blade root design for wind turbines using a hybrid numerical method

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhu, Wei Jun; Shen, Wen Zhong; Sørensen, Jens Nørkær

2017-01-01

captured at the outer part of the blades, where the relative wind speed is high. To assess the impact of this novel design idea, a hybrid numerical technique, based on solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, is utilized to determine the aerodynamic performance. The in-house developed Ellip...

A numerical model for the design of a mixed flow cryogenic turbine ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Present day cryogenic gas turbines are in more popular as they meet the growing need for low pressure cycles. This calls for improved methods of turbine wheel design. The present study is aimed at the design of the turbine wheel of mixed flow impellers with radial entry and axial discharge. In this paper, a computer code ...

The Design of a Templated C++ Small Vector Class for Numerical Computing

Science.gov (United States)

Moran, Patrick J.

2000-01-01

We describe the design and implementation of a templated C++ class for vectors. The vector class is templated both for vector length and vector component type; the vector length is fixed at template instantiation time. The vector implementation is such that for a vector of N components of type T, the total number of bytes required by the vector is equal to N * size of (T), where size of is the built-in C operator. The property of having a size no bigger than that required by the components themselves is key in many numerical computing applications, where one may allocate very large arrays of small, fixed-length vectors. In addition to the design trade-offs motivating our fixed-length vector design choice, we review some of the C++ template features essential to an efficient, succinct implementation. In particular, we highlight some of the standard C++ features, such as partial template specialization, that are not supported by all compilers currently. This report provides an inventory listing the relevant support currently provided by some key compilers, as well as test code one can use to verify compiler capabilities.

Numerical Simulation of Different Models of Heat Pipe Heat Exchanger Using AcuSolve

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zainal Nurul Amira

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a numerical simulation of heat pipe heat exchanger (HPHE is computed by using CFD solver program i.e. AcuSolve. Two idealized model of HPHE are created with different variant of entry’s dimension set to be case 1 and case 2. The geometry of HPHE is designed in SolidWorks and imported to AcuSolve to simulate the fluid flow numerically. The design of HPHE is the key to provide a heat exchanger system to work proficient as expected. Finally, the result is used to optimize and improving heat recovery systems of the increasing demand for energy efficiency in industry.

Development and Application of a Numerical Framework for Improving Building Foundation Heat Transfer Calculations

Science.gov (United States)

Kruis, Nathanael J. F.

Heat transfer from building foundations varies significantly in all three spatial dimensions and has important dynamic effects at all timescales, from one hour to several years. With the additional consideration of moisture transport, ground freezing, evapotranspiration, and other physical phenomena, the estimation of foundation heat transfer becomes increasingly sophisticated and computationally intensive to the point where accuracy must be compromised for reasonable computation time. The tools currently available to calculate foundation heat transfer are often either too limited in their capabilities to draw meaningful conclusions or too sophisticated to use in common practices. This work presents Kiva, a new foundation heat transfer computational framework. Kiva provides a flexible environment for testing different numerical schemes, initialization methods, spatial and temporal discretizations, and geometric approximations. Comparisons within this framework provide insight into the balance of computation speed and accuracy relative to highly detailed reference solutions. The accuracy and computational performance of six finite difference numerical schemes are verified against established IEA BESTEST test cases for slab-on-grade heat conduction. Of the schemes tested, the Alternating Direction Implicit (ADI) scheme demonstrates the best balance between accuracy, performance, and numerical stability. Kiva features four approaches of initializing soil temperatures for an annual simulation. A new accelerated initialization approach is shown to significantly reduce the required years of presimulation. Methods of approximating three-dimensional heat transfer within a representative two-dimensional context further improve computational performance. A new approximation called the boundary layer adjustment method is shown to improve accuracy over other established methods with a negligible increase in computation time. This method accounts for the reduced heat transfer

An improved permanent magnet quadrupole design with larger good field region for high intensity proton linacs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mathew, Jose V., E-mail: josev.mathew@gmail.com; Rao, S.V.L.S.; Krishnagopal, S.; Singh, P.

2013-11-01

The Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA), being developed at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) will produce a 20 MeV, 30 mA, continuous wave (CW) proton beam. At these low velocities, space-charge forces dominate, and could lead to larger beam sizes and beam halos. Hence in the design of the focusing lattice of the LEHIPA drift tube linac (DTL) using permanent magnet quadrupoles (PMQs), a larger good field region is preferred. Here we study, using the two dimensional (2D) and three dimensional (3D) simulation codes PANDIRA and RADIA, four different types of cylindrical PMQ designs: 16-segment trapezoidal Halbach configuration, bullet-nosed geometry and 8- and 16-segment rectangular geometries. The trapezoidal Halbach geometry is used in a variety of accelerators since it provides very high field gradients in small bores, while the bullet-nosed geometry, which is a combination of the trapezoidal and rectangular designs, is used in some DTLs. This study shows that a larger good field region is possible in the 16-segment rectangular design as compared to the Halbach and bullet-nosed designs, making it more attractive for high-intensity proton linacs. An improvement in good-field region by ∼16% over the Halbach design is obtained in the optimized 16-segment rectangular design, although the field gradient is lower by ∼20%. Tolerance studies show that the rectangular segment PMQ design is substantially less sensitive to the easy axis orientation errors and hence will be a better choice for DTLs. -- Highlights: • An improved permanent magnet quadrupole (PMQ) design with larger good field region is proposed. • We investigate four PMQ designs, including the widely used Halbach and bullet nosed designs. • Analytical calculations are backed by 2D as well as 3D numerical solvers, PANDIRA and RADIA. • The optimized 16 segment rectangular PMQ design is identified to exhibit the largest good field region. • The effect of easy axis orientation

An improved permanent magnet quadrupole design with larger good field region for high intensity proton linacs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mathew, Jose V.; Rao, S.V.L.S.; Krishnagopal, S.; Singh, P.

2013-01-01

The Low Energy High Intensity Proton Accelerator (LEHIPA), being developed at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) will produce a 20 MeV, 30 mA, continuous wave (CW) proton beam. At these low velocities, space-charge forces dominate, and could lead to larger beam sizes and beam halos. Hence in the design of the focusing lattice of the LEHIPA drift tube linac (DTL) using permanent magnet quadrupoles (PMQs), a larger good field region is preferred. Here we study, using the two dimensional (2D) and three dimensional (3D) simulation codes PANDIRA and RADIA, four different types of cylindrical PMQ designs: 16-segment trapezoidal Halbach configuration, bullet-nosed geometry and 8- and 16-segment rectangular geometries. The trapezoidal Halbach geometry is used in a variety of accelerators since it provides very high field gradients in small bores, while the bullet-nosed geometry, which is a combination of the trapezoidal and rectangular designs, is used in some DTLs. This study shows that a larger good field region is possible in the 16-segment rectangular design as compared to the Halbach and bullet-nosed designs, making it more attractive for high-intensity proton linacs. An improvement in good-field region by ∼16% over the Halbach design is obtained in the optimized 16-segment rectangular design, although the field gradient is lower by ∼20%. Tolerance studies show that the rectangular segment PMQ design is substantially less sensitive to the easy axis orientation errors and hence will be a better choice for DTLs. -- Highlights: • An improved permanent magnet quadrupole (PMQ) design with larger good field region is proposed. • We investigate four PMQ designs, including the widely used Halbach and bullet nosed designs. • Analytical calculations are backed by 2D as well as 3D numerical solvers, PANDIRA and RADIA. • The optimized 16 segment rectangular PMQ design is identified to exhibit the largest good field region. • The effect of easy axis orientation

Disk brake design for cooling improvement using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Munisamy, Kannan M; Shafik, Ramel

2013-01-01

The car disk brake design is improved with two different blade designs compared to the baseline blade design. The two designs were simulated in Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to obtain heat transfer properties such as Nusselt number and Heat transfer coefficient. The heat transfer property is compared against the baseline design. The improved shape has the highest heat transfer performance. The curved design is inferior to baseline design in heat transfer performance.

Disk brake design for cooling improvement using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Science.gov (United States)

Munisamy, Kannan M.; Shafik, Ramel

2013-06-01

The car disk brake design is improved with two different blade designs compared to the baseline blade design. The two designs were simulated in Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to obtain heat transfer properties such as Nusselt number and Heat transfer coefficient. The heat transfer property is compared against the baseline design. The improved shape has the highest heat transfer performance. The curved design is inferior to baseline design in heat transfer performance.

On the impact of communication complexity in the design of parallel numerical algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Gannon, D.; Vanrosendale, J.

1984-01-01

This paper describes two models of the cost of data movement in parallel numerical algorithms. One model is a generalization of an approach due to Hockney, and is suitable for shared memory multiprocessors where each processor has vector capabilities. The other model is applicable to highly parallel nonshared memory MIMD systems. In the second model, algorithm performance is characterized in terms of the communication network design. Techniques used in VLSI complexity theory are also brought in, and algorithm independent upper bounds on system performance are derived for several problems that are important to scientific computation.

Numerical methods on flow instabilities in steam generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshikawa, Ryuji; Hamada, Hirotsugu; Ohshima, Hiroyuki; Yanagisawa, Hideki

2008-06-01

The phenomenon of two-phase flow instability is important for the design and operation of many industrial systems and equipment, such as steam generators. The designer's job is to predict the threshold of flow instability in order to design around it or compensate for it. So it is essential to understand the physical phenomena governing such instability and to develop computational tools to model the dynamics of boiling systems. In Japan Atomic Energy Agency, investigations on heat transfer characteristics of steam generator are being performed for the development of Sodium-cooled Fast Breeder Reactor. As one part of the research work, the evaluations of two-phase flow instability in the steam generator are being carried out experimentally and numerically. In this report, the numerical methods were studied for two-phase flow instability analysis in steam generator. For numerical simulation purpose, the special algorithm to calculate inlet flow rate iteratively with inlet pressure and outlet pressure as boundary conditions for the density-wave instability analysis was established. There was no need to solve property derivatives and large matrices, so the spurious numerical instabilities caused by discontinuous property derivatives at boiling boundaries were avoided. Large time-step was possible. The flow instability in single heat transfer tube was successfully simulated with homogeneous equilibrium model by using the present algorithm. Then the drift-flux model including the effects of subcooled boiling and two phase slip was adopted to improve the accuracy. The computer code was developed after selecting the correlations of drift velocity and distribution parameter. The capability of drift flux model together with the present algorithm for simulating density-wave instability in single tube was confirmed. (author)

Software Design Improvements. Part 2; Software Quality and the Design and Inspection Process

Science.gov (United States)

Lalli, Vincent R.; Packard, Michael H.; Ziemianski, Tom

1997-01-01

The application of assurance engineering techniques improves the duration of failure-free performance of software. The totality of features and characteristics of a software product are what determine its ability to satisfy customer needs. Software in safety-critical systems is very important to NASA. We follow the System Safety Working Groups definition for system safety software as: 'The optimization of system safety in the design, development, use and maintenance of software and its integration with safety-critical systems in an operational environment. 'If it is not safe, say so' has become our motto. This paper goes over methods that have been used by NASA to make software design improvements by focusing on software quality and the design and inspection process.

Using AIRS retrievals in the WRF-LETKF system to improve regional numerical weather prediction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takemasa Miyoshi

2012-09-01

Full Text Available In addition to conventional observations, atmospheric temperature and humidity profile data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS Version 5 retrieval products are assimilated into the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF model, using the local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF. Although a naive assimilation of all available quality-controlled AIRS retrieval data yields an inferior analysis, the additional enhancements of adaptive inflation and horizontal data thinning result in a general improvement of numerical weather prediction skill due to AIRS data. In particular, the adaptive inflation method is enhanced so that it no longer assumes temporal homogeneity of the observing network and allows for a better treatment of the temporally inhomogeneous AIRS data. Results indicate that the improvements due to AIRS data are more significant in longer-lead forecasts. Forecasts of Typhoons Sinlaku and Jangmi in September 2008 show improvements due to AIRS data.

Effect of design improvements on ALARA exposures in PHWRs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nair, S.N.; Mohandas, P.V.; Gupta, Ashok; Hussain, S.A.

2000-01-01

Design improvements in Indian PHWRs over last thirty years have remarkably reduced the occupational and public exposures. Some of the radiologically offending systems were altogether changed, equipment was judiciously relocated and at component level reduction in number and improvement in quality was carried out. As a result the collective occupational exposures could be brought down by a factor of about 4-5 and average public exposure by a factor of about 10. Since the design improvements are continuous ongoing processes further reduction in exposure will be definitely brought in the coming years. (author)

Improved StrongARM latch comparator: Design, analysis and performance evaluation

KAUST Repository

Almansouri, Abdullah Saud Mohammed

2017-07-13

This paper presents an improved StrongARM latch comparator, designed and simulated in 90nm and 32nm CMOS technologies. The proposed design provides an improvement of 7% in energy efficiency, 14% in speed and an average reduction of 41% in the clock feedthrough, compared to the conventional design. The new architecture also minimizes the area by reducing the required transistors needed for the enhanced performance.

Water Curtain System Pre-design for Crude Oil Storage URCs : A Numerical Modeling and Genetic Programming Approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ghotbi Ravandi, Ebrahim; Rahmannejad, Reza; Karimi-Nasab, Saeed; Sarrafi, Amir; Raoof, Amir

In this paper the main criteria of the water curtain system for unlined rock caverns (URCs) is described. By the application of numerical modeling and genetic programming (GP), a method for water curtain system pre-design for Iranian crude oil storage URCs (common dimension worldwide) is presented.

An Improved Macro Model of Traffic Flow with the Consideration of Ramps and Numerical Tests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhongke Shi

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We present an improved macro model for traffic flow based on the existing models. The equilibrium point equation of the model is obtained. The stop-and-go traffic phenomenon is described in phase plane and the relationship between traffic jams and system instability is clearly shown in the phase plane diagrams. Using the improved model, some traffic phenomena on a highway with ramps are found in this paper. The numerical simulation is carried out to investigate various nonlinear traffic phenomena with a single ramp generated by different initial densities and vehicle generation rates. According to the actual road sections of Xi’an-Baoji highways, the situations of morning peak with several ramps are also analyzed. All these results are consistent with real traffic, which shows that the improved model is reasonable.

Numerical analysis

CERN Document Server

Scott, L Ridgway

2011-01-01

Computational science is fundamentally changing how technological questions are addressed. The design of aircraft, automobiles, and even racing sailboats is now done by computational simulation. The mathematical foundation of this new approach is numerical analysis, which studies algorithms for computing expressions defined with real numbers. Emphasizing the theory behind the computation, this book provides a rigorous and self-contained introduction to numerical analysis and presents the advanced mathematics that underpin industrial software, including complete details that are missing from most textbooks. Using an inquiry-based learning approach, Numerical Analysis is written in a narrative style, provides historical background, and includes many of the proofs and technical details in exercises. Students will be able to go beyond an elementary understanding of numerical simulation and develop deep insights into the foundations of the subject. They will no longer have to accept the mathematical gaps that ex...

Numerical Modelling of Induction Heating for a Molten Salts Pyrochemical Process

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vu, Xuan-Tuyen; Feraud, Jean-Pierre; Ode, Denis [CEA Marcoule: DTEC/SGCS/LGCI Bat. 57 B17171, 30207 Bagnols/Ceze (France); Du Terrail Couvat, Yves [SIMaP, Grenoble INP, CNRS: ENSEEG, BP 75, 38402 Saint Martin d' Heres Cedex (France)

2008-07-01

Technological developments in the pyro-chemistry program are required to allow choices for a reprocessing experiment on 100 g of spent nuclear fuel. In this context, a special device must be designed for the solid/gas reaction phases followed by actinide extraction and stripping in molten salt. This paper discusses a modelling approach for designing an induction furnace. Using this numerical approach is a good way to improve thermal performance of the device in terms of magnetic/thermal coupling phenomena. The influence of current frequency is also studied to give another view of the possibilities of an induction furnace. Electromagnetic forces are taken into account in a computational fluid dynamics code derived from a specifically developed exchange library. Induction heating systems are an example of a typical multi-physics problem involving numerically coupled equations. (authors)

Numerical Modelling of Induction Heating for a Molten Salts Pyrochemical Process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vu, Xuan-Tuyen; Feraud, Jean-Pierre; Ode, Denis; Du Terrail Couvat, Yves

2008-01-01

Technological developments in the pyro-chemistry program are required to allow choices for a reprocessing experiment on 100 g of spent nuclear fuel. In this context, a special device must be designed for the solid/gas reaction phases followed by actinide extraction and stripping in molten salt. This paper discusses a modelling approach for designing an induction furnace. Using this numerical approach is a good way to improve thermal performance of the device in terms of magnetic/thermal coupling phenomena. The influence of current frequency is also studied to give another view of the possibilities of an induction furnace. Electromagnetic forces are taken into account in a computational fluid dynamics code derived from a specifically developed exchange library. Induction heating systems are an example of a typical multi-physics problem involving numerically coupled equations. (authors)

Instrumentation and control of future sodium cooled fast reactors - Design improvements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Madhusoodanan, K.; Sakthivel, M.; Chellapandi, P.

2013-06-01

India's fast reactor program started with the 40 MWt Fast Breeder Test Reactor. 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is currently under construction at Kalpakkam. Safety of PFBR is enhanced by improved design features of I and C system. Since the design of Instrumentation and control (I and C) of PFBR, considerable improvements in terms of advancement in technology and indigenization has taken place. Further improvements in I and C is proposed for solving many of the difficulties faced during the design and construction phases of PFBR. Design improvements proposed are covered in this paper which will make the implementation and maintenance of I and C of future SFRs easier. (authors)

Numerical study and design optimization of electromagnetic energy harvesters integrated with flexible magnetic materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yoon, Sang Won [Hanyang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2017-05-15

This study presents a new design of an electromagnetic energy harvester integrated with a soft magnetic material. The harvester design optimizes the magnetic material characteristics and the size of a rectangular permanent magnet. The design employs a complete magnetic circuit made of (1) a thin-film soft magnetic material that facilitates a flexible but highly (magnetically) permeable beam and (2) an optimally-sized magnet that maximizes the harvester performance. The design is demonstrated to reduce magnetic flux leakage, and thus considerably enhances both magnetic flux density (B) and its change by time (dB/dt), which both influence harvester performance. The improvement in harvester performances strongly depends on critical design parameters, especially, the magnet size and characteristics of magnetic materials, including permeability, stiffness, and thickness. The analyses conclude that recently-introduced nanomaterials (having ultrahigh magnetic permeability) can potentially innovate harvester performances. However, the performance may be degraded without design optimization. Once optimized, the integrated nanomaterials facilitate a significant improvement compared with a conventional design without integrated magnetic materials.

Numerical study and design optimization of electromagnetic energy harvesters integrated with flexible magnetic materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoon, Sang Won

2017-01-01

This study presents a new design of an electromagnetic energy harvester integrated with a soft magnetic material. The harvester design optimizes the magnetic material characteristics and the size of a rectangular permanent magnet. The design employs a complete magnetic circuit made of (1) a thin-film soft magnetic material that facilitates a flexible but highly (magnetically) permeable beam and (2) an optimally-sized magnet that maximizes the harvester performance. The design is demonstrated to reduce magnetic flux leakage, and thus considerably enhances both magnetic flux density (B) and its change by time (dB/dt), which both influence harvester performance. The improvement in harvester performances strongly depends on critical design parameters, especially, the magnet size and characteristics of magnetic materials, including permeability, stiffness, and thickness. The analyses conclude that recently-introduced nanomaterials (having ultrahigh magnetic permeability) can potentially innovate harvester performances. However, the performance may be degraded without design optimization. Once optimized, the integrated nanomaterials facilitate a significant improvement compared with a conventional design without integrated magnetic materials.

Improvement for the design of packed moving bed adsorption column

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiao Wei

2014-01-01

The problems needed to pay attention to in the physical design of packed moving bed adsorption column were presented. The design of key parts such as the inlet and outlet of liquid phase and gas phase were improved. The expected effect was achieved by the improvement. (author)

A study on design improvement of the emergency core cooling system for a nuclear ship reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naruko, Yoshinori

1982-01-01

ECCS performances are predicted for the N.S. ''MUTSU'' Reactor using new computing techniques. The actual performances are found to be inadequate with regard to the total injection flow rate and the infection head of the High Pressure Injection System (HPIS). The actual Safety Injection (SI) Signal is also shown to be inoperative in a gas phase LOCA. Because of this fact, the ECCS has been improved by replacing the existing HPIS with two large high pressure pumps and by adding ''Reactor Pressure Low-Low'' and ''Containment Pressure High'' signals. This report deals with a numerical study of the dynamical behavior of the N.S. MUTSU Reactor in the postulated small break LOCA, which has been calculated to verify the design improvement by evaluating the new ECCS performances on the basis of RELAP4/MOD6/SUS and TOODEE2/SUS codes. In conclusion, the improved system performs satisfactorily in the whole range of gas phase breaks and in the small break range of liquid phase LOCA. (author)

A numerical model for design and optimization of surface textures for tilting pad thrust bearings

OpenAIRE

Gropper, Daniel; Harvey, Terence; Wang, Ling

2018-01-01

A numerical model based on the Reynolds equation to study textured tilting pad thrust bearings considering mass-conserving cavitation and thermal effects is presented. A non-uniform and adaptive finite volume method is utilized and two methods are compared and selected regarding their efficiency in handling discontinuities; specifically placing additional nodes closely around discontinuities and directly incorporating discontinuities in the discrete system. Multithreading is applied to improv...

Numerical analysis of the performance of rock weirs: Effects of structure configuration on local hydraulics

Science.gov (United States)

Holmquist-Johnson, C. L.

2009-01-01

River spanning rock structures are being constructed for water delivery as well as to enable fish passage at barriers and provide or improve the aquatic habitat for endangered fish species. Current design methods are based upon anecdotal information applicable to a narrow range of channel conditions. The complex flow patterns and performance of rock weirs is not well understood. Without accurate understanding of their hydraulics, designers cannot address the failure mechanisms of these structures. Flow characteristics such as jets, near bed velocities, recirculation, eddies, and plunging flow govern scour pool development. These detailed flow patterns can be replicated using a 3D numerical model. Numerical studies inexpensively simulate a large number of cases resulting in an increased range of applicability in order to develop design tools and predictive capability for analysis and design. The analysis and results of the numerical modeling, laboratory modeling, and field data provide a process-based method for understanding how structure geometry affects flow characteristics, scour development, fish passage, water delivery, and overall structure stability. Results of the numerical modeling allow designers to utilize results of the analysis to determine the appropriate geometry for generating desirable flow parameters. The end product of this research will develop tools and guidelines for more robust structure design or retrofits based upon predictable engineering and hydraulic performance criteria. ?? 2009 ASCE.

MITG post-test analysis and design improvements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schock, A.

1983-01-01

The design, performance analysis, and key attributes of the Modular Isotopic Thermoelectric Generator (MITG) were described in a 1981 IECEC paper; and the design, fabrication, and testing of prototypical MITG test assemblies were described in preceding papers in these proceedings. Each test assembly simulated a typical modular slice of the flight generator. The present paper describes a detailed thermal-stress analysis, which identified the causes of stress-related problems observed during the tests. It then describes how additional analyses were used to evaluate design changes to alleviate those problems. Additional design improvements are discussed in the next paper in these proceedings, which also describes revised fabrication procedures and updated performance estimates for the generator

Numerical simulation of two-phase flow around flatwater competition kayak design-evolution models.

Science.gov (United States)

Mantha, Vishveshwar R; Silva, António J; Marinho, Daniel A; Rouboa, Abel I

2013-06-01

The aim of the current study was to analyze the hydrodynamics of three kayaks: 97-kg-class, single-rower, flatwater sports competition, full-scale design evolution models (Nelo K1 Vanquish LI, LII, and LIII) of M.A.R. Kayaks Lda., Portugal, which are among the fastest frontline kayaks. The effect of kayak design transformation on kayak hydrodynamics performance was studied by the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The steady-state CFD simulations where performed by application of the k-omega turbulent model and the volume-of-fluid method to obtain two-phase flow around the kayaks. The numerical result of viscous, pressure drag, and coefficients along with wave drag at individual average race velocities was obtained. At an average velocity of 4.5 m/s, the reduction in drag was 29.4% for the design change from LI to LII and 15.4% for the change from LII to LIII, thus demonstrating and reaffirming a progressive evolution in design. In addition, the knowledge of drag hydrodynamics presented in the current study facilitates the estimation of the paddling effort required from the athlete during progression at different race velocities. This study finds an application during selection and training, where a coach can select the kayak with better hydrodynamics.

Numerical design and test on an assembled structure of a bolted joint with viscoelastic damping

Science.gov (United States)

Hammami, Chaima; Balmes, Etienne; Guskov, Mikhail

2016-03-01

Mechanical assemblies are subjected to many dynamic loads and modifications are often needed to achieve acceptable vibration levels. While modifications on mass and stiffness are well mastered, damping modifications are still considered difficult to design. The paper presents a case study on the design of a bolted connection containing a viscoelastic damping layer. The notion of junction coupling level is introduced to ensure that sufficient energy is present in the joints to allow damping. Static performance is then addressed and it is shown that localization of metallic contact can be used to meet objectives, while allowing the presence of viscoelastic materials. Numerical prediction of damping then illustrates difficulties in optimizing for robustness. Modal test results of three configurations of an assembled structure, inspired by aeronautic fuselages, are then compared to analyze the performance of the design. While validity of the approach is confirmed, the effect of geometric imperfections is shown and stresses the need for robust design.

Feed-pump hydraulic performance and design improvement, Phase I: research program design. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brown, W.H.; Gopalakrishnan, S.; Fehlau, R.; Thompson, W.E.; Wilson, D.G.

1982-03-01

As a result of prior EPRI-sponsored studies, it was concluded that a research program should be designed and implemented to provide an improved basis for the design, procurement, testing, and operation of large feed pumps with increased reliability and stability over the full range of operating conditions. This two-volume report contains a research plan which is based on a review of the present state of the art and which defines the necessary R and D program and estimates the benefits and costs of the program. The recommended research program consists of 30 interrelated tasks. It is designed to perform the needed research; to verify the results; to develop improved components; and to publish computer-aided design methods, pump specification guidelines, and a troubleshooting manual. Most of the technology proposed in the research plan is applicable to nuclear power plants as well as to fossil-fired plants. This volume discusses the design, performance and failures of feed pumps, and recommendations for research on pump dynamics, design, and specifications.

Teaching Improvement Model Designed with DEA Method and Management Matrix

Science.gov (United States)

Montoneri, Bernard

2014-01-01

This study uses student evaluation of teachers to design a teaching improvement matrix based on teaching efficiency and performance by combining management matrix and data envelopment analysis. This matrix is designed to formulate suggestions to improve teaching. The research sample consists of 42 classes of freshmen following a course of English…

Displacement-Based Seismic Design Procedure for Framed Buildings with Dissipative Braces Part II: Numerical Results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mazza, Fabio; Vulcano, Alfonso

2008-01-01

For a widespread application of dissipative braces to protect framed buildings against seismic loads, practical and reliable design procedures are needed. In this paper a design procedure based on the Direct Displacement-Based Design approach is adopted, assuming the elastic lateral storey-stiffness of the damped braces proportional to that of the unbraced frame. To check the effectiveness of the design procedure, presented in an associate paper, a six-storey reinforced concrete plane frame, representative of a medium-rise symmetric framed building, is considered as primary test structure; this structure, designed in a medium-risk region, is supposed to be retrofitted as in a high-risk region, by insertion of diagonal braces equipped with hysteretic dampers. A numerical investigation is carried out to study the nonlinear static and dynamic responses of the primary and the damped braced test structures, using step-by-step procedures described in the associate paper mentioned above; the behaviour of frame members and hysteretic dampers is idealized by bilinear models. Real and artificial accelerograms, matching EC8 response spectrum for a medium soil class, are considered for dynamic analyses

Numerical Study of Condensation Heat Exchanger Design in a Cooling jacket: Correlation Investigation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Myoung Jun; Lee, Hee Joon; Kang, Han Ok; Lee, Tae Ho; Park, Cheon Tae

2013-01-01

In this study, condensing heat transfer correlation of TSCON is evaluated with the existing experimental data set to design condensation heat exchanger without noncondensable gas effect (pure steam condensation) in a cooling jacket. From the investigation of the existing condensation heat transfer correlation to the existing experimental data, the improved Shah's correlation showed most satisfactory result for the condensation heat transfer coefficient with experimental data of Khun in a cooling jacket, whereas the Shah's correlation with experimental data of Lee. Lee et al. reported the improved Shah correlation gave us the best predictor for the condensation heat transfer data of Kim and Henderson in a subcooled and saturated water pool. They suggested the improved Shah correlation should be adopted as condensation heat transfer module in TSCON(Thermal Sizing of CONdenser) to design condensation heat exchanger in secondary passive cooling system of nuclear plant

Numerical integration methods and layout improvements in the context of dynamic RNA visualization.

Science.gov (United States)

Shabash, Boris; Wiese, Kay C

2017-05-30

RNA visualization software tools have traditionally presented a static visualization of RNA molecules with limited ability for users to interact with the resulting image once it is complete. Only a few tools allowed for dynamic structures. One such tool is jViz.RNA. Currently, jViz.RNA employs a unique method for the creation of the RNA molecule layout by mapping the RNA nucleotides into vertexes in a graph, which we call the detailed graph, and then utilizes a Newtonian mechanics inspired system of forces to calculate a layout for the RNA molecule. The work presented here focuses on improvements to jViz.RNA that allow the drawing of RNA secondary structures according to common drawing conventions, as well as dramatic run-time performance improvements. This is done first by presenting an alternative method for mapping the RNA molecule into a graph, which we call the compressed graph, and then employing advanced numerical integration methods for the compressed graph representation. Comparing the compressed graph and detailed graph implementations, we find that the compressed graph produces results more consistent with RNA drawing conventions. However, we also find that employing the compressed graph method requires a more sophisticated initial layout to produce visualizations that would require minimal user interference. Comparing the two numerical integration methods demonstrates the higher stability of the Backward Euler method, and its resulting ability to handle much larger time steps, a high priority feature for any software which entails user interaction. The work in this manuscript presents the preferred use of compressed graphs to detailed ones, as well as the advantages of employing the Backward Euler method over the Forward Euler method. These improvements produce more stable as well as visually aesthetic representations of the RNA secondary structures. The results presented demonstrate that both the compressed graph representation, as well as the Backward

Stress concentrations in keyways and optimization of keyway design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Niels Leergaard

2010-01-01

Keys and keyways are one of the most common shaft–hub connections. Despite this fact very little numerical analysis has been reported. The design is often regulated by standards that are almost half a century old, and most results reported in the literature are based on experimental photoelastic...... analysis. The present paper shows how numerical finite element (FE) analysis can improve the prediction of stress concentration in the keyway. Using shape optimization and the simple super elliptical shape, it is shown that the fatigue life of a keyway can be greatly improved with up to a 50 per cent...... reduction in the maximum stress level. The design changes are simple and therefore practical to realize with only two active design parameters....

Design basis programs and improvements in plant operation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Metcalf, M.F.

1991-01-01

Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE and G) Company operates three commercial nuclear power plants in southern New Jersey. The three plants are of different designs and vintages (two pressurized water reactors licensed in 1976 and 1980 and one boiling water reactor licensed in 1986). As the industry recognized the need to develop design basis programs, PSE and G also realized the need after a voluntary 52-day shutdown of one unit because of electrical design basis problems. In its drive to be a premier electric utility, PSE and G has been aggressively active in developing design basis documents (DBDs) with supporting projects and refined uses to obtain the expected value and see the return on investment. Progress on Salem is nearly 75% complete, while Hope Creek is 20% complete. To data, PSE and G has experienced success in the use of DBDs in areas such as development of plant modifications, development of the reliability-centered maintenance program, procedure upgrades, improved document retrieval, resolution of regulatory issues, and training. The paper examines the design basis development process, supporting projects, and expected improvements in plant operations as a result of these efforts

New or improved computational methods and advanced reactor design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakagawa, Masayuki; Takeda, Toshikazu; Ushio, Tadashi

1997-01-01

Nuclear computational method has been studied continuously up to date, as a fundamental technology supporting the nuclear development. At present, research on computational method according to new theory and the calculating method thought to be difficult to practise are also continued actively to find new development due to splendid improvement of features of computer. In Japan, many light water type reactors are now in operations, new computational methods are induced for nuclear design, and a lot of efforts are concentrated for intending to more improvement of economics and safety. In this paper, some new research results on the nuclear computational methods and their application to nuclear design of the reactor were described for introducing recent trend of the nuclear design of the reactor. 1) Advancement of the computational method, 2) Reactor core design and management of the light water reactor, and 3) Nuclear design of the fast reactor. (G.K.)

Characterization of BPM pickup designs for the HESR rate at FAIR using simulations and numerical calculations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Halama, Arthur; Kamerdzhiev, Vsevolod; Boehme, Christian; Srinivasan, Sudharsan [Forschungszentrum Juelich, IKP-4 (Germany)

2016-07-01

The institute of Nuclear Physics 4(IKP-4) of the Research Center Juelich (FZJ) is in charge of building and commissioning the High Energy Storage Ring (HESR) within the international Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) at Darmstadt. Simulations and numerical calculations were performed to characterize the initial beam position pickup design. Capacitive couplings of the electrodes and the behavior of the electrical equivalent circuit were investigated. This made room for changes to the design and performance increase. A prototype of the BPM pickup was constructed and tested on a dedicated test bench. Preliminary results will be presented. In order to gain higher signal levels and higher sensitivity, another suggested design was characterized as well and put into comparison.

Grad-Shafranov reconstruction: overview and improvement of the numerical solution used in space physics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ojeda Gonzalez, A.; Domingues, M.O.; Mendes, O., E-mail: ojeda.gonzalez.a@gmail.com [Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), Sao Jose dos Campos, SP (Brazil); Kaibara, M.K. [Universidade Federal Fluminense (GMA/IME/UFF), Niteroi, RJ (Brazil); Prestes, A. [Universidade do Vale do Paraiba (IP and D/UNIVAP), Sao Jose dos Campos, SP (Brazil). Lab. de Fisica e Astronomia

2015-10-15

The Grad-Shafranov equation is a Poisson's equation, i.e., a partial differential equation of elliptic type. The problem is depending on the initial condition and can be treated as a Cauchy problem. Although it is ill-posed or ill-conditioned, it can be integrated numerically. In the integration of the GS equation, singularities with large values of the potential arise after a certain number of integration steps away from the original data line, and a filter should be used. The Grad-Shafranov reconstruction (GSR) technique was developed from 1996 to 2000 for recovering two-dimensional structures in the magnetopause in an ideal MHD formulation. Other works have used the GSR techniques to study magnetic flux ropes in the solar wind and in the magnetotail from a single spacecraft dataset; posteriorly, it was extended to treat measurements from multiple satellites. From Vlasov equation, it is possible to arrive at the GS-equation in function of the normalized vector potential. A general solution is obtained using complex variable theory. A specific solution was chosen as benchmark case to solve numerically the GS equation.We propose some changes in the resolution scheme of the GS equation to improve the solution. The result of each method is compared with the solution proposed by Hau and Sonnerup (J. Geophys. Res. 104(A4), 6899-6917 (1999)). The main improvement found in the GS resolution was the need to filter Bx values at each y value. (author)

Design of launch systems using continuous improvement process

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Richard W.

1995-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to identify a systematic process for improving ground operations for future launch systems. This approach is based on the Total Quality Management (TQM) continuous improvement process. While the continuous improvement process is normally identified with making incremental changes to an existing system, it can be used on new systems if they use past experience as a knowledge base. In the case of the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), the Space Shuttle operations provide many lessons. The TQM methodology used for this paper will be borrowed from the United States Air Force 'Quality Air Force' Program. There is a general overview of the continuous improvement process, with concentration on the formulation phase. During this phase critical analyses are conducted to determine the strategy and goals for the remaining development process. These analyses include analyzing the mission from the customers point of view, developing an operations concept for the future, assessing current capabilities and determining the gap to be closed between current capabilities and future needs and requirements. A brief analyses of the RLV, relative to the Space Shuttle, will be used to illustrate the concept. Using the continuous improvement design concept has many advantages. These include a customer oriented process which will develop a more marketable product and a better integration of operations and systems during the design phase. But, the use of TQM techniques will require changes, including more discipline in the design process and more emphasis on data gathering for operational systems. The benefits will far outweigh the additional effort.

Design and optimization of wing tips for wind turbines. Final report; Design og optimering af vingetipper for vindmoeller. Slutrapport

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soerensen, J.N.; Shen, W.Z.; Zhu, W.J.; Borbye, J.; Okulov, V.L.; Mikkelsen, R. (DTU Mekanik, Kgs. Lyngby (Denmark)); Gaunaa, M.; Rethore, P.-E.; Soerensen, N.N. (Danmarks Tekniske Univ. Risoe DTU, Afd. for Vindenergi, Roskilde (Denmark))

2011-03-15

The aim of the project was to suggest and analyse new shapes of wing tips for wind turbines to optimize their performance. Several simple wing tips and their flow topology were analysed, and the impact of different design variables was determined in order to establish which design has the best effect for the performance. For the numerical flow calculations, primarily the Navier-Stokes code EllipSys was used. As a supplement to the viscous Navier-Stokes calculations, in-viscous calculations were made using a lifting-line theory. This is a simple technique to determine the load distribution along the wing tip in those cases where viscous effects can be neglected. A large part of the project has focused on improving accuracy of the lifting-line method. Besides forming the basis for improved tip configurations, the calculations were also used to improve the so-called tip correction. Based on the numerical results from CFD calculations an improved tip correction was developed. (ln)

Analytical and numerical investigation on a new compact thermoelectric generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ming, Tingzhen; Yang, Wei; Huang, Xiaoming; Wu, Yongjia; Li, Xiaohua; Liu, Jun

2017-01-01

Highlights: • The mathematical model of maximum efficiency of TEG is deduced. • A new design method of compact TEG is presented. • The dimensional optimization of TEG is presented. • Comparison on the overall performance of three different TEGs is presented. - Abstract: In order to improve the performance and maximize the efficiency of energy conversion of thermoelectric generator (TEG), a mathematical model to predict the maximum energy conversion efficiency of TEG is developed. Then, a new compact thermoelectric generator (C-TEG) and a dimensional optimized TEG (DO-TEG) are proposed in this article. The compact thermoelectric generator is designed via logical intersection angle selection and layout, thus to improve the electric performance per unit volume. Finally, we compared the output electric performance of C-TEG and traditional thermoelectric generator (T-TEG) and that of DO-TEG under design and off-design conditions via numerical simulations. The results indicate that C-TEG has an excellent electric performance whose voltage, power, and efficiency decrease slightly whereas the output voltage, work, and efficiency compared with that of T-TEG have been significantly improved, with the amplitude increasing with the increase of resistant value of external loads.

NUMERICAL MODELLING AND EXPERIMENTAL INFLATION VALIDATION OF A BIAS TWO-WHEEL TIRE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CHUNG KET THEIN

2016-02-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a parametric study on the development of a computational model for bias two-wheel tire through finite element analysis (FEA. An 80/90- 17 bias two-wheel tire was adopted which made up of four major layers of rubber compound with different material properties to strengthen the structure. Mooney-Rivlin hyperelastic model was applied to represent the behaviour of incompressible rubber compound. A 3D tire model was built for structural static finite element analysis. The result was validated from the inflation analysis. Structural static finite element analysis method is suitable for evaluation of the tire design and improvement of the tire behaviour to desired performance. Experimental tire was inflated at various pressures and the geometry between numerical and experimental tire were compared. There are good agreements between numerical simulation model and the experiment results. This indicates that the simulation model can be applied to the bias two-wheel tire design in order to predict the tire behaviour and improve its mechanical characteristics.

Reliability-Based Design Optimization of Trusses with Linked-Discrete Design Variables using the Improved Firefly Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. M. Okasha

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, an approach for conducting a Reliability-Based Design Optimization (RBDO of truss structures with linked-discrete design variables is proposed. The sections of the truss members are selected from the AISC standard tables and thus the design variables that represent the properties of each section are linked. Latin hypercube sampling is used in the evaluation of the structural reliability. The improved firefly algorithm is used for the optimization solution process. It was found that in order to use the improved firefly algorithm for efficiently solving problems of reliability-based design optimization with linked-discrete design variables; it needs to be modified as proposed in this paper to accelerate its convergence.

Numerical investigation of the performance of three hinge designs of bileaflet mechanical heart valves.

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Hélène A; Ge, Liang; Sotiropoulos, Fotis; Yoganathan, Ajit P

2010-11-01

Thromboembolic complications (TECs) of bileaflet mechanical heart valves (BMHVs) are believed to be due to the nonphysiologic mechanical stresses imposed on blood elements by the hinge flows. Relating hinge flow features to design features is, therefore, essential to ultimately design BMHVs with lower TEC rates. This study aims at simulating the pulsatile three-dimensional hinge flows of three BMHVs and estimating the TEC potential associated with each hinge design. Hinge geometries are constructed from micro-computed tomography scans of BMHVs. Simulations are conducted using a Cartesian sharp-interface immersed-boundary methodology combined with a second-order accurate fractional-step method. Leaflet motion and flow boundary conditions are extracted from fluid-structure-interaction simulations of BMHV bulk flow. The numerical results are analyzed using a particle-tracking approach coupled with existing blood damage models. The gap width and, more importantly, the shape of the recess and leaflet are found to impact the flow distribution and TEC potential. Smooth, streamlined surfaces appear to be more favorable than sharp corners or sudden shape transitions. The developed framework will enable pragmatic and cost-efficient preclinical evaluation of BMHV prototypes prior to valve manufacturing. Application to a wide range of hinges with varying design parameters will eventually help in determining the optimal hinge design.

Improvement of numerical simulation methods on safety assessment of the spent fuel storage facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-08-15

Improvement of numerical simulation methods on safety assessment of the spent fuel storage facility is one of main objectives of JNES activities. For the thermal and structural analyses, the radiative heat transfer analysis code S-FOKS has been developed to reduce computing time and to avoid using large memory area. In order to simulate the specular reflection, a new model (called 'model-2') is planned to install to S-FOKS code. The theoretical values with the specular reflection in simple geometry were lead to verify S-FOKS model-2. (author)

Application of Numerical Integration and Data Fusion in Unit Vector Method

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, J.

2012-01-01

The Unit Vector Method (UVM) is a series of orbit determination methods which are designed by Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) and have been applied extensively. It gets the conditional equations for different kinds of data by projecting the basic equation to different unit vectors, and it suits for weighted process for different kinds of data. The high-precision data can play a major role in orbit determination, and accuracy of orbit determination is improved obviously. The improved UVM (PUVM2) promoted the UVM from initial orbit determination to orbit improvement, and unified the initial orbit determination and orbit improvement dynamically. The precision and efficiency are improved further. In this thesis, further research work has been done based on the UVM: Firstly, for the improvement of methods and techniques for observation, the types and decision of the observational data are improved substantially, it is also asked to improve the decision of orbit determination. The analytical perturbation can not meet the requirement. So, the numerical integration for calculating the perturbation has been introduced into the UVM. The accuracy of dynamical model suits for the accuracy of the real data, and the condition equations of UVM are modified accordingly. The accuracy of orbit determination is improved further. Secondly, data fusion method has been introduced into the UVM. The convergence mechanism and the defect of weighted strategy have been made clear in original UVM. The problem has been solved in this method, the calculation of approximate state transition matrix is simplified and the weighted strategy has been improved for the data with different dimension and different precision. Results of orbit determination of simulation and real data show that the work of this thesis is effective: (1) After the numerical integration has been introduced into the UVM, the accuracy of orbit determination is improved obviously, and it suits for the high-accuracy data of

Numerical Study of Condensation Heat Exchanger Design in a Cooling jacket: Correlation Investigation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Myoung Jun; Lee, Hee Joon [Kookmin Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kang, Han Ok; Lee, Tae Ho; Park, Cheon Tae [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2013-10-15

In this study, condensing heat transfer correlation of TSCON is evaluated with the existing experimental data set to design condensation heat exchanger without noncondensable gas effect (pure steam condensation) in a cooling jacket. From the investigation of the existing condensation heat transfer correlation to the existing experimental data, the improved Shah's correlation showed most satisfactory result for the condensation heat transfer coefficient with experimental data of Khun in a cooling jacket, whereas the Shah's correlation with experimental data of Lee. Lee et al. reported the improved Shah correlation gave us the best predictor for the condensation heat transfer data of Kim and Henderson in a subcooled and saturated water pool. They suggested the improved Shah correlation should be adopted as condensation heat transfer module in TSCON(Thermal Sizing of CONdenser) to design condensation heat exchanger in secondary passive cooling system of nuclear plant.

Residents' numeric inputting error in computerized physician order entry prescription.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Xue; Wu, Changxu; Zhang, Kan; Wei, Dong

2016-04-01

Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system with embedded clinical decision support (CDS) can significantly reduce certain types of prescription error. However, prescription errors still occur. Various factors such as the numeric inputting methods in human computer interaction (HCI) produce different error rates and types, but has received relatively little attention. This study aimed to examine the effects of numeric inputting methods and urgency levels on numeric inputting errors of prescription, as well as categorize the types of errors. Thirty residents participated in four prescribing tasks in which two factors were manipulated: numeric inputting methods (numeric row in the main keyboard vs. numeric keypad) and urgency levels (urgent situation vs. non-urgent situation). Multiple aspects of participants' prescribing behavior were measured in sober prescribing situations. The results revealed that in urgent situations, participants were prone to make mistakes when using the numeric row in the main keyboard. With control of performance in the sober prescribing situation, the effects of the input methods disappeared, and urgency was found to play a significant role in the generalized linear model. Most errors were either omission or substitution types, but the proportion of transposition and intrusion error types were significantly higher than that of the previous research. Among numbers 3, 8, and 9, which were the less common digits used in prescription, the error rate was higher, which was a great risk to patient safety. Urgency played a more important role in CPOE numeric typing error-making than typing skills and typing habits. It was recommended that inputting with the numeric keypad had lower error rates in urgent situation. An alternative design could consider increasing the sensitivity of the keys with lower frequency of occurrence and decimals. To improve the usability of CPOE, numeric keyboard design and error detection could benefit from spatial

Numerical prediction of cavitating flow around a hydrofoil using pans and improved shear stress transport k-omega model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhang De-Sheng

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The prediction accuracies of partially-averaged Navier-Stokes model and improved shear stress transport k-ω turbulence model for simulating the unsteady cavitating flow around the hydrofoil were discussed in this paper. Numerical results show that the two turbulence models can effectively reproduce the cavitation evolution process. The numerical prediction for the cycle time of cavitation inception, development, detachment, and collapse agrees well with the experimental data. It is found that the vortex pair induced by the interaction between the re-entrant jet and mainstream is responsible for the instability of the cavitation shedding flow.

Numerical methods to calculate solar radiation, validation through a new Graphic User Interface design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mesri, Mokhtaria

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Rare measuring networks in the developing world due to technical and fiscal reasons. • Insufficient attention is paid regarding to tools for solar energy systems design. • The new interface offers solutions to the insisting need for innovative decisions. • Comprehensive comparative studies are conducted using experimental measurements. • Results are with attractive margins of error in accordance with experimental data. - Abstract: The present paper is basically devoted to the estimation of solar radiation in order to provide data on the situation of solar applications in a given site; it also aims at contributing to the performance improvement of solar energy systems. I aim to show and evaluate the performance of the most appropriate models used to recover solar components at ground level, via confronting meteorological techniques to selected semi empirical methods. I have adopted an innovative approach to testing the theory through numerical simulation by providing a friendly user ergonomic Graphic User Interface ‘GUI’, carefully designed and that principally makes use of a large range of models for the calculation of solar components. In this article I may consider three numerical models namely: Lacis and Hansen, Atwater and Ball and Lui and Jordon, which are used here to elucidate the performance of such methods facing meteorological models such as those of Angstrom, Garg and Coppolino. I debate the advantages of these latest methods, and I argue that they are of big importance because the main variable that is used is sunshine duration. Some of them involve the water content in the atmosphere, a particularly important parameter which strongly absorbs solar radiation in the infrared region. They are also perfectly suited for locations where solar irradiance is not being measured by all hydrometeorological stations, and where only meteorological data are collected. I want to complete this paper by demonstrating the efficiency of the

Using design rationale to improve SPL traceability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Galvao, I.; Aksit, Mehmet; van den Broek, P.M.; Hendriks, M.F.H.; Rashid, Awais; Royer, Jean-Claude; Rummler, Andreas

In order to improve SPL traceability by using design rationale, this chapter introduces the traceability analysis framework (TAF), which, when combined with the AMPLE Traceability Framework, provides extra traceability capabilities for variability management. The TAF is a programmable and extensible

Numerical Modelling of Rayleigh Wave Propagation in Course of Rapid Impulse Compaction

Science.gov (United States)

Herbut, Aneta; Rybak, Jarosław

2017-10-01

As the soil improvement technologies are the area of a rapid development, they require designing and implementing novel methods of control and calibration in order to ensure the safety of geotechnical works. At Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (Poland), these new methods are continually developed with the aim to provide the appropriate tools for the preliminary design of work process, as well as for the further ongoing on-site control of geotechnical works (steel sheet piling, pile driving or soil improvement technologies). The studies include preliminary numerical simulations and field tests concerning measurements and continuous histogram recording of shocks and vibrations and its ground-born dynamic impact on engineering structures. The impact of vibrations on reinforced concrete and masonry structures in the close proximity of the construction site may be destroying in both architectural and structural meaning. Those limits are juxtaposed in codes of practice, but always need an individual judgment. The results and observations make it possible to delineate specific modifications to the parameters of technology applied (e.g. hammer drop height). On the basis of numerous case studies of practical applications, already summarized and published, we were able to formulate the guidelines for work on the aforementioned sites. This work presents specific aspects of the active design (calibration of building site numerical model) by means of technology calibration, using the investigation of the impact of vibrations that occur during the Impulse Compaction on adjacent structures. A case study entails the impact of construction works on Rayleigh wave propagation in the zone of 100 m (radius) around the Compactor.

An improved numerical approximation for the first derivative

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Administrator

The traditional numerical computation of the first derivative f ′(x) of a given function f (x) of a single argument ... includes the option of user-provided analytic deriva- tives, but its ...... will be in the near future, and back to the present. The macro ...

Numerical prediction and performance experiment in a deep-well centrifugal pump with different impeller outlet width

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Weidong; Zhou, Ling; Lu, Weigang; Pei, Bing; Lang, Tao

2013-01-01

The existing research of the deep-well centrifugal pump mainly focuses on reduce the manufacturing cost and improve the pump performance, and how to combine above two aspects together is the most difficult and important topic. In this study, the performances of the deep-well centrifugal pump with four different impeller outlet widths are studied by the numerical, theoretical and experimental methods in this paper. Two stages deep-well centrifugal pump equipped with different impellers are simulated employing the commercial CFD software to solve the Navier-Stokes equations for three-dimensional incompressible steady flow. The sensitivity analyses of the grid size and turbulence model have been performed to improve numerical accuracy. The flow field distributions are acquired and compared under the design operating conditions, including the static pressure, turbulence kinetic energy and velocity. The prototype is manufactured and tested to certify the numerical predicted performance. The numerical results of pump performance are higher than the test results, but their change trends have an acceptable agreement with each other. The performance results indicted that the oversize impeller outlet width leads to poor pump performances and increasing shaft power. Changing the performance of deep-well centrifugal pump by alter impeller outlet width is practicable and convenient, which is worth popularizing in the engineering application. The proposed research enhances the theoretical basis of pump design to improve the performance and reduce the manufacturing cost of deep-well centrifugal pump.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation: Improved coil design for deep brain investigation

Science.gov (United States)

Crowther, L. J.; Marketos, P.; Williams, P. I.; Melikhov, Y.; Jiles, D. C.; Starzewski, J. H.

2011-04-01

This paper reports on a design for a coil for transcranial magnetic stimulation. The design shows potential for improving the penetration depth of the magnetic field, allowing stimulation of subcortical structures within the brain. The magnetic and induced electric fields in the human head have been calculated with finite element electromagnetic modeling software and compared with empirical measurements. Results show that the coil design used gives improved penetration depth, but also indicates the likelihood of stimulation of additional tissue resulting from the spatial distribution of the magnetic field.

Numerical studies of active current profile control in the reversed-field pinch

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahlin, J-E; Scheffel, J; Anderson, J K

2007-01-01

Quenching of the reversed-field pinch (RFP) dynamo is observed in numerical simulations using current profile control. A novel algorithm employing active feedback of the dynamo field has been utilized. The quasi-steady state achieved represents an important improvement as compared with earlier numerical work and may indicate a direction for the design of future experiments. Both earlier and the novel schemes of feedback control result in quasi-single helicity states. The energy confinement time and poloidal beta are observed to be substantially increased, as compared with the conventional RFP, in both the cases. Different techniques for experimental implementation are discussed

Numerical optimization of Combined Heat and Power Organic Rankine Cycles – Part A: Design optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martelli, Emanuele; Capra, Federico; Consonni, Stefano

2015-01-01

This two-part paper proposes an approach based on state-of-the-art numerical optimization methods for simultaneously determining the most profitable design and part-load operation of Combined Heat and Power Organic Rankine Cycles. Compared to the usual design practice, the important advantages of the proposed approach are (i) to consider the part-load performance of the ORC at the design stage, (ii) to optimize not only the cycle variables, but also the main turbine design variables (number of stages, stage loads, rotational speed). In this first part (Part A), the design model and the optimization algorithm are presented and tested on a real-world test case. PGS-COM, a recently proposed hybrid derivative-free algorithm, allows to efficiently tackle the challenging non-smooth black-box problem. - Highlights: • Algorithm for the simultaneous optimization Organic Rakine Cycle and turbine. • Thermodynamic and economic models of boiler, cycle, turbine are developed. • Non-smooth black-box optimization problem is successfully tackled with PGS-COM. • Test cases show that the algorithm returns optimal solutions within 4 min. • Toluene outperforms MDM (a siloxane) in terms of efficiency and costs.

Enhancement of pressurizer safety valve operability by seating design improvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moisidis, N.T.; Ratiu, M.D.

1994-01-01

Operating conditions specific to Pressurizer Safety Valves (PSVs) have led to numerous problems and have caused industry and NRC concerns regarding the adequacy of spring loaded self-actuated safety valves for Reactor Coolant System (RCS) overpressure protection. Specific concerns are: setpoint drift, spurious actuations and leakage. Based on testing and valve construction analysis of a Crosby model 6M6 PSV, it was established that the primary contributor to the valve problems is a susceptibility to weak seating. To eliminate spring instability, a new spring washer was designed, which guides the spring and precludes its rotation from the reference installed position. Results of tests performed on a prototype PSV equipped with the modified upper spring washer has shown significant improvements in valve operability and a consistent setpoint reproducibility to less than ±1% of the PSV setpoint (testing of baseline, unmodified valve, resulted in a setpoint drift of ±2%). Enhanced valve operability will result in a significant decrease in operating and maintenance costs associated with valve maintenance and testing. In addition, the enhanced setpoint reproducibility will allow the development of a nitrogen to steam correlation for future in-house PSV testing which will result in further reductions in costs associated with valve testing

Optimization and Numerical Simulation of Outlet of Twin Screw Extruder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhang Yuan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In view of the unreasonable design of non-intermeshing counter-rotating twin screw extruder die, the problem of productivity reduction was discussed. Firstly, the mathematical model of extruder productivity was established. The extruder die model was improved. Secondly, the force analysis of twin screw extruder physical model was carried out. Meanwhile, A combination of mechanical analysis and numerical simulation was adopted. The velocity field, pressure field and viscosity field were calculated by Mini-Element interpolation method, linear interpolation method and Picard iterative convergence method respectively. The influence of die model on the quantity of each field before and after improvement was analyzed. The results show that the improved model had increased the rheological parameters of the flow field, the leakage and reverse flow decreased. Through post-processing calculation, the productivity of the third dies extruder was 10% higher than before. The research results provide a theoretical basis for the design and optimization of die model of non intermeshing counter-rotating twin screw extruder.

Using instructional design process to improve design and development of Internet interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Hilgart, Michelle M; Ritterband, Lee M; Thorndike, Frances P; Kinzie, Mable B

2012-06-28

Given the wide reach and extensive capabilities of the Internet, it is increasingly being used to deliver comprehensive behavioral and mental health intervention and prevention programs. Their goals are to change user behavior, reduce unwanted complications or symptoms, and improve health status and health-related quality of life. Internet interventions have been found efficacious in addressing a wide range of behavioral and mental health problems, including insomnia, nicotine dependence, obesity, diabetes, depression, and anxiety. Despite the existence of many Internet-based interventions, there is little research to inform their design and development. A model for behavior change in Internet interventions has been published to help guide future Internet intervention development and to help predict and explain behavior changes and symptom improvement outcomes through the use of Internet interventions. An argument is made for grounding the development of Internet interventions within a scientific framework. To that end, the model highlights a multitude of design-related components, areas, and elements, including user characteristics, environment, intervention content, level of intervention support, and targeted outcomes. However, more discussion is needed regarding how the design of the program should be developed to address these issues. While there is little research on the design and development of Internet interventions, there is a rich, related literature in the field of instructional design (ID) that can be used to inform Internet intervention development. ID models are prescriptive models that describe a set of activities involved in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of instructional programs. Using ID process models has been shown to increase the effectiveness of learning programs in a broad range of contexts. ID models specify a systematic method for assessing the needs of learners (intervention users) to determine the gaps between current

Finite Element Analysis Design of a Split Rotor Bracket for a Bulb Turbine Generator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yongyao Luo

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The rotor bracket is a key component of the generator rotor with cracks in the rotor bracket leading to rubbing between the rotor and stator, which threatens safe operation of the unit. The rotor rim is so complicated that the equivalent radial stiffness of rim was determined by numerical simulation other than engineering experience. A comprehensive numerical method including finite element analyses and the contact method for multibody dynamics has been used to design the split rotor bracket. The com-putational results showed that cracks would occur in the initial design of the bracket when the turbine operated at the runaway speed, and the bracket design should be improved. The improved design of the bracket was strong enough to avoid cracks and rub between the rotor and stator. This design experience will help improve the design of split rotor brackets for bulb turbine generators.

Ratchetting in PWR: on use of numerical simulations to reduce the conservatism of design rules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geyer, P.; Meziere, Y.; Taheri, S.

1996-01-01

The French design Code (RCC-M Code) for pressurised water nuclear power plants includes criteria with regard to the risk of progressive deformation. With the new operating conditions, some components no longer check this criteria. Therefore, R and D actions were initiated in 1991 by EDF, CEA and FRAMATOME with the aim of putting forward more suitable design criteria that the present rules, which seem to be too conservative. In the two first parts, this paper presents the RCC-M design rules with regard to the risk progressive deformation, the components that don't check the criteria, and the alternative solutions proposed by FRAMATOME. In the two last parts, we focus on one R and D study to show the theoretical and experimental ways used to solve the problem. Numerical simulations become necessary to model experimental results. But constitutive equations for cyclic plasticity derived from Chaboche model appear inadequate to get accurate predictions. (authors)

Reactor numerical simulation and hydraulic test research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, L. S.

2009-01-01

In recent years, the computer hardware was improved on the numerical simulation on flow field in the reactor. In our laboratory, we usually use the Pro/e or UG commercial software. After completed topology geometry, ICEM-CFD is used to get mesh for computation. Exact geometrical similarity is maintained between the main flow paths of the model and the prototype, with the exception of the core simulation design of the fuel assemblies. The drive line system is composed of drive mechanism, guide bush assembly, fuel assembly and control rod assembly, and fitted with the rod level indicator and drive mechanism power device

A symbolic methodology to improve disassembly process design.

Science.gov (United States)

Rios, Pedro; Blyler, Leslie; Tieman, Lisa; Stuart, Julie Ann; Grant, Ed

2003-12-01

Millions of end-of-life electronic components are retired annually due to the proliferation of new models and their rapid obsolescence. The recovery of resources such as plastics from these goods requires their disassembly. The time required for each disassembly and its associated cost is defined by the operator's familiarity with the product design and its complexity. Since model proliferation serves to complicate an operator's learning curve, it is worthwhile to investigate the benefits to be gained in a disassembly operator's preplanning process. Effective disassembly process design demands the application of green engineering principles, such as those developed by Anastas and Zimmerman (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2003, 37, 94A-101A), which include regard for product complexity, structural commonality, separation energy, material value, and waste prevention. This paper introduces the concept of design symbolsto help the operator more efficiently survey product complexity with respect to location and number of fasteners to remove a structure that is common to all electronics: the housing. With a sample of 71 different computers, printers, and monitors, we demonstrate that appropriate symbols reduce the total disassembly planning time by 13.2 min. Such an improvement could well make efficient the separation of plastic that would otherwise be destined for waste-to-energy or landfill. The symbolic methodology presented may also improve Design for Recycling and Design for Maintenance and Support.

High performance hydraulic design techniques of mixed-flow pump impeller and diffuser

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Sung; Lee, Kyoung Yong; Kim, Joon Hyung; Kim, Jin Hyuk; Jung, Uk Hee; Choi, Young Seok

2015-01-01

In this paper, we describe a numerical study about the performance improvement of a mixed-flow pump by optimizing the design of the impeller and diffuser using a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code and design-of-experiments (DOE). The design variables of impeller and diffuser in the vane plane development were defined with a fixed meridional plane. The design variables were defined by the vane plane development, which indicates the blade-angle distributions and length of the impeller and diffuser. The vane plane development was controlled using the blade-angle in a fixed meridional plane. The blade shape of the impeller and diffuser were designed using a traditional method in which the inlet and exit angles are connected smoothly. First, the impeller optimum design was performed with impeller design variables. The diffuser optimum design was performed with diffuser design variables while the optimally designed impeller shape was fixed. The importance of the impeller and diffuser design variables was analyzed using 2 k factorial designs, and the design optimization of the impeller and diffuser design variables was determined using the response surface method (RSM). The objective functions were defined as the total head (Ht) and the total efficiency (ηt) at the design flow rate. The optimally designed model was verified using numerical analysis, and the numerical analysis results for both the optimum model and the reference model were compared to determine the reasons for the improved pump performance. A pump performance test was carried out for the optimum model, and its reliability was proved by a comparative analysis of the results of the numerical analysis and an experiment using the optimum model.

Design, implementation and licensing of improvement measures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rousset, P.

2000-01-01

Modifications are designed to contribute to improve the level of safety, and the level of performance of the plants. The successful implementation of a modification depends on the quality of the design and particularly the good fitting of the modification in the existing design, on the perfect consistency of the licensing approach and on the good management of the project constraints and interfaces. Over the last ten years, FRAMATOME has accumulated a large and varied experience in these activities, as shown in the few examples briefly described in the presentation. Within the Mochovce completion project, FRAMATOME has been in charge of the basic design or implementation of about twenty safety measures. This involved establishing efficient partnerships with design organizations and suppliers in the Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, and Russia. A similar approach is used in the frame of the Kozloduy 5-6 modernization program, where the basic engineering contract is conducted since 1998 and the main contract under discussion. From the very beginning of the TACIS program FRAMATOME has been involved in projects dealing with the design of reactor safety systems. For example, an extensive work aiming at developing a methodology for accident analysis in VVER reactor was initiated in 1993, in collaboration with Siemens, Kurchatov Institute and OKB Gidropress. This methodology was recently used successfully in a new project with the objective to evaluate the possible modification of reactor protection signals of some Russian reactors. Within the PHARE program, a complete analysis of the primary to secondary leakage risk was conducted for Paks nuclear power plant. This involved the writing and validation of the relevant emergency procedure, specification of the leak detection system, study of an improved design of the collector cover, and recommendation of some systems modifications. A last example is the study of the modifications of main steam lines performed in the frame

Numerical simulation methodologies for design and development of Diffuser-Augmented Wind Turbines – analysis and comparison

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michał Lipian

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Different numerical computation methods used to develop a methodology for fast, efficient, reliable design and comparison of Diffuser-Augmented Wind Turbine (DAWT geometries are presented. The demand for such methods is evident, following the multitude of geometrical parameters that influence the flow character through ducted turbines. The results of the Actuator Disk Model (ADM simulations will be confronted with a simulation method of higher order of accuracy, i.e. the 3D Fully-resolved Rotor Model (FRM in the rotor design point. Both will be checked for consistency with the experimental results measured in the wind tunnel at the Institute of Turbo-machinery (IMP, Lodz University of Technology (TUL. An attempt to find an efficient method (with a compromise between accuracy and design time for the flow analysis pertinent to the DAWT is a novel approach presented in this paper.

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of S-CO2 Critical Flow for SFR Recovery System Design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Min Seok; Jung, Hwa-Young; Ahn, Yoonhan; Lee, Jekyoung; Lee, Jeong Ik

2016-01-01

This paper presents both numerical and experimental studies of the critical flow of S-CO 2 while special attention is given to the turbo-machinery seal design. A computational critical flow model is described first. The experiments were conducted to validate the critical flow model. Various conditions have been tested to study the flow characteristic and provide validation data for the model. The comparison of numerical and experimental results of S-CO 2 critical flow will be presented. In order to eliminate SWR, a concept of coupling the Supercritical CO 2 (S-CO 2 ) cycle with SFR has been proposed. It is known that for a closed system controlling the inventory is important for stable operation and achieving high efficiency. Since the S-CO 2 power cycle is a highly pressurized system, certain amount of leakage flow is inevitable in the rotating turbo-machinery via seals. To simulate the CO 2 leak flow in a turbo-machinery with higher accuracy in the future, the real gas effect and friction factor will be considered for the CO 2 critical flow model. Moreover, experimentally obtained temperature data were somewhat different from the numerically obtained temperature due to the insufficient insulation and large thermal inertia of the CO 2 critical flow facility. Insulation in connecting pipes and the low-pressure tank will be added and additional tests will be conducted

Characteristics and design improvement of AP1000 automatic depressurization system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jin Fei

2012-01-01

Automatic depressurization system, as a specialty of AP1000 Design, enhances capability of mitigating design basis accidents for plant. Advancement of the system is discussed by comparing with traditional PWR design and analyzing system functions, such as depressurizing and venting. System design improvement during China Project performance is also described. At the end, suggestions for the system in China Project are listed. (author)

Class-E Amplifier Design Improvements for GSM Frequencies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Nadir

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Efficient power amplifiers are essential in portable battery-operated systems such as mobile phones. Also, the power amplifier (PA is the most power-consuming building block in the transmitter of a portable system. This paper investigates how the efficiency of the power amplifier (which is beneficial for multiple applications in communcation sector can be improved by increasing the efficiency of switching mode class E power amplifiers for frequencies of 900 MHz and 1800 MHz. The paper tackles modeling, design improvements and verification through simulation for higher efficiencies. This is the continuation of previous work by the authors. These nonlinear power amplifiers can only amplify constant-envelope RF signals without introducing significant distortion. Mobile systems such as Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS and Global System for Mobile communications (GSM use modulation schemes which generate constant amplitude RF outputs in order to use efficient but nonlinear power amplifiers. Improvements in designs are suggested and higher efficiencies are achieved, to the tune of 67.1% (for 900 MHz and 67.0% (1800 MHz.

Numerical analysis of bifurcations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guckenheimer, J.

1996-01-01

This paper is a brief survey of numerical methods for computing bifurcations of generic families of dynamical systems. Emphasis is placed upon algorithms that reflect the structure of the underlying mathematical theory while retaining numerical efficiency. Significant improvements in the computational analysis of dynamical systems are to be expected from more reliance of geometric insight coming from dynamical systems theory. copyright 1996 American Institute of Physics

Improving Battery Reactor Core Design Using Optimization Method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Son, Hyung M.; Suh, Kune Y.

2011-01-01

The Battery Omnibus Reactor Integral System (BORIS) is a small modular fast reactor being designed at Seoul National University to satisfy various energy demands, to maintain inherent safety by liquid-metal coolant lead for natural circulation heat transport, and to improve power conversion efficiency with the Modular Optimal Balance Integral System (MOBIS) using the supercritical carbon dioxide as working fluid. This study is focused on developing the Neutronics Optimized Reactor Analysis (NORA) method that can quickly generate conceptual design of a battery reactor core by means of first principle calculations, which is part of the optimization process for reactor assembly design of BORIS

Some approaches to system reliability improvement in engineering design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen, Kecheng.

1990-01-01

In this thesis some approaches to system reliability improvement in engineering design are studied. In particular, the thesis aims at developing alternative methodologies for ranking of component importance which are more related to the design practice and which are more useful in system synthesis than the existing ones. It also aims at developing component reliability models by means of stress-strength interference which will enable both component reliability prediction and design for reliability. A new methodology for ranking of component importance is first developed based on the notion of the increase of the expected system yield. This methodology allows for incorporation of different improvement actions at the component level such as parallel redundancy, standby redundancy, burn-in, minimal repair and perfect replacement. For each of these improvement actions, the increase of system reliability is studied and used as the component importance measure. A possible connection between the commonly known models of component lifetimes and the stress-strength interference models is suggested. Under some general conditions the relationship between component failure rate and the stress and strength distribution characteristics is studied. A heuristic approach for obtaining bounds on failure probability through stress-strength interference is also presented. A case study and a worked example are presented, which illustrate and verify the developed importance measures and their applications in the analytical as well as synthetical work of engineering design. (author)

A framework for designing and improving learning environments fostering creativity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Norio Ishii

Full Text Available This paper proposes a framework for designing and improving learning environment for creativity in engineering. The framework consists of the following three components: instructional design based on knowledge from psychology, development of systems for supporting creative activities, and objective evaluation of learning results related to creativity. Based on that framework, we design and practice course based in the programation of a robot at a Japan University in the 2004 academic year. As a result, we confirm the following two advantages of our framework: learners' idea generation skills were improved and their meta-cognitive activities were also activated. In the 2005 academic year, we improve the course based on 2004 results. As a result, we confirm that the number of uploads of activity data from students have increased in the 2005 course, students' reflection sheets have become more detailed, and their volume of information have also increased.

Progress of Design Improvements for APR1400 Computerized Procedure System from HFE V and V results and Design Experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sungjin; Seong, Nokyu

2015-01-01

This study shows major already improved design features from the above three processes and a design proposal for to-be-improving items. APR1400 CPS has been verified and validated by the HFE process, internal design review and site acceptance tests. APR1400 Computerized Procedure System (CPS) has been applied to Shin-Kori Nuclear Power Plant (SKN) 3 and 4 units, Shin-Hanul Nuclear Power Plant (SHN) 1 and 2 units and Baraka Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) 1, 2, 3 and 4 units. Since APR1400 CPS is a first-of-a-kind (FOAK) human machine interface (HMI) for executing a computerized procedure in the nuclear power plant's main control room in South Korea, it has been continuously improved through a) the human factor engineering (HFE) verification and validation (V and V), b) the internal design review and c) prototype tests. Human engineering discrepancies (HEDs) can be identified by the HFE V and V activity. Some HEDs of APR1400 CPS for SKN 3 and 4 and SHN 1 and 2 have been adopted as a role of design improvement in the CPS system while others were regarded as an operator training requirement or part of task contents. Various requests for improving the CPS have been collected from those results. A HMI system should be improved continuously for removing potential defects. Some of introduced design features in this paper has been adopted for APR1400 nuclear power plants. Some of them are under the review in the CPS design team of KHNP

Visualization Design Environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pomplun, A.R.; Templet, G.J.; Jortner, J.N.; Friesen, J.A.; Schwegel, J.; Hughes, K.R.

1999-02-01

Improvements in the performance and capabilities of computer software and hardware system, combined with advances in Internet technologies, have spurred innovative developments in the area of modeling, simulation and visualization. These developments combine to make it possible to create an environment where engineers can design, prototype, analyze, and visualize components in virtual space, saving the time and expenses incurred during numerous design and prototyping iterations. The Visualization Design Centers located at Sandia National Laboratories are facilities built specifically to promote the ''design by team'' concept. This report focuses on designing, developing and deploying this environment by detailing the design of the facility, software infrastructure and hardware systems that comprise this new visualization design environment and describes case studies that document successful application of this environment.

Numerical modelling techniques of soft soil improvement via stone columns: A brief review

Science.gov (United States)

Zukri, Azhani; Nazir, Ramli

2018-04-01

There are a number of numerical studies on stone column systems in the literature. Most of the studies found were involved with two-dimensional analysis of the stone column behaviour, while only a few studies used three-dimensional analysis. The most popular software utilised in those studies was Plaxis 2D and 3D. Other types of software that used for numerical analysis are DIANA, EXAMINE, ZSoil, ABAQUS, ANSYS, NISA, GEOSTUDIO, CRISP, TOCHNOG, CESAR, GEOFEM (2D & 3D), FLAC, and FLAC 3. This paper will review the methodological approaches to model stone column numerically, both in two-dimensional and three-dimensional analyses. The numerical techniques and suitable constitutive model used in the studies will also be discussed. In addition, the validation methods conducted were to verify the numerical analysis conducted will be presented. This review paper also serves as a guide for junior engineers through the applicable procedures and considerations when constructing and running a two or three-dimensional numerical analysis while also citing numerous relevant references.

Development of Pelton turbine using numerical simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patel, K; Patel, B; Yadav, M; Foggia, T

2010-01-01

This paper describes recent research and development activities in the field of Pelton turbine design. Flow inside Pelton turbine is most complex due to multiphase (mixture of air and water) and free surface in nature. Numerical calculation is useful to understand flow physics as well as effect of geometry on flow. The optimized design is obtained using in-house special optimization loop. Either single phase or two phase unsteady numerical calculation could be performed. Numerical results are used to visualize the flow pattern in the water passage and to predict performance of Pelton turbine at full load as well as at part load. Model tests are conducted to determine performance of turbine and it shows good agreement with numerically predicted performance.

Development of Pelton turbine using numerical simulation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patel, K; Patel, B; Yadav, M [Hydraulic Engineer, ALSTOM Hydro R and D India Ltd., GIDC Maneja, Vadodara - 390 013, Gujarat (India); Foggia, T, E-mail: patel@power.alstom.co [Hydraulic Engineer, Alstom Hydro France, Etablissement de Grenoble, 82, avenue Leon Blum BP 75, 38041 Grenoble Cedex (France)

2010-08-15

This paper describes recent research and development activities in the field of Pelton turbine design. Flow inside Pelton turbine is most complex due to multiphase (mixture of air and water) and free surface in nature. Numerical calculation is useful to understand flow physics as well as effect of geometry on flow. The optimized design is obtained using in-house special optimization loop. Either single phase or two phase unsteady numerical calculation could be performed. Numerical results are used to visualize the flow pattern in the water passage and to predict performance of Pelton turbine at full load as well as at part load. Model tests are conducted to determine performance of turbine and it shows good agreement with numerically predicted performance.

Development of Pelton turbine using numerical simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, K.; Patel, B.; Yadav, M.; Foggia, T.

2010-08-01

This paper describes recent research and development activities in the field of Pelton turbine design. Flow inside Pelton turbine is most complex due to multiphase (mixture of air and water) and free surface in nature. Numerical calculation is useful to understand flow physics as well as effect of geometry on flow. The optimized design is obtained using in-house special optimization loop. Either single phase or two phase unsteady numerical calculation could be performed. Numerical results are used to visualize the flow pattern in the water passage and to predict performance of Pelton turbine at full load as well as at part load. Model tests are conducted to determine performance of turbine and it shows good agreement with numerically predicted performance.

Numerical Modeling of Piezoelectric Transducers Using Physical Parameters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cappon, H.; Keesman, K.J.

2012-01-01

Design of ultrasonic equipment is frequently facilitated with numerical models. These numerical models, however, need a calibration step, because usually not all characteristics of the materials used are known. Characterization of material properties combined with numerical simulations and

Improvement of layout and piping design for PWR nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nozue, Kosei; Waki, Masato; Kashima, Hiroo; Yoshioka, Tsuyoshi; Obara, Ichiro.

1983-01-01

For a nuclear power plant, a period of nearly ten years is required from the initial planning stage to commencement of transmission after passing through the design, manufacturing, installation and trial running stages. In the current climate there is a trend that the time required for nuclear power plant construction will further increase when locational problems, thorough explanation to residents in the neighborhood of the construction site and their under-standing, subsequent safety checks and measures to be taken in compliance with various controls and regulations which get tighter year after year, are taken into account. Under such circumstances, in order to satisfy requirements such as improving the reliability of the nuclear power plant design, manufacturing and construction departments, improvements in the economy as well as the quality and shortening of construction periods, the design structure for Mitsubishi PWR nuclear power plants was thoroughly consolidated with regard to layout and piping design. At the same time, diversified design improvements were made with the excellent domestic technology based on plant designs imported from the U.S.A. An outline of the priority items is introduced in this paper. (author)

DESIGN OF AN IMPROVED ION CHAMBER FOR THE SNS.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

WITKOVER,R.L.; GASSNER,D.

2002-05-06

Ion chambers are in common use as beam loss monitors at many accelerators. A unit designed and used at FNAL and later at BNL was proposed for the SNS. Concerns about the ion collection times and low collection efficiency at high loss rates led to improvements to this unit and the design of an alternate chamber with better characteristics. Prototypes have been tested with pulsed beams. The design and test results for both detectors will be presented.

Enhancement of pressurizer safety valve operability by seating design improvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moisidis, N.T.; Ratiu, M.D.

1995-01-01

Operating conditions specific to pressurizer safety valves (PSVs) have led to numerous problems and have caused industry and NRC concerns regarding the adequacy of spring-loaded self-actuated safety valves for reactor coolant system (RCS) overpressure protection. Specific concerns are: setpoint drift, spurious actuations, and pressure protection. Specific concerns are: setpoint drift, spurious actuations, and leakage. Based on testing and valve construction analysis of a Crosby model 6M6 PSV (Moisidis and Ratiu, 1992), it was established that the primary contributor to the valve problems is a susceptibility to weak seating. To eliminate spring instability, a new spring washer was designed, which guides the spring and precludes its rotation from the reference installed position. Results of tests performed on a prototype PSV equipped with the modified upper spring washer has shown significant improvements in valve operability and a consistent setpoint reproducibility to less than ±1% of the PSV setpoint (testing of baseline, unmodified valve, resulted in a setpoint drift of ± 2%). Enhanced valve operability will result in a significant decrease in operating and maintenance costs associated with valve maintenance and testing. In addition, the enhanced setpoint reproducibility will allow the development of a nitrogen to steam correlation for future in-house PSV testing which will result in further reductions in costs associated with valve testing

Numerical linear algebra with applications using Matlab

CERN Document Server

Ford, William

2014-01-01

Designed for those who want to gain a practical knowledge of modern computational techniques for the numerical solution of linear algebra problems, Numerical Linear Algebra with Applications contains all the material necessary for a first year graduate or advanced undergraduate course on numerical linear algebra with numerous applications to engineering and science. With a unified presentation of computation, basic algorithm analysis, and numerical methods to compute solutions, this book is ideal for solving real-world problems. It provides necessary mathematical background information for

Machine learning paradigms in design optimization: Applications in turbine aerodynamic design

Science.gov (United States)

Goel, Sanjay

observed as indicated by an improvement in the truss quality, where the latter is defined as the weighted sum of the truss weight and the design constraint violations. The thesis describes the basic concept and architecture of the new scheme, and the results obtained by applying this technique to solve the optimization problem. The classifiers based optimization scheme is also applied to a complex aerodynamic optimization problem with multidisciplinary constraints. In this investigation, the 3D geometry of an airfoil is optimized by simultaneously optimizing multiple 2D slices of the airfoil. To automate this problem an optimization formulation, which simulates the human design process has been devised. In the formulation, numerical algorithms are used to approximate the numerous criteria which constitute the visual perspective of the designer in evaluating the airfoil. Also, design variables across multiple airfoil sections are constrained by polynomial fits which allow a smooth 3D variation of geometry during design changes. Results from the optimization of a low pressure turbine nozzle and bucket using this approach have been presented in the thesis. Results obtained using standard numerical optimization techniques are also presented to show a comparison of the two techniques.

Experimental validation of a numerical 3-D finite model applied to wind turbines design under vibration constraints: TREVISE platform

Science.gov (United States)

Sellami, Takwa; Jelassi, Sana; Darcherif, Abdel Moumen; Berriri, Hanen; Mimouni, Med Faouzi

2018-04-01

With the advancement of wind turbines towards complex structures, the requirement of trusty structural models has become more apparent. Hence, the vibration characteristics of the wind turbine components, like the blades and the tower, have to be extracted under vibration constraints. Although extracting the modal properties of blades is a simple task, calculating precise modal data for the whole wind turbine coupled to its tower/foundation is still a perplexing task. In this framework, this paper focuses on the investigation of the structural modeling approach of modern commercial micro-turbines. Thus, the structural model a complex designed wind turbine, which is Rutland 504, is established based on both experimental and numerical methods. A three-dimensional (3-D) numerical model of the structure was set up based on the finite volume method (FVM) using the academic finite element analysis software ANSYS. To validate the created model, experimental vibration tests were carried out using the vibration test system of TREVISE platform at ECAM-EPMI. The tests were based on the experimental modal analysis (EMA) technique, which is one of the most efficient techniques for identifying structures parameters. Indeed, the poles and residues of the frequency response functions (FRF), between input and output spectra, were calculated to extract the mode shapes and the natural frequencies of the structure. Based on the obtained modal parameters, the numerical designed model was up-dated.

Modeling and design techniques for RF power amplifiers

CERN Document Server

Raghavan, Arvind; Laskar, Joy

2008-01-01

The book covers RF power amplifier design, from device and modeling considerations to advanced circuit design architectures and techniques. It focuses on recent developments and advanced topics in this area, including numerous practical designs to back the theoretical considerations. It presents the challenges in designing power amplifiers in silicon and helps the reader improve the efficiency of linear power amplifiers, and design more accurate compact device models, with faster extraction routines, to create cost effective and reliable circuits.

Numerical Simulation of 3D Solid-Liquid Turbulent Flow in a Low Specific Speed Centrifugal Pump: Flow Field Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baocheng Shi

2014-06-01

Full Text Available For numerically simulating 3D solid-liquid turbulent flow in low specific speed centrifugal pumps, the iteration convergence problem caused by complex internal structure and high rotational speed of pump is always a problem for numeral simulation researchers. To solve this problem, the combination of three measures of dynamic underrelaxation factor adjustment, step method, and rotational velocity control means according to residual curves trends of operating parameters was used to improve the numerical convergence. Numeral simulation of 3D turbulent flow in a low specific speed solid-liquid centrifugal pump was performed, and the results showed that the improved solution strategy is greatly helpful to the numerical convergence. Moreover, the 3D turbulent flow fields in pumps have been simulated for the bottom ash-particles with the volume fraction of 10%, 20%, and 30% at the same particle diameter of 0.1 mm. The two-phase calculation results are compared with those of single-phase clean water flow. The calculated results gave the main region of the abrasion of the impeller and volute casing and improve the hydraulic design of the impeller in order to decrease the abrasion and increase the service life of the pump.

Engineering and Design. Guidelines on Ground Improvement for Structures and Facilities

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Enson, Carl

1999-01-01

.... It addresses general evaluation of site and soil conditions, selection of improvement methods, preliminary cost estimating, design, construction, and performance evaluation for ground improvement...

IMPROVEMENT TOOLBOX DESIGN FOR EFQM CRITERIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ipek Deveci Kocakoç

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The EFQM Excellence Model is a framework that helps organizations to achieve competitive advantage by measuring where they are on their path to excellence. However, it does not tell the organization what to do or how it should manage any of these areas. In this study, we suggest a structure to overcome this gap. We present a method, matrix reflections, to find a tool set that can be used for designing improvement approaches in order to reach desired results.

Generating Improved Experimental Designs with Spatially and Genetically Correlated Observations Using Mixed Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lazarus K. Mramba

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to generate and evaluate the efficiency of improved field experiments while simultaneously accounting for spatial correlations and different levels of genetic relatedness using a mixed models framework for orthogonal and non-orthogonal designs. Optimality criteria and a search algorithm were implemented to generate randomized complete block (RCB, incomplete block (IB, augmented block (AB and unequally replicated (UR designs. Several conditions were evaluated including size of the experiment, levels of heritability, and optimality criteria. For RCB designs with half-sib or full-sib families, the optimization procedure yielded important improvements under the presence of mild to strong spatial correlation levels and relatively low heritability values. Also, for these designs, improvements in terms of overall design efficiency (ODE% reached values of up to 8.7%, but these gains varied depending on the evaluated conditions. In general, for all evaluated designs, higher ODE% values were achieved from genetically unrelated individuals compared to experiments with half-sib and full-sib families. As expected, accuracy of prediction of genetic values improved as levels of heritability and spatial correlations increased. This study has demonstrated that important improvements in design efficiency and prediction accuracies can be achieved by optimizing how the levels of a treatment are assigned to the experimental units.

An Instructional Design Framework to Improve Student Learning in a First-Year Engineering Class

Science.gov (United States)

Yelamarthi, Kumar; Drake, Eron; Prewett, Matthew

2016-01-01

Increasingly, numerous universities have identified benefits of flipped learning environments and have been encouraging instructors to adapt such methodologies in their respective classrooms, at a time when departments are facing significant budget constraints. This article proposes an instructional design framework utilized to strategically…

Dynamic one-dimensional modeling of secondary settling tanks and design impacts of sizing decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ben; Stenstrom, Michael K

2014-03-01

As one of the most significant components in the activated sludge process (ASP), secondary settling tanks (SSTs) can be investigated with mathematical models to optimize design and operation. This paper takes a new look at the one-dimensional (1-D) SST model by analyzing and considering the impacts of numerical problems, especially the process robustness. An improved SST model with Yee-Roe-Davis technique as the PDE solver is proposed and compared with the widely used Takács model to show its improvement in numerical solution quality. The improved and Takács models are coupled with a bioreactor model to reevaluate ASP design basis and several popular control strategies for economic plausibility, contaminant removal efficiency and system robustness. The time-to-failure due to rising sludge blanket during overloading, as a key robustness indicator, is analyzed to demonstrate the differences caused by numerical issues in SST models. The calculated results indicate that the Takács model significantly underestimates time to failure, thus leading to a conservative design. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A TURBO-GENERATOR DESIGN SYNTHESIS BASED ON THE NUMERICAL-FIELD CALCULATIONS AT VARYING THE NUMBER OF STATOR SLOTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. I. Milykh

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose. The work is dedicated to the presentation of the principle of construction and implementation of an automated synthesis system of the turbo-generator (TG electromagnetic system in the case of its modernization. This is done on the example of changing the number of the stator core slots. Methodology. The basis of the synthesis is a TG basic construction. Its structure includes the mathematical and physical-geometrical models, as well as the calculation model for the FEMM software environment, providing the numerical calculations of the magnetic fields and electromagnetic parameters of TG. The mathematical model links the changing and basic dimensions and parameters of the electromagnetic system, provided that the TG power parameters are ensured. The physical-geometrical model is the geometric mapping of the electromagnetic system with the specified physical properties of its elements. This model converts the TG electromagnetic system in a calculation model for the FEMM program. Results. Testing of the created synthesis system is carried out on the example of the 340 MW TG. The geometric, electromagnetic and power parameters of its basic construction and its new variants at the different numbers of the stator slots are compared. The harmonic analysis of the temporal function of the stator winding EMF is also made for the variants being compared. Originality. The mathematical model, relating the new and base parameters of TG at the changing of the number of the stator slots is created. A Lua script, providing the numerical-field calculations of the TG electromagnetic parameters in the FEMM software environment is worked out. Construction of the constructive and calculation models, the numerical-field calculations and delivery of results are performed by a computer automatically, that ensures high efficiency of the TG design process. Practical value. The considered version of the TG modernization on the example of changing the number of the

Advances in new WWER designs to improve operation and maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dragunov, Y.G.; Ryzhov, S.B.; Podshibiakin, A.K.; Vasilchenko, I.N.; Repin, A.I.; Nikitenko, M.P.; Konoplev, N.P.; Fil, N.S.

2000-01-01

Economic operational indices of WWER-type reactors show their competitiveness in all the countries where these reactors operate. Advanced WWERs being designed and constructed now have the improved characteristics of economical efficiency and are more convenient for operation and maintenance. Many technical solutions aimed at improvement of the operational performance are implemented in the design of WWER-1000/V-392 and WWER-640/V-407, and these reactors are the important basis for the nuclear power expansion in Russia. Some of these solutions are considered in the present paper. (author)

The Numerical Calculation and Experimental Measurement of the Inductance Parameters for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor in Electric Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Chao; Qiao, Mingzhong; Zhu, Peng

2017-12-01

A permanent magnet synchronous motor with radial magnetic circuit and built-in permanent magnet is designed for the electric vehicle. Finite element numerical calculation and experimental measurement are adopted to obtain the direct axis and quadrature axis inductance parameters of the motor which are vital important for the motor control. The calculation method is simple, the measuring principle is clear, the results of numerical calculation and experimental measurement are mutual confirmation. A quick and effective method is provided to obtain the direct axis and quadrature axis inductance parameters of the motor, and then improve the design of motor or adjust the control parameters of the motor controller.

Industrial numerical analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKee, S.; Elliott, C.M.

1986-01-01

The applications of mathematics to industrial problems involves the formulation of problems which are amenable to mathematical investigation, mathematical modelling, the solution of the mathematical problem and the inter-pretation of the results. There are 12 chapters describing industrial problems where mathematics and numerical analysis can be applied. These range from the numerical assessment of the flatness of engineering surfaces and plates, the design of chain links, control problems in tidal power generation and low thrust satellite trajectory optimization to mathematical models in welding. One chapter, on the ageing of stainless steels, is indexed separately. (UK)

Research design and improvement of high temperature high pressure solenoid valve

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luo Yongtang

1987-12-01

A process for development of the pilot type high temperature high pressure solenoid valve used in a PWR power plant is described. The whole development process might be divided into two phases: research design and improvement. In the former phase the questions had chiefly been approached in the following several aspects: the principle construction design, the determination of values for the constructionally key elements, the valve seal design and the solenoid actuator design, and made such valve's successful design in the main. In the latter phase an improvement had been made upon such valve against the problems during the testing use of the valve for a period of time, i.e. the unsatisfactory leak tightness, and achieved satisfactory results. The consummate success in this development not only has met the needs of the engineering project, but also made us obtain a valuable experience useful to design the similar valves

Designing and Improving a Blended Synchronous Learning Environment: An Educational Design Research

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Qiyun; Lang Quek, Choon; Hu, Xiaoyong

2017-01-01

In this study, a blended synchronous learning environment (BSLE) was created to support a group of graduate students when they were taking a course. Instruction was delivered to both face-to-face (F2F) and online students simultaneously. The purpose of this paper is to present how this BSLE was gradually designed, implemented, and improved by…

Numerical Methods for the Design and Analysis of Photonic Crystal Fibres

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Roberts, John

2008-01-01

The numerical methods available for calculating the electromagnetic mode properties of photonic crystal fibres are reviewed. The preferred schemes for analyzing TIR guiding and band gap guiding fibres are contrasted.......The numerical methods available for calculating the electromagnetic mode properties of photonic crystal fibres are reviewed. The preferred schemes for analyzing TIR guiding and band gap guiding fibres are contrasted....

Prediction of qualitative parameters of slab steel ingot using numerical modelling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Tkadlečková

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The paper describes the verification of casting and solidification of heavy slab ingot weighing 40 t from tool steel by means of numerical modelling with use of a finite element method. The pre-processing, processing and post-processing phases of numerical modelling are outlined. Also, the problems with determination of the thermodynamic properties of materials and with determination of the heat transfer between the individual parts of the casting system are discussed. The final porosity, macrosegregation and the risk of cracks were predicted. The results allowed us to use the slab ingot instead of the conventional heavy steel ingot and to improve the ratio, the chamfer and the external shape of the wall of the new design of the slab ingot.

RELAP-7 Numerical Stabilization: Entropy Viscosity Method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

R. A. Berry; M. O. Delchini; J. Ragusa

2014-06-01

The RELAP-7 code is the next generation nuclear reactor system safety analysis code being developed at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The code is based on the INL's modern scientific software development framework, MOOSE (Multi-Physics Object Oriented Simulation Environment). The overall design goal of RELAP-7 is to take advantage of the previous thirty years of advancements in computer architecture, software design, numerical integration methods, and physical models. The end result will be a reactor systems analysis capability that retains and improves upon RELAP5's capability and extends the analysis capability for all reactor system simulation scenarios. RELAP-7 utilizes a single phase and a novel seven-equation two-phase flow models as described in the RELAP-7 Theory Manual (INL/EXT-14-31366). The basic equation systems are hyperbolic, which generally require some type of stabilization (or artificial viscosity) to capture nonlinear discontinuities and to suppress advection-caused oscillations. This report documents one of the available options for this stabilization in RELAP-7 -- a new and novel approach known as the entropy viscosity method. Because the code is an ongoing development effort in which the physical sub models, numerics, and coding are evolving, so too must the specific details of the entropy viscosity stabilization method. Here the fundamentals of the method in their current state are presented.

Numerical design and analysis of a compact TE10 to TE01 mode transducer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tantawi, S.; Ko, K.; Kroll, N.

1993-04-01

A high-power low-loss mode transducer design has been proposed to adapt the output of the X-Band klystron, WR90 rectangular waveguide, to the input of the pulse compression system, SLED II, which utilizes overmoded circular waveguides operating in the low-loss TE 01 mode. This device is much more compact than the conventional Marie type mode converters. The device splits the incoming klystron output into two separate rectangular guides that are then fed into a circular guide through a four-slot arrangement. We will use both MAFIA and HFSS to calculate the transmission properties of the three-dimensional structure. We will also determine the extent of mode contamination and compare the numerical results with experiments

Optimum Design of a Coil Spring for Improving the Performance of a Spring -Operated Mechanism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Dae Woo; Sohn, Jeong Hyun; Yoo, Wan Suk

2016-01-01

In this study, a release test bed is designed to evaluate the dynamic behaviors of a coil spring. From the release tests, the dynamic behaviors of a coil spring are analyzed. A lumped parameter spring model was established for numerical simulation of a spring. The design variables of a coil spring are optimized by using the design of experiments approach. Two-level factorial designs are used for the design optimization, and the primary effects of the design variables are analyzed. Based on the results of the interaction analysis and design sensitivity analysis, the level of the design variables is rearranged. Finally, the mixed-level factorial design is used for the optimum design process. According to the optimum design of the opening spring, the dynamic performance of the spring-operated mechanism increases by 2.90

Advanced Combustion Numerics and Modeling - FY18 First Quarter Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Whitesides, R. A. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Killingsworth, N. J. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); McNenly, M. J. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Petitpas, G. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2018-01-05

This project is focused on early stage research and development of numerical methods and models to improve advanced engine combustion concepts and systems. The current focus is on development of new mathematics and algorithms to reduce the time to solution for advanced combustion engine design using detailed fuel chemistry. The research is prioritized towards the most time-consuming workflow bottlenecks (computer and human) and accuracy gaps that slow ACS program members. Zero-RK, the fast and accurate chemical kinetics solver software developed in this project, is central to the research efforts and continues to be developed to address the current and emerging needs of the engine designers, engine modelers and fuel mechanism developers.

A matter of timing: identifying significant multi-dose radiotherapy improvements by numerical simulation and genetic algorithm search.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simon D Angus

Full Text Available Multi-dose radiotherapy protocols (fraction dose and timing currently used in the clinic are the product of human selection based on habit, received wisdom, physician experience and intra-day patient timetabling. However, due to combinatorial considerations, the potential treatment protocol space for a given total dose or treatment length is enormous, even for relatively coarse search; well beyond the capacity of traditional in-vitro methods. In constrast, high fidelity numerical simulation of tumor development is well suited to the challenge. Building on our previous single-dose numerical simulation model of EMT6/Ro spheroids, a multi-dose irradiation response module is added and calibrated to the effective dose arising from 18 independent multi-dose treatment programs available in the experimental literature. With the developed model a constrained, non-linear, search for better performing cadidate protocols is conducted within the vicinity of two benchmarks by genetic algorithm (GA techniques. After evaluating less than 0.01% of the potential benchmark protocol space, candidate protocols were identified by the GA which conferred an average of 9.4% (max benefit 16.5% and 7.1% (13.3% improvement (reduction on tumour cell count compared to the two benchmarks, respectively. Noticing that a convergent phenomenon of the top performing protocols was their temporal synchronicity, a further series of numerical experiments was conducted with periodic time-gap protocols (10 h to 23 h, leading to the discovery that the performance of the GA search candidates could be replicated by 17-18 h periodic candidates. Further dynamic irradiation-response cell-phase analysis revealed that such periodicity cohered with latent EMT6/Ro cell-phase temporal patterning. Taken together, this study provides powerful evidence towards the hypothesis that even simple inter-fraction timing variations for a given fractional dose program may present a facile, and highly cost

A matter of timing: identifying significant multi-dose radiotherapy improvements by numerical simulation and genetic algorithm search.

Science.gov (United States)

Angus, Simon D; Piotrowska, Monika Joanna

2014-01-01

Multi-dose radiotherapy protocols (fraction dose and timing) currently used in the clinic are the product of human selection based on habit, received wisdom, physician experience and intra-day patient timetabling. However, due to combinatorial considerations, the potential treatment protocol space for a given total dose or treatment length is enormous, even for relatively coarse search; well beyond the capacity of traditional in-vitro methods. In constrast, high fidelity numerical simulation of tumor development is well suited to the challenge. Building on our previous single-dose numerical simulation model of EMT6/Ro spheroids, a multi-dose irradiation response module is added and calibrated to the effective dose arising from 18 independent multi-dose treatment programs available in the experimental literature. With the developed model a constrained, non-linear, search for better performing cadidate protocols is conducted within the vicinity of two benchmarks by genetic algorithm (GA) techniques. After evaluating less than 0.01% of the potential benchmark protocol space, candidate protocols were identified by the GA which conferred an average of 9.4% (max benefit 16.5%) and 7.1% (13.3%) improvement (reduction) on tumour cell count compared to the two benchmarks, respectively. Noticing that a convergent phenomenon of the top performing protocols was their temporal synchronicity, a further series of numerical experiments was conducted with periodic time-gap protocols (10 h to 23 h), leading to the discovery that the performance of the GA search candidates could be replicated by 17-18 h periodic candidates. Further dynamic irradiation-response cell-phase analysis revealed that such periodicity cohered with latent EMT6/Ro cell-phase temporal patterning. Taken together, this study provides powerful evidence towards the hypothesis that even simple inter-fraction timing variations for a given fractional dose program may present a facile, and highly cost-effecitive means

Design of marine structures with improved safety for environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klanac, Alan; Varsta, Petri

2011-01-01

The paper describes a method for design of marine structures with increased safety for environment, considering also the required investment costs as well as the aspects of risk distribution onto the maritime stakeholders. Practically, the paper seeks to answer what is the optimal amount that should be invested into certain safety measure for any given vessel. Due to the uneven distribution of risk, as well as the differing impact of costs emerging from safety improvements, stakeholders experience conflicting ranking of alternatives. To solve this multi-stakeholder decision-making problem, in which each stakeholder is a decision-maker, the method applies concepts of group decision-making theory, namely the Game Theory. The method fosters axiomatic definition of the optimum solution, arguing that the solution, or the final selected design, should satisfy the non-dominance, efficiency, and fairness. These three are thoroughly discussed in terms of structural design, especially the latter. Considering the coupling of environmental risk and structural design, the method also builds on the preference structure of four maritime stakeholders: yards, owners, oil receivers and the public, who either share the risks or directly influence structural design. Method is presented on a practical study of structural design of a tanker with a crashworthy side structure that is capable of reducing the risk of collision. The outcome of this study outlines a number of possibilities for successful improvement of tanker safety that can benefit, concurrently, all maritime stakeholders.

Improved numerical grid generation techniques for the B2 edge plasma code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stotler, D.P.; Coster, D.P.

1992-06-01

Techniques used to generate grids for edge fluid codes such as B2 from numerically computed equilibria are discussed. Fully orthogonal, numerically derived grids closely resembling analytically prescribed meshes can be obtained. But, the details of the poloidal field can vary, yielding significantly different plasma parameters in the simulations. The magnitude of these differences is consistent with the predictions of an analytic model of the scrape-off layer. Both numerical and analytic grids are insensitive to changes in their defining parameters. Methods for implementing nonorthogonal boundaries in these meshes are also presented; they differ slightly from those required for fully orthogonal grids

Designing nuclear power plants for improved operation and maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-09-01

The purpose of this publication is to compile demonstrated, experience based design guidelines for improving the operability and maintainability of nuclear power plants. The guidelines are for use principally in the design of new nuclear power plants, but should also be useful in upgrading existing designs. The guidelines derive from the experience of operating and maintaining existing nuclear power plants as well as from the design of recent plants. In particular these guidelines are based on and consistent with both the EPRI advanced Light Water Reactor Utility Requirements Document, Volume 1, and the European Utility Requirements for LWR Nuclear Power Plants. 6 refs, 1 fig

Designing nuclear power plants for improved operation and maintenance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-09-01

The purpose of this publication is to compile demonstrated, experience based design guidelines for improving the operability and maintainability of nuclear power plants. The guidelines are for use principally in the design of new nuclear power plants, but should also be useful in upgrading existing designs. The guidelines derive from the experience of operating and maintaining existing nuclear power plants as well as from the design of recent plants. In particular these guidelines are based on and consistent with both the EPRI advanced Light Water Reactor Utility Requirements Document, Volume 1, and the European Utility Requirements for LWR Nuclear Power Plants. 6 refs, 1 fig.

Toward Improved Rotor-Only Axial Fans—Part II: Design Optimization for Maximum Efficiency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Dan Nørtoft; Thompson, M. C.; Sørensen, Jens Nørkær

2000-01-01

Numerical design optimization of the aerodynamic performance of axial fans is carried out, maximizing the efficiency in a designinterval of flow rates. Tip radius, number of blades, and angular velocity of the rotor are fixed, whereas the hub radius andspanwise distributions of chord length......, stagger angle, and camber angle are varied to find the optimum rotor geometry.Constraints ensure a pressure rise above a specified target and an angle of attack on the blades below stall. The optimizationscheme is used to investigate the dependence of maximum efficiency on the width of the design interval...

Process Improvement Through Tool Integration in Aero-Mechanical Design

Science.gov (United States)

Briggs, Clark

2010-01-01

Emerging capabilities in commercial design tools promise to significantly improve the multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary design and analysis coverage for aerospace mechanical engineers. This paper explores the analysis process for two example problems of a wing and flap mechanical drive system and an aircraft landing gear door panel. The examples begin with the design solid models and include various analysis disciplines such as structural stress and aerodynamic loads. Analytical methods include CFD, multi-body dynamics with flexible bodies and structural analysis. Elements of analysis data management, data visualization and collaboration are also included.

Vulnerability Identification and Design-Improvement-Feedback using Failure Analysis of Digital Control System Designs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Eunchan; Bae, Yeonkyoung [Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co., Ltd., Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2013-05-15

Fault tree analyses let analysts establish the failure sequences of components as a logical model and confirm the result at the plant level. These two analyses provide insights regarding what improvements are needed to increase availability because it expresses the quantified design attribute of the system as minimal cut sets and availability value interfaced with component reliability data in the fault trees. This combined failure analysis method helps system users understand system characteristics including its weakness and strength in relation to faults in the design stage before system operation. This study explained why a digital system could have weaknesses in methods to transfer control signals or data and how those vulnerabilities could cause unexpected outputs. In particular, the result of the analysis confirmed that complex optical communication was not recommended for digital data transmission in the critical systems of nuclear power plants. Regarding loop controllers in Design A, a logic configuration should be changed to prevent spurious actuation due to a single failure, using hardware or software improvements such as cross checking between redundant modules, or diagnosis of the output signal integrity. Unavailability calculations support these insights from the failure analyses of the systems. In the near future, KHNP will perform failure mode and effect analyses in the design stage before purchasing non-safety-related digital system packages. In addition, the design requirements of the system will be confirmed based on evaluation of overall system availability or unavailability.

FORECASTING PILE SETTLEMENT ON CLAYSTONE USING NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ponomarev Andrey Budimirovich

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In the article the problem of designing pile foundations on claystones is reviewed. The purpose of this paper is comparative analysis of the analytical and numerical methods for forecasting the settlement of piles on claystones. The following tasks were solved during the study: 1 The existing researches of pile settlement are analyzed; 2 The characteristics of experimental studies and the parameters for numerical modeling are presented, methods of field research of single piles’ operation are described; 3 Calculation of single pile settlement is performed using numerical methods in the software package Plaxis 2D and analytical method according to the requirements SP 24.13330.2011; 4 Experimental data is compared with the results of analytical and numerical calculations; 5 Basing on these results recommendations for forecasting pile settlement on claystone are presented. Much attention is paid to the calculation of pile settlement considering the impacted areas in ground space beside pile and the comparison with the results of field experiments. Basing on the obtained results, for the prediction of settlement of single pile on claystone the authors recommend using the analytical method considered in SP 24.13330.2011 with account for the impacted areas in ground space beside driven pile. In the case of forecasting the settlement of single pile on claystone by numerical methods in Plaxis 2D the authors recommend using the Hardening Soil model considering the impacted areas in ground space beside the driven pile. The analyses of the results and calculations are presented for examination and verification; therefore it is necessary to continue the research work of deep foundation at another experimental sites to improve the reliability of the calculation of pile foundation settlement. The work is of great interest for geotechnical engineers engaged in research, design and construction of pile foundations.

Summary of trial design of improved marine nuclear reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-01-01

In order to carry out the research and development of improved marine nuclear reactors, the Japan Nuclear Ship Research and Development Agency decided the project for the purpose in accordance with the procedure of research and development shown by the Nuclear Ship Research and Development Committee of Atomic Energy Commission in December, 1979, and along the basic plan regarding the development of nuclear ships of the Agency decided in February, 1981. As the first step, the Agency has been advancing the research on the design evaluation comprising the trial design and conceptual design to establish the concept of the marine reactor plant with excellent economical efficiency and reliability, which will be developed as the practical plant for future nuclear ships. The trial design started as a three-year project from 1983 is related to a 100 MWt marine reactor, and it is to obtain the concept of improved marine reactors which can be realized after adequate development period based on the pressurized water reactors of separate type, one-body type and semi-one-body type. In this summary, the works carried out in fiscal year 1983 are reported, that is, the design and calculation of the reactor core and the equipment of primary cooling system, and the selection of the required items of research and development. (Kako, I.)

Aerospace structural design process improvement using systematic evolutionary structural modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Robert Michael

2000-10-01

A multidisciplinary team tasked with an aircraft design problem must understand the problem requirements and metrics to produce a successful design. This understanding entails not only knowledge of what these requirements and metrics are, but also how they interact, which are most important (to the customer as well as to aircraft performance), and who in the organization can provide pertinent knowledge for each. In recent years, product development researchers and organizations have developed and successfully applied a variety of tools such as Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to coordinate multidisciplinary team members. The effectiveness of these methods, however, depends on the quality and fidelity of the information that team members can input. In conceptual aircraft design, structural information is of lower quality compared to aerodynamics or performance because it is based on experience rather than theory. This dissertation shows how advanced structural design tools can be used in a multidisciplinary team setting to improve structural information generation and communication through a systematic evolution of structural detail. When applied to conceptual design, finite element-based structural design tools elevate structural information to the same level as other computationally supported disciplines. This improved ability to generate and communicate structural information enables a design team to better identify and meet structural design requirements, consider producibility issues earlier, and evaluate structural concepts. A design process experiment of a wing structural layout in collaboration with an industrial partner illustrates and validates the approach.

Hypothesis driven drug design: improving quality and effectiveness of the design-make-test-analyse cycle.

Science.gov (United States)

Plowright, Alleyn T; Johnstone, Craig; Kihlberg, Jan; Pettersson, Jonas; Robb, Graeme; Thompson, Richard A

2012-01-01

In drug discovery, the central process of constructing and testing hypotheses, carefully conducting experiments and analysing the associated data for new findings and information is known as the design-make-test-analyse cycle. Each step relies heavily on the inputs and outputs of the other three components. In this article we report our efforts to improve and integrate all parts to enable smooth and rapid flow of high quality ideas. Key improvements include enhancing multi-disciplinary input into 'Design', increasing the use of knowledge and reducing cycle times in 'Make', providing parallel sets of relevant data within ten working days in 'Test' and maximising the learning in 'Analyse'. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Implementation of "The n-term" Formula to Improve Student Ability in Determining the Rules of a Numeric Sequence

Science.gov (United States)

In'am, Akhsanul; Hajar, Siti

2013-01-01

A good-quality teacher may determines a good-quality learning, thus good-quality students will be the results. In order to have a good-quality learning, a lot of strategies and methods can be adopted. The objective of this research is to improve students' ability in determining the rules of a numeric sequence and analysing the effectiveness of the…

Numerical simulation and experimental validation of internal heat exchanger influence on CO{sub 2} trans-critical cycle performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rigola, Joaquim; Ablanque, Nicolas; Perez-Segarra, Carlos D.; Oliva, Assensi [Centre Tecnologic de Transferencia de Calor (CTTC), Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), ETSEIAT, C. Colom 11, 08222 Terrassa (Barcelona) (Spain)

2010-06-15

The present paper is a numerical and experimental comparative study of the whole vapour compression refrigerating cycle in general, and reciprocating compressors in particular, with the aim of showing the possibilities that CO{sub 2} offers for commercial refrigeration, considering a single-stage trans-critical cycle using semi-hermetic reciprocating compressors under small cooling capacity systems. The present work is focussed on the influence of using an internal heat exchanger (IHX) in order to improve the cycle performance under real working conditions. In order to validate the numerical results, an experimental unit specially designed and built to analyze trans-critical refrigerating equipments considering IHX has been built. Both numerical results and experimental data show reasonable good agreement, while the comparative global values conclude the improvement of cooling capacity and COP when IHX is considered in the CO{sub 2} trans-critical cycle. (author)

Numerical investigation of the flow inside the combustion chamber of a plant oil stove

Science.gov (United States)

Pritz, B.; Werler, M.; Wirbser, H.; Gabi, M.

2013-10-01

Recently a low cost cooking device for developing and emerging countries was developed at KIT in cooperation with the company Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH. After constructing an innovative basic design further development was required. Numerical investigations were conducted in order to investigate the flow inside the combustion chamber of the stove under variation of different geometrical parameters. Beyond the performance improvement a further reason of the investigations was to rate the effects of manufacturing tolerance problems. In this paper the numerical investigation of a plant oil stove by means of RANS simulation will be presented. In order to reduce the computational costs different model reduction steps were necessary. The simulation results of the basic configuration compare very well with experimental measurements and problematic behaviors of the actual stove design could be explained by the investigation.

Parameter Optimization and Electrode Improvement of Rotary Stepper Micromotor

Science.gov (United States)

Sone, Junji; Mizuma, Toshinari; Mochizuki, Shunsuke; Sarajlic, Edin; Yamahata, Christophe; Fujita, Hiroyuki

We developed a three-phase electrostatic stepper micromotor and performed a numerical simulation to improve its performance for practical use and to optimize its design. We conducted its circuit simulation by simplifying its structure, and the effect of springback force generated by supported mechanism using flexures was considered. And we considered new improvement method for electrodes. This improvement and other parameter optimizations achieved the low voltage drive of micromotor.

Quality Improvement Project to Improve Patient Satisfaction With Pain Management: Using Human-Centered Design.

Science.gov (United States)

Trail-Mahan, Tracy; Heisler, Scott; Katica, Mary

2016-01-01

In this quality improvement project, our health system developed a comprehensive, patient-centered approach to improving inpatient pain management and assessed its impact on patient satisfaction across 21 medical centers. Using human-centered design principles, a bundle of 6 individual and team nursing practices was developed. Patient satisfaction with pain management, as measured by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems pain composite score, increased from the 25th to just under the 75th national percentile.

Towards standard testbeds for numerical relativity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alcubierre, Miguel; Allen, Gabrielle; Bona, Carles; Fiske, David; Goodale, Tom; Guzman, F Siddhartha; Hawke, Ian; Hawley, Scott H; Husa, Sascha; Koppitz, Michael; Lechner, Christiane; Pollney, Denis; Rideout, David; Salgado, Marcelo; Schnetter, Erik; Seidel, Edward; Shinkai, Hisa-aki; Shoemaker, Deirdre; Szilagyi, Bela; Takahashi, Ryoji; Winicour, Jeff

2004-01-01

In recent years, many different numerical evolution schemes for Einstein's equations have been proposed to address stability and accuracy problems that have plagued the numerical relativity community for decades. Some of these approaches have been tested on different spacetimes, and conclusions have been drawn based on these tests. However, differences in results originate from many sources, including not only formulations of the equations, but also gauges, boundary conditions, numerical methods and so on. We propose to build up a suite of standardized testbeds for comparing approaches to the numerical evolution of Einstein's equations that are designed to both probe their strengths and weaknesses and to separate out different effects, and their causes, seen in the results. We discuss general design principles of suitable testbeds, and we present an initial round of simple tests with periodic boundary conditions. This is a pivotal first step towards building a suite of testbeds to serve the numerical relativists and researchers from related fields who wish to assess the capabilities of numerical relativity codes. We present some examples of how these tests can be quite effective in revealing various limitations of different approaches, and illustrating their differences. The tests are presently limited to vacuum spacetimes, can be run on modest computational resources and can be used with many different approaches used in the relativity community

Towards standard testbeds for numerical relativity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alcubierre, Miguel [Inst. de Ciencias Nucleares, Univ. Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Apartado Postal 70-543, Mexico Distrito Federal 04510 (Mexico); Allen, Gabrielle; Goodale, Tom; Guzman, F Siddhartha; Hawke, Ian; Husa, Sascha; Koppitz, Michael; Lechner, Christiane; Pollney, Denis; Rideout, David [Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Gravitationsphysik, Albert-Einstein-Institut, 14476 Golm (Germany); Bona, Carles [Departament de Fisica, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Ctra de Valldemossa km 7.5, 07122 Palma de Mallorca (Spain); Fiske, David [Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-4111 (United States); Hawley, Scott H [Center for Relativity, Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712 (United States); Salgado, Marcelo [Inst. de Ciencias Nucleares, Univ. Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Apartado Postal 70-543, Mexico Distrito Federal 04510 (Mexico); Schnetter, Erik [Inst. fuer Astronomie und Astrophysik, Universitaet Tuebingen, 72076 Tuebingen (Germany); Seidel, Edward [Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Gravitationsphysik, Albert-Einstein-Inst., 14476 Golm (Germany); Shinkai, Hisa-aki [Computational Science Div., Inst. of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Hirosawa 2-1, Wako, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); Shoemaker, Deirdre [Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Szilagyi, Bela [Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Univ. of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 (United States); Takahashi, Ryoji [Theoretical Astrophysics Center, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen, (Denmark); Winicour, Jeff [Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Gravitationsphysik, Albert-Einstein-Institut, 14476 Golm (Germany)

2004-01-21

In recent years, many different numerical evolution schemes for Einstein's equations have been proposed to address stability and accuracy problems that have plagued the numerical relativity community for decades. Some of these approaches have been tested on different spacetimes, and conclusions have been drawn based on these tests. However, differences in results originate from many sources, including not only formulations of the equations, but also gauges, boundary conditions, numerical methods and so on. We propose to build up a suite of standardized testbeds for comparing approaches to the numerical evolution of Einstein's equations that are designed to both probe their strengths and weaknesses and to separate out different effects, and their causes, seen in the results. We discuss general design principles of suitable testbeds, and we present an initial round of simple tests with periodic boundary conditions. This is a pivotal first step towards building a suite of testbeds to serve the numerical relativists and researchers from related fields who wish to assess the capabilities of numerical relativity codes. We present some examples of how these tests can be quite effective in revealing various limitations of different approaches, and illustrating their differences. The tests are presently limited to vacuum spacetimes, can be run on modest computational resources and can be used with many different approaches used in the relativity community.

Reliability improvement through alternative designs-A case study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumar, Saurabh; Chattopadhyay, Gopi; Kumar, Uday

2007-01-01

In today's competitive world, reliability of equipment is extremely important to maintain quality and delivery deadlines. This is achieved by using proper maintenance and design changes for unreliable subsystems and components of a complex system. It is significant to develop a strategy for maintenance, replacement and design changes related to those subsystems and components. An analysis of down time along with causes is essential to identify the unreliable components and subsystems. This paper presents an analysis of failure data of solenoid coils of automatic internal grinding machine used in a bearing manufacturing plant. It analyses various replacement and change of design options such as introduction of pneumatic system in place of electromagnetic solenoids for improvement of reliability of the plunger movement mechanism

Incorporating excitation-induced dephasing into the Maxwell-Bloch numerical modeling of photon echoes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burr, G.W.; Harris, Todd L.; Babbitt, Wm. Randall; Jefferson, C. Michael

2004-01-01

We describe the incorporation of excitation-induced dephasing (EID) into the Maxwell-Bloch numerical simulation of photon echoes. At each time step of the usual numerical integration, stochastic frequency jumps of ions--caused by excitation of neighboring ions--is modeled by convolving each Bloch vector with the Bloch vectors of nearby frequency detunings. The width of this convolution kernel follows the instantaneous change in overall population, integrated over the simulated bandwidth. This approach is validated by extensive comparison against published and original experimental results. The enhanced numerical model is then used to investigate the accuracy of experiments designed to extrapolate to the intrinsic dephasing time T 2 from data taken in the presence of EID. Such a modeling capability offers improved understanding of experimental results, and should allow quantitative analysis of engineering tradeoffs in realistic optical coherent transient applications

Numerical Feedback Stabilization with Applications to Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simone Göttlich

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The focus is on the numerical consideration of feedback boundary control problems for linear systems of conservation laws including source terms. We explain under which conditions the numerical discretization can be used to design feedback boundary values for network applications such as electric transmission lines or traffic flow systems. Several numerical examples illustrate the properties of the results for different types of networks.

Construction Upgrade. A Pack To Improve Communication, Numerical and IT Skills for NVQ.

Science.gov (United States)

Rylands, Judy

This pack of materials is designed to help students working to improve their basic skills as part of their carpentry and joinery course. An introduction lists relevant core skills units and basic skills standards. The six individual sections of the pack are divided into task sheets and fact sheets. The fact sheets give information and teaching…

Using the Power Balance Wristband to Improve Students' Research-Design Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Lawson, Timothy J.; Blackhart, Ginette C.; Gialopsos, Brooke M.

2016-01-01

We describe an exercise involving the power balance wristband (PBW) designed to enhance students' ability to design scientific tests. An instructor demonstrated that the PBW improved a student's balance, strength, and flexibility and invited students to design and conduct a brief scientific test of the PBW. Research methods students who…

White-light full-field OCT resolution improvement by image sensor colour balance adjustment: numerical simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kalyanov, A L; Lychagov, V V; Ryabukho, V P; Smirnov, I V

2012-01-01

The possibility of improving white-light full-field optical coherence tomography (OCT) resolution by image sensor colour balance tuning is shown numerically. We calculated the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of a coherence pulse registered by a silicon colour image sensor under various colour balance settings. The calculations were made for both a halogen lamp and white LED sources. The results show that the interference pulse width can be reduced by the proper choice of colour balance coefficients. The reduction is up to 18%, as compared with a colour image sensor with regular settings, and up to 20%, as compared with a monochrome sensor. (paper)

The NASA Monographs on Shell Stability Design Recommendations: A Review and Suggested Improvements

Science.gov (United States)

Nemeth, Michael P.; Starnes, James H., Jr.

1998-01-01

A summary of the existing NASA design criteria monographs for the design of buckling-resistant thin-shell structures is presented. Subsequent improvements in the analysis for nonlinear shell response are reviewed, and current issues in shell stability analysis are discussed. Examples of nonlinear shell responses that are not included in the existing shell design monographs are presented, and an approach for including reliability-based analysis procedures in the shell design process is discussed. Suggestions for conducting future shell experiments are presented, and proposed improvements to the NASA shell design criteria monographs are discussed.

Improved numerical methods for quantum field theory (Outstanding junior investigator award)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sokal, A.D.

1992-01-01

We are developing new and more efficient numerical methods for problems in quantum field theory. Our principal goal is to achieve radical reductions in critical slowing-down. We are concentrating at present on three new families of algorithms: multi-grid Monte Carlo, Swendsen-Wang and generalized Wolff-type embedding algorithms. In addition, we are making a high-precision numerical study of the hyperscaling conjecture for the self-avoiding walk, which is closely related to the triviality problem for var-phi 4 quantum field theory

Improved numerical methods for quantum field theory (Outstanding junior investigator award)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sokal, A.D.

1993-01-01

We are developing new and more efficient numerical methods for problems in quantum field theory. Our principal goal is to achieve radical reductions in critical slowing-down. We are concentrating at present on three new families of algorithms: multi-grid Monte Carlo (MGMC), Swendsen-Wang (SW) and generalized Wolff-type embedding algorithms. In addition, we are making a high-precision numerical study of the hyperscaling conjecture for the self-avoiding walk, which is closely related to the triviality problem for var-phi 4 quantum field theory

Design optimization by numerical characterization of fluid flow through the valveless diffuser micropumps

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahmadian, M T; Mehrabian, Amin [Center of Excellence in Design, Robotics and Automation, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2006-04-01

Valveless piezoelectric micropumps are in wide practical use due to their ability to conduct particles with absence of interior moving mechanical parts. In this paper, an extended numerical study on fluid flow through micropump chamber and diffuser valves is conducted to find out the optimum working conditions of micropump. In order to obtain maximum generality of the reported results, an analytical study along with a dimensional analysis is presented primarily, to investigate the main dimensionless groups of parameters affecting the micropump net flux. Consequently, the parameters appeared in the main dimensionless groups have been changed in order to understand how the pump rectification efficiency and optimum diffuser angle depend on these parameters. A set of characteristic curves are constructed which show these dependencies. The application of these curves would have far reaching implications for valveless micropumps design and selection purposes.

Design optimization by numerical characterization of fluid flow through the valveless diffuser micropumps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmadian, M T; Mehrabian, Amin

2006-01-01

Valveless piezoelectric micropumps are in wide practical use due to their ability to conduct particles with absence of interior moving mechanical parts. In this paper, an extended numerical study on fluid flow through micropump chamber and diffuser valves is conducted to find out the optimum working conditions of micropump. In order to obtain maximum generality of the reported results, an analytical study along with a dimensional analysis is presented primarily, to investigate the main dimensionless groups of parameters affecting the micropump net flux. Consequently, the parameters appeared in the main dimensionless groups have been changed in order to understand how the pump rectification efficiency and optimum diffuser angle depend on these parameters. A set of characteristic curves are constructed which show these dependencies. The application of these curves would have far reaching implications for valveless micropumps design and selection purposes

Towards Improved Considerations of Risk in Seismic Design (Plinius Medal Lecture)

Science.gov (United States)

Sullivan, T. J.

2012-04-01

The aftermath of recent earthquakes is a reminder that seismic risk is a very relevant issue for our communities. Implicit within the seismic design standards currently in place around the world is that minimum acceptable levels of seismic risk will be ensured through design in accordance with the codes. All the same, none of the design standards specify what the minimum acceptable level of seismic risk actually is. Instead, a series of deterministic limit states are set which engineers then demonstrate are satisfied for their structure, typically through the use of elastic dynamic analyses adjusted to account for non-linear response using a set of empirical correction factors. From the early nineties the seismic engineering community has begun to recognise numerous fundamental shortcomings with such seismic design procedures in modern codes. Deficiencies include the use of elastic dynamic analysis for the prediction of inelastic force distributions, the assignment of uniform behaviour factors for structural typologies irrespective of the structural proportions and expected deformation demands, and the assumption that hysteretic properties of a structure do not affect the seismic displacement demands, amongst other things. In light of this a number of possibilities have emerged for improved control of risk through seismic design, with several innovative displacement-based seismic design methods now well developed. For a specific seismic design intensity, such methods provide a more rational means of controlling the response of a structure to satisfy performance limit states. While the development of such methodologies does mark a significant step forward for the control of seismic risk, they do not, on their own, identify the seismic risk of a newly designed structure. In the U.S. a rather elaborate performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) framework is under development, with the aim of providing seismic loss estimates for new buildings. The PBEE framework

MOLTEN CARBONATE FUEL CELL PRODUCT DESIGN IMPROVEMENT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

H.C. Maru; M. Farooque

2003-03-01

The program efforts are focused on technology and system optimization for cost reduction, commercial design development, and prototype system field trials. The program is designed to advance the carbonate fuel cell technology from full-size field test to the commercial design. FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCE) is in the later stage of the multiyear program for development and verification of carbonate fuel cell based power plants supported by DOE/NETL with additional funding from DOD/DARPA and the FuelCell Energy team. FCE has scaled up the technology to full-size and developed DFC{reg_sign} stack and balance-of-plant (BOP) equipment technology to meet product requirements, and acquired high rate manufacturing capabilities to reduce cost. FCE has designed submegawatt (DFC300A) and megawatt (DFC1500 and DFC3000) class fuel cell products for commercialization of its DFC{reg_sign} technology. A significant progress was made during the reporting period. The reforming unit design was optimized using a three-dimensional stack simulation model. Thermal and flow uniformities of the oxidant-In flow in the stack module were improved using computational fluid dynamics based flow simulation model. The manufacturing capacity was increased. The submegawatt stack module overall cost was reduced by {approx}30% on a per kW basis. An integrated deoxidizer-prereformer design was tested successfully at submegawatt scale using fuels simulating digester gas, coal bed methane gas and peak shave (natural) gas.

Design, optimization and numerical modelling of a novel floating pendulum wave energy converter with tide adaptation

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jing; Zhang, Da-hai; Chen, Ying; Liang, Hui; Tan, Ming; Li, Wei; Ma, Xian-dong

2017-10-01

A novel floating pendulum wave energy converter (WEC) with the ability of tide adaptation is designed and presented in this paper. Aiming to a high efficiency, the buoy's hydrodynamic shape is optimized by enumeration and comparison. Furthermore, in order to keep the buoy's well-designed leading edge always facing the incoming wave straightly, a novel transmission mechanism is then adopted, which is called the tidal adaptation mechanism in this paper. Time domain numerical models of a floating pendulum WEC with or without tide adaptation mechanism are built to compare their performance on various water levels. When comparing these two WECs in terms of their average output based on the linear passive control strategy, the output power of WEC with the tide adaptation mechanism is much steadier with the change of the water level and always larger than that without the tide adaptation mechanism.

Improved design of an ITER equatorial EC launcher

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takahashi, K.; Kajiwara, K.; Kobayashi, N.; Kasugai, A.; Sakamoto, K.

2008-01-01

New design improvements for an ITER equatorial EC launcher are described. A design of the front shield modules was evaluated analytically. The results indicate that these modules can withstand the electromagnetic forces induced by plasma disruption and vertical plasma motion. The steering mirror mock-up including the spiral cooling tubes was fabricated based on the present design with application of the hot isostatic pressing technique to bond the copper alloy mirror body and the embedded stainless steel cooling tubes. The test of water flow was carried out and the expected flow rate was successfully obtained. A quasi-optical (QO) transmission layout has been proposed instead of the waveguide lines. The advantage of this option is possibly to increase the reliability in terms of fabrication and refurbishment. According to the beam propagation analysis, it is verified that transmission loss at the QO region is 1.1%-2.2%, which is comparable to the reference design. The peak heat load on the steering mirror surface could be reduced by 55%, which relaxes the mirror design

Improving diaper design to address incontinence associated dermatitis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zöllner Petra

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Incontinence associated dermatitis (IAD is an inflammatory skin disease mainly triggered by prolonged skin contact with urine, feces but also liberal detergent use when cleansing the skin. To minimize the epidermal barrier challenge we optimized the design of adult incontinence briefs. In the fluid absorption area we interposed a special type of acidic, curled-type of cellulose between the top sheet in contact with the skin and the absorption core beneath containing the polyacrylate superabsorber. The intention was to minimize disturbance of the already weak acid mantle of aged skin. We also employed air-permeable side panels to minimize skin occlusion and swelling of the stratum corneum. Methods The surface pH of diapers was measured after repeated wetting with a urine substitute fluid at the level of the top sheet. Occlusive effects and hydration of the stratum corneum were measured after a 4 hour application of different side panel materials by corneometry on human volunteers. Finally, we evaluated skin symptoms in 12 patients with preexisting IAD for 21 days following the institutional switch to the optimized diaper design. Local skin care protocols remained in place unchanged. Results The improved design created a surface pH of 4.6 which was stable even after repeated wetting throughout a 5 hour period. The "standard design" briefs had values of 7.1, which is alkaline compared to the acidic surface of normal skin. Side panels made from non-woven material with an air-permeability of more than 1200 l/m2/s avoided excessive hydration of the stratum corneum when compared to the commonly employed air-impermeable plastic films. Resolution of pre-existing IAD skin lesions was noted in 8 out of 12 patients after the switch to the optimized brief design. Conclusions An improved design of adult-type briefs can create an acidic pH on the surface and breathable side panels avoid over-hydration of the stratum corneum and occlusion

Computational RNA secondary structure design: empirical complexity and improved methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Condon Anne

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background We investigate the empirical complexity of the RNA secondary structure design problem, that is, the scaling of the typical difficulty of the design task for various classes of RNA structures as the size of the target structure is increased. The purpose of this work is to understand better the factors that make RNA structures hard to design for existing, high-performance algorithms. Such understanding provides the basis for improving the performance of one of the best algorithms for this problem, RNA-SSD, and for characterising its limitations. Results To gain insights into the practical complexity of the problem, we present a scaling analysis on random and biologically motivated structures using an improved version of the RNA-SSD algorithm, and also the RNAinverse algorithm from the Vienna package. Since primary structure constraints are relevant for designing RNA structures, we also investigate the correlation between the number and the location of the primary structure constraints when designing structures and the performance of the RNA-SSD algorithm. The scaling analysis on random and biologically motivated structures supports the hypothesis that the running time of both algorithms scales polynomially with the size of the structure. We also found that the algorithms are in general faster when constraints are placed only on paired bases in the structure. Furthermore, we prove that, according to the standard thermodynamic model, for some structures that the RNA-SSD algorithm was unable to design, there exists no sequence whose minimum free energy structure is the target structure. Conclusion Our analysis helps to better understand the strengths and limitations of both the RNA-SSD and RNAinverse algorithms, and suggests ways in which the performance of these algorithms can be further improved.

Numerical and experimental investigation on the performance of three newly designed 100 kW-class tidal current turbines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Museok Song

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Three types of 100 kW-class tidal stream turbines are proposed and their performance is studied both numerically and experimentally. Following a wind turbine design procedure, a base blade is derived and two additional blades are newly designed focusing more on efficiency and cavitation. For the three designed turbines, a CFD is performed by using FLUENT. The calculations predict that the newly designed turbines perform better than the base turbine and the tip vortex can be reduced with additional efficiency increase by adopting a tip rake. The performance of the turbines is tested in a towing tank with 700 mm models. The scale problem is carefully investigated and the measurements are compared with the CFD results. All the prediction from the CFD is supported by the model experiment with some quantitative discrepancy. The maximum efficiencies are 0.49 (CFD and 0.45 (experiment at TSR 5.17 for the turbine with a tip rake.

Improving Primary Care with Human-Centered Design and Partnership-Based Leadership

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

May-Lynn Andresen

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Objective: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to empower and activate first-line staff (FLS to improve the six-month depression remission rate in a primary care clinic. Background: Lack of workforce engagement has been identified as an emerging national problem in health care and health care leaders have urged practice redesign to foster the Triple Aim of improved population health, improved care experience, and reduced cost of care (Berwick et al., 2008. Depression is difficult to manage and often exacerbates chronic illnesses and shortens lifespans, yet despite known effective treatments, six-month remission rates are low and care practices are often inadequate. Engaging in empowering leadership behaviors has demonstrated improvement in motivation, work outcomes, and empowerment in various industry settings across the world. Core approaches include: enhancing staff self-determination, encouraging participation in decision-making, and ensuring that staff have the knowledge and tools to achieve their performance goals, in addition to leadership communications that increase confidence in staff’s potential to perform at high levels, and their recognition that their efforts have an impact on improving organizational effectiveness. Methods: In this outpatient setting, care was siloed, staff were disengaged and a hierarchical paradigm was evident. Human-centered design principles were employed to intensively explore stakeholders’ experiences and to deeply engage end users in improving depression remission rates by creating, participating, and partnering in solutions. Leadership was educated in and deployed empowering leadership behaviors, which were synergistic with design thinking, and fostered empowerment. Results: Pre- and post-surveys demonstrated statistically significant improvement in empowerment. The six-month depression remission rate increased 167%, from 7.3% (N=261 to 19.4% (N=247. Conclusion: The convergence of

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of S-CO{sub 2} Critical Flow for SFR Recovery System Design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Min Seok; Jung, Hwa-Young; Ahn, Yoonhan; Lee, Jekyoung; Lee, Jeong Ik [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

This paper presents both numerical and experimental studies of the critical flow of S-CO{sub 2} while special attention is given to the turbo-machinery seal design. A computational critical flow model is described first. The experiments were conducted to validate the critical flow model. Various conditions have been tested to study the flow characteristic and provide validation data for the model. The comparison of numerical and experimental results of S-CO{sub 2} critical flow will be presented. In order to eliminate SWR, a concept of coupling the Supercritical CO{sub 2} (S-CO{sub 2}) cycle with SFR has been proposed. It is known that for a closed system controlling the inventory is important for stable operation and achieving high efficiency. Since the S-CO{sub 2} power cycle is a highly pressurized system, certain amount of leakage flow is inevitable in the rotating turbo-machinery via seals. To simulate the CO{sub 2} leak flow in a turbo-machinery with higher accuracy in the future, the real gas effect and friction factor will be considered for the CO{sub 2} critical flow model. Moreover, experimentally obtained temperature data were somewhat different from the numerically obtained temperature due to the insufficient insulation and large thermal inertia of the CO{sub 2} critical flow facility. Insulation in connecting pipes and the low-pressure tank will be added and additional tests will be conducted.

Hydraulic design of Three Gorges right bank powerhouse turbine for improvement of hydraulic stability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi, Q

2010-01-01

This paper presents the hydraulic design of Three Gorges Right Bank Powerhouse turbine for improvement of hydraulic stability. The technical challenges faced in the hydraulic design of the turbine are given. The method of hydraulic design for improving the hydraulic stability and particularly for eliminating the upper part load pressure pulsations is clarified. The final hydraulic design results of Three Gorges Right Bank Powerhouse turbine based on modern hydraulic design techniques are presented.

Hydraulic design of Three Gorges right bank powerhouse turbine for improvement of hydraulic stability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shi, Q, E-mail: qhshi@dfem.com.c [Dong Fang Electrical Machinery Co., Ltd., DEC 188, Huanghe West Road, Deyang, 618000 (China)

2010-08-15

This paper presents the hydraulic design of Three Gorges Right Bank Powerhouse turbine for improvement of hydraulic stability. The technical challenges faced in the hydraulic design of the turbine are given. The method of hydraulic design for improving the hydraulic stability and particularly for eliminating the upper part load pressure pulsations is clarified. The final hydraulic design results of Three Gorges Right Bank Powerhouse turbine based on modern hydraulic design techniques are presented.

Application of project design peer review to improve quality assurance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McClure, F.E.

1989-01-01

DOE ORDER 5481.1B Safety Analysis and Review Systems and DOE ORDER 6430.1A General Design Criteria require that the design of facilities shall incorporate the necessary Quality Assurance review requirements to assure that the established program quality assurance objectives are met in the design criteria and the construction documents. The use of Project Design Peer Review to satisfy these requirements is presented. The University of California manages the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Los Alamos National Scientific Laboratory. The 1988 University Seismic Safety Policy requires the use of independent Project Design Peer Review in its capital improvement and seismic reconstruction program

Numerical Hydrodynamics in General Relativity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Font José A.

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The current status of numerical solutions for the equations of ideal general relativistic hydrodynamics is reviewed. With respect to an earlier version of the article, the present update provides additional information on numerical schemes, and extends the discussion of astrophysical simulations in general relativistic hydrodynamics. Different formulations of the equations are presented, with special mention of conservative and hyperbolic formulations well-adapted to advanced numerical methods. A large sample of available numerical schemes is discussed, paying particular attention to solution procedures based on schemes exploiting the characteristic structure of the equations through linearized Riemann solvers. A comprehensive summary of astrophysical simulations in strong gravitational fields is presented. These include gravitational collapse, accretion onto black holes, and hydrodynamical evolutions of neutron stars. The material contained in these sections highlights the numerical challenges of various representative simulations. It also follows, to some extent, the chronological development of the field, concerning advances on the formulation of the gravitational field and hydrodynamic equations and the numerical methodology designed to solve them.

Multi-disciplinary design optimization and performance evaluation of a single stage transonic axial compressor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sae Il; Lee, Dong Ho; Kim, Kyu Hong; Park, Tae Choon; Lim, Byeung Jun; Kang, Young Seok

2013-01-01

The multidisciplinary design optimization method, which integrates aerodynamic performance and structural stability, was utilized in the development of a single-stage transonic axial compressor. An approximation model was created using artificial neural network for global optimization within given ranges of variables and several design constraints. The genetic algorithm was used for the exploration of the Pareto front to find the maximum objective function value. The final design was chosen after a second stage gradient-based optimization process to improve the accuracy of the optimization. To validate the design procedure, numerical simulations and compressor tests were carried out to evaluate the aerodynamic performance and safety factor of the optimized compressor. Comparison between numerical optimal results and experimental data are well matched. The optimum shape of the compressor blade is obtained and compared to the baseline design. The proposed optimization framework improves the aerodynamic efficiency and the safety factor.

Improving the seismic small-scale modelling by comparison with numerical methods

Science.gov (United States)

Pageot, Damien; Leparoux, Donatienne; Le Feuvre, Mathieu; Durand, Olivier; Côte, Philippe; Capdeville, Yann

2017-10-01

The potential of experimental seismic modelling at reduced scale provides an intermediate step between numerical tests and geophysical campaigns on field sites. Recent technologies such as laser interferometers offer the opportunity to get data without any coupling effects. This kind of device is used in the Mesures Ultrasonores Sans Contact (MUSC) measurement bench for which an automated support system makes possible to generate multisource and multireceivers seismic data at laboratory scale. Experimental seismic modelling would become a great tool providing a value-added stage in the imaging process validation if (1) the experimental measurement chain is perfectly mastered, and thus if the experimental data are perfectly reproducible with a numerical tool, as well as if (2) the effective source is reproducible along the measurement setup. These aspects for a quantitative validation concerning devices with piezoelectrical sources and a laser interferometer have not been yet quantitatively studied in published studies. Thus, as a new stage for the experimental modelling approach, these two key issues are tackled in the proposed paper in order to precisely define the quality of the experimental small-scale data provided by the bench MUSC, which are available in the scientific community. These two steps of quantitative validation are dealt apart any imaging techniques in order to offer the opportunity to geophysicists who want to use such data (delivered as free data) of precisely knowing their quality before testing any imaging technique. First, in order to overcome the 2-D-3-D correction usually done in seismic processing when comparing 2-D numerical data with 3-D experimental measurement, we quantitatively refined the comparison between numerical and experimental data by generating accurate experimental line sources, avoiding the necessity of geometrical spreading correction for 3-D point-source data. The comparison with 2-D and 3-D numerical modelling is based on

Directions for improving the design of horizontal settling tanks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Basev, V A; Vaseva, V N

1979-01-01

Basic trends are presented for improving the design of horizontal settling tanks in recent years in order to increase hydraulic load on them and their efficient operation. An analysis is made of the suggested different designs of feed and uptake water-distributors, systems of concentrated recovery of clarified water and fine-layer elements. The most advanced of them was selected. The latter was recommended for practical use or experimental verification during purification of mine waters from suspended substances.

Cosmic-ray propagation with DRAGON2: I. numerical solver and astrophysical ingredients

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Evoli, Carmelo [Gran Sasso Science Institute, viale Francesco Crispi 7, 67100 L' Aquila (AQ) (Italy); Gaggero, Daniele [GRAPPA Institute, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1090 GL Amsterdam (Netherlands); Vittino, Andrea [Physik-Department T30d, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Straße 1, D-85748 Garching (Germany); Bernardo, Giuseppe Di [Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 1, 85740 Garching bei München (Germany); Mauro, Mattia Di [W.W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States); Ligorini, Arianna [Instytut Fizyki J\\cadrowej—PAN, ul. Radzikowskiego 152, 31-342 Kraków (Poland); Ullio, Piero [Scuola Internazionale di Studi Superiori Avanzati, via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste (Italy); Grasso, Dario, E-mail: carmelo.evoli@gssi.infn.it, E-mail: d.gaggero@uva.nl, E-mail: andrea.vittino@tum.de, E-mail: bernardo@mpa-garching.mpg.de, E-mail: mdimauro@slac.stanford.edu, E-mail: arianna.ligorini@ifj.edu.pl, E-mail: piero.ullio@sissa.it, E-mail: dario.grasso@pi.infn.it [INFN and Dipartimento di Fisica ' ' E. Fermi' ' , Pisa University, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa (Italy)

2017-02-01

We present version 2 of the DRAGON code designed for computing realistic predictions of the CR densities in the Galaxy. The code numerically solves the interstellar CR transport equation (including inhomogeneous and anisotropic diffusion, either in space and momentum, advective transport and energy losses), under realistic conditions. The new version includes an updated numerical solver and several models for the astrophysical ingredients involved in the transport equation. Improvements in the accuracy of the numerical solution are proved against analytical solutions and in reference diffusion scenarios. The novel features implemented in the code allow to simulate the diverse scenarios proposed to reproduce the most recent measurements of local and diffuse CR fluxes, going beyond the limitations of the homogeneous galactic transport paradigm. To this end, several applications using DRAGON2 are presented as well. This new version facilitates the users to include their own physical models by means of a modular C++ structure.

Nonlinear dynamics and numerical uncertainties in CFD

Science.gov (United States)

Yee, H. C.; Sweby, P. K.

1996-01-01

The application of nonlinear dynamics to improve the understanding of numerical uncertainties in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is reviewed. Elementary examples in the use of dynamics to explain the nonlinear phenomena and spurious behavior that occur in numerics are given. The role of dynamics in the understanding of long time behavior of numerical integrations and the nonlinear stability, convergence, and reliability of using time-marching, approaches for obtaining steady-state numerical solutions in CFD is explained. The study is complemented with spurious behavior observed in CFD computations.

Improvement of IFMIF/EVEDA bayonet concept back-plate design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bernardi, D., E-mail: davide.bernardi@enea.it [ENEA Brasimone- I-40032 Camugnano (Italy); Agostini, P.; Micciche, G.; Nitti, F.S.; Tincani, A. [ENEA Brasimone- I-40032 Camugnano (Italy)

2011-10-15

In the frame of the Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities (EVEDA) phase of the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) project, a supporting lithium loop has been designed and is currently under construction at Oarai (Japan) with the main objective to test several technological solutions to be adopted in the future IFMIF plant. Among these, the lithium target system represents one of the most critical components as it will be exposed to high-energy intense neutron flux and consequently to severe irradiation damage rates (up to 60 dpa/fpy). For this reason, it must be designed for periodic replacement. The solution proposed by ENEA is based on the so-called back-plate bayonet concept which consists of a replaceable element that can be inserted to and removed from the permanent structure of the target assembly by means of a sliding-skate mechanism. Recently, the design of the bayonet back-plate has been revised and some important modifications have been introduced in order to improve its functionality and optimize its features in terms of compactness, robustness and remote maintainability. Several design solutions have been conceived to achieve better performance including smaller overall dimensions, sealing load reduction, gasket retention system improvement, positioning and centering effectiveness and optimized detachment mechanism. Moreover, a new variable-curvature geometry for the lithium channel profile has been calculated using an analytic approach based on the simplified Navier-Stokes equations in order to avoid the fluid dynamic instabilities evidenced in the old profile. In this paper, the new design features of the back-plate are presented, along with the main outcomes obtained from the engineering assessment performed so far.

Improvement of IFMIF/EVEDA bayonet concept back-plate design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernardi, D.; Agostini, P.; Micciche, G.; Nitti, F.S.; Tincani, A.

2011-01-01

In the frame of the Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities (EVEDA) phase of the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) project, a supporting lithium loop has been designed and is currently under construction at Oarai (Japan) with the main objective to test several technological solutions to be adopted in the future IFMIF plant. Among these, the lithium target system represents one of the most critical components as it will be exposed to high-energy intense neutron flux and consequently to severe irradiation damage rates (up to 60 dpa/fpy). For this reason, it must be designed for periodic replacement. The solution proposed by ENEA is based on the so-called back-plate bayonet concept which consists of a replaceable element that can be inserted to and removed from the permanent structure of the target assembly by means of a sliding-skate mechanism. Recently, the design of the bayonet back-plate has been revised and some important modifications have been introduced in order to improve its functionality and optimize its features in terms of compactness, robustness and remote maintainability. Several design solutions have been conceived to achieve better performance including smaller overall dimensions, sealing load reduction, gasket retention system improvement, positioning and centering effectiveness and optimized detachment mechanism. Moreover, a new variable-curvature geometry for the lithium channel profile has been calculated using an analytic approach based on the simplified Navier-Stokes equations in order to avoid the fluid dynamic instabilities evidenced in the old profile. In this paper, the new design features of the back-plate are presented, along with the main outcomes obtained from the engineering assessment performed so far.

Thermal design of horizontal tube boilers. Numerical and experimental investigation; Modelisation thermique de bouilleurs a tubes horizontaux. Etude numerique et validation experimentale

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roser, R.

1999-11-26

This work concerns the thermal design of kettle reboilers. Current methods are highly inaccurate, regarded to the correlations for external heat transfer coefficient at one tube scale, as well as to two-phase flow modelling at boiler scale. The aim of this work is to improve these thermal design methods. It contains an experimental investigation with typical operating conditions of such equipment: an hydrocarbon (n-pentane) with low mass flux. This investigation has lead to characterize the local flow pattern through void fraction measurements and, from this, to develop correlations for void fraction, pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient. The approach is original, since the developed correlations are based on the liquid velocity at minimum cross section area between tubes, as variable characterizing the hydrodynamic effects on pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient. These correlations are shown to give much better results than those suggested up to now in the literature, which are empirical transpositions from methods developed for inside tube flows. Furthermore, the numerical code MC3D has been applied using the correlations developed in this work, leading to a modeling of the two-phase flow in the boiler, which is a significant progress compared to current simplified methods. (author)

Genetic Algorithms in Wind Turbine Airfoil Design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grasso, F. [ECN Wind Energy, Petten (Netherlands); Bizzarrini, N.; Coiro, D.P. [Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Napoli ' Federico II' , Napoli (Italy)

2011-03-15

One key element in the aerodynamic design of wind turbines is the use of specially tailored airfoils to increase the ratio of energy capture to the loading and thereby to reduce cost of energy. This work is focused on the design of a wind turbine airfoil by using numerical optimization. Firstly, the optimization approach is presented; a genetic algorithm is used, coupled with RFOIL solver and a composite Bezier geometrical parameterization. A particularly sensitive point is the choice and implementation of constraints; in order to formalize in the most complete and effective way the design requirements, the effects of activating specific constraints are discussed. A numerical example regarding the design of a high efficiency airfoil for the outer part of a blade by using genetic algorithms is illustrated and the results are compared with existing wind turbine airfoils. Finally a new hybrid design strategy is illustrated and discussed, in which the genetic algorithms are used at the beginning of the design process to explore a wide domain. Then, the gradient based algorithms are used in order to improve the first stage optimum.

Methods tuned on the physical problem. A way to improve numerical codes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ixaru, L.Gr.

2010-01-01

We consider the problem on how the numerical methods tuned on the physical problem can contribute to the enhancement of the performance of the codes. We illustrate this on two simple cases: solution of time independent one-dimensional Schroedinger equation, and the computation of integrals with oscillatory integrands. In both cases the tuned versions bring a massive gain in accuracy at negligible extra cost. We presented two simple problems where successive levels of tuning enhance significantly the accuracy at negligible extra cost. These problems should be seen as representing only some illustrations on how the codes can be improved but we must also mention that in many cases tuned versions still have to be developed. Just for a suggestion, quadrature formulae which involve the integrand and a number of successive derivatives of this exist, but no formula is available when some of these derivatives are missing, for example when we dispose of y and y'' but not of y'. A direct application will be on the case when the integrand involves the solution of the Schrodinger equation by the method of Numerov. (author)

GPU based numerical simulation of core shooting process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi-zhong Zhang

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Core shooting process is the most widely used technique to make sand cores and it plays an important role in the quality of sand cores. Although numerical simulation can hopefully optimize the core shooting process, research on numerical simulation of the core shooting process is very limited. Based on a two-fluid model (TFM and a kinetic-friction constitutive correlation, a program for 3D numerical simulation of the core shooting process has been developed and achieved good agreements with in-situ experiments. To match the needs of engineering applications, a graphics processing unit (GPU has also been used to improve the calculation efficiency. The parallel algorithm based on the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA platform can significantly decrease computing time by multi-threaded GPU. In this work, the program accelerated by CUDA parallelization method was developed and the accuracy of the calculations was ensured by comparing with in-situ experimental results photographed by a high-speed camera. The design and optimization of the parallel algorithm were discussed. The simulation result of a sand core test-piece indicated the improvement of the calculation efficiency by GPU. The developed program has also been validated by in-situ experiments with a transparent core-box, a high-speed camera, and a pressure measuring system. The computing time of the parallel program was reduced by nearly 95% while the simulation result was still quite consistent with experimental data. The GPU parallelization method can successfully solve the problem of low computational efficiency of the 3D sand shooting simulation program, and thus the developed GPU program is appropriate for engineering applications.

An Improved Cross-Layering Design for IPv6 Fast Handover with IEEE 802.16m Entry Before Break Handover

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Ronny Yongho; Jung, Inuk; Kim, Young Yong

IEEE 802.16m is an advanced air interface standard which is under development for IMT-Advanced systems, known as 4G systems. IEEE 802.16m is designed to provide a high data rate and a Quality of Service (QoS) level in order to meet user service requirements, and is especially suitable for mobilized environments. There are several factors that have great impact on such requirements. As one of the major factors, we mainly focus on latency issues. In IEEE 802.16m, an enhanced layer 2 handover scheme, described as Entry Before Break (EBB) was proposed and adopted to reduce handover latency. EBB provides significant handover interruption time reduction with respect to the legacy IEEE 802.16 handover scheme. Fast handovers for mobile IPv6 (FMIPv6) was standardized by Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in order to provide reduced handover interruption time from IP layer perspective. Since FMIPv6 utilizes link layer triggers to reduce handover latency, it is very critical to jointly design FMIPv6 with its underlying link layer protocol. However, FMIPv6 based on new handover scheme, EBB has not been proposed. In this paper, we propose an improved cross-layering design for FMIPv6 based on the IEEE 802.16m EBB handover. In comparison with the conventional FMIPv6 based on the legacy IEEE 802.16 network, the overall handover interruption time can be significantly reduced by employing the proposed design. Benefits of this improvement on latency reduction for mobile user applications are thoroughly investigated with both numerical analysis and simulation on various IP applications.

How to Overcome Numerical Challenges to Modeling Stirling Engines

Science.gov (United States)

Dyson, Rodger W.; Wilson, Scott D.; Tew, Roy C.

2004-01-01

Nuclear thermal to electric power conversion carries the promise of longer duration missions and higher scientific data transmission rates back to Earth for a range of missions, including both Mars rovers and deep space missions. A free-piston Stirling convertor is a candidate technology that is considered an efficient and reliable power conversion device for such purposes. While already very efficient, it is believed that better Stirling engines can be developed if the losses inherent in current designs could be better understood. However, they are difficult to instrument and so efforts are underway to simulate a complete Stirling engine numerically. This has only recently been attempted and a review of the methods leading up to and including such computational analysis is presented. And finally it is proposed that the quality and depth of Stirling loss understanding may be improved by utilizing the higher fidelity and efficiency of recently developed numerical methods. One such method, the Ultra HI-FI technique is presented in detail.

Numerical simulations of a horizontal axis water turbine designed for underwater mooring platforms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenlong Tian

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In order to extend the operational life of Underwater Moored Platforms (UMPs, a horizontal axis water turbine is designed to supply energy for the UMPs. The turbine, equipped with controllable blades, can be opened to generate power and charge the UMPs in moored state. Three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD simulations are performed to study the characteristics of power, thrust and the wake of the turbine. Particularly, the effect of the installation position of the turbine is considered. Simulations are based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS equations and the shear stress transport k-ω turbulent model is utilized. The numerical method is validated using existing experimental data. The simulation results show that this turbine has a maximum power coefficient of 0.327 when the turbine is installed near the tail of the UMP. The flow structure near the blade and in the wake are also discussed.

User-centered design to improve clinical decision support in primary care.

Science.gov (United States)

Brunner, Julian; Chuang, Emmeline; Goldzweig, Caroline; Cain, Cindy L; Sugar, Catherine; Yano, Elizabeth M

2017-08-01

A growing literature has demonstrated the ability of user-centered design to make clinical decision support systems more effective and easier to use. However, studies of user-centered design have rarely examined more than a handful of sites at a time, and have frequently neglected the implementation climate and organizational resources that influence clinical decision support. The inclusion of such factors was identified by a systematic review as "the most important improvement that can be made in health IT evaluations." (1) Identify the prevalence of four user-centered design practices at United States Veterans Affairs (VA) primary care clinics and assess the perceived utility of clinical decision support at those clinics; (2) Evaluate the association between those user-centered design practices and the perceived utility of clinical decision support. We analyzed clinic-level survey data collected in 2006-2007 from 170 VA primary care clinics. We examined four user-centered design practices: 1) pilot testing, 2) provider satisfaction assessment, 3) formal usability assessment, and 4) analysis of impact on performance improvement. We used a regression model to evaluate the association between user-centered design practices and the perceived utility of clinical decision support, while accounting for other important factors at those clinics, including implementation climate, available resources, and structural characteristics. We also examined associations separately at community-based clinics and at hospital-based clinics. User-centered design practices for clinical decision support varied across clinics: 74% conducted pilot testing, 62% conducted provider satisfaction assessment, 36% conducted a formal usability assessment, and 79% conducted an analysis of impact on performance improvement. Overall perceived utility of clinical decision support was high, with a mean rating of 4.17 (±.67) out of 5 on a composite measure. "Analysis of impact on performance

Numerical analysis targets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sollogoub, Pierre

2001-01-01

Numerical analyses are needed in different steps of the overall design process. Complex models or non-linear reactor core behaviour are important for qualification and/or comparison of results obtained. Adequate models and test should be defined. Fuel assembly, fuel row, and the complete core should be tested for seismic effects causing LOCA and flow-induced vibrations (FIV)

Improved Design of Unequal Error Protection LDPC Codes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandberg Sara

2010-01-01

Full Text Available We propose an improved method for designing unequal error protection (UEP low-density parity-check (LDPC codes. The method is based on density evolution. The degree distribution with the best UEP properties is found, under the constraint that the threshold should not exceed the threshold of a non-UEP code plus some threshold offset. For different codeword lengths and different construction algorithms, we search for good threshold offsets for the UEP code design. The choice of the threshold offset is based on the average a posteriori variable node mutual information. Simulations reveal the counter intuitive result that the short-to-medium length codes designed with a suitable threshold offset all outperform the corresponding non-UEP codes in terms of average bit-error rate. The proposed codes are also compared to other UEP-LDPC codes found in the literature.

Evaluation of spacer grid spring characteristics by means of physical tests and numerical simulation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schettino, Carlos Frederico Mattos, E-mail: carlosschettino@inb.gov.br [Industrias Nucleares do Brasil (INB), Resende, RJ (Brazil)

2017-11-01

Among all fuel assemblies' components, the spacer grids play an important structural role during the energy generation process, mainly due for its primary functional requirement, that is, to provide fuel rod support. The present work aims to evaluate the spring characteristics of a specific spacer grid design used in a PWR fuel assembly type 16 x 16. These spring characteristics comprises the load versus deflection capability and its spring rate, which are very important, and also mandatory, to be correctly established in order to preclude spacer grid spring and fuel rod cladding fretting during operation, as well as prevent an excessive fuel rod buckling. This study includes physical tests and numerical simulation. The tests were performed on an adapted load cell mechanical device, using as a specimen a single strap of the spacer grid. Three numerical models were prepared using the Finite Element Method, with the support of the commercial code ANSYS. One model was built to validate the simulation according to the performed physical test, the others were built inserting a gradient of temperature (Beginning Of Life hot condition) and to evaluate the spacer grid spring characteristics in End Of Life condition. The obtained results from physical test and numerical model have shown a good agreement between them, therefore validating the simulation. The obtained results from numerical models make available information regarding the spacer grid design purpose, such as the behavior of the fuel rod cladding support during operation. Therewith, these evaluations could be useful to improve the spacer grid design. (author)

Evaluation of spacer grid spring characteristics by means of physical tests and numerical simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schettino, Carlos Frederico Mattos

2017-01-01

Among all fuel assemblies' components, the spacer grids play an important structural role during the energy generation process, mainly due for its primary functional requirement, that is, to provide fuel rod support. The present work aims to evaluate the spring characteristics of a specific spacer grid design used in a PWR fuel assembly type 16 x 16. These spring characteristics comprises the load versus deflection capability and its spring rate, which are very important, and also mandatory, to be correctly established in order to preclude spacer grid spring and fuel rod cladding fretting during operation, as well as prevent an excessive fuel rod buckling. This study includes physical tests and numerical simulation. The tests were performed on an adapted load cell mechanical device, using as a specimen a single strap of the spacer grid. Three numerical models were prepared using the Finite Element Method, with the support of the commercial code ANSYS. One model was built to validate the simulation according to the performed physical test, the others were built inserting a gradient of temperature (Beginning Of Life hot condition) and to evaluate the spacer grid spring characteristics in End Of Life condition. The obtained results from physical test and numerical model have shown a good agreement between them, therefore validating the simulation. The obtained results from numerical models make available information regarding the spacer grid design purpose, such as the behavior of the fuel rod cladding support during operation. Therewith, these evaluations could be useful to improve the spacer grid design. (author)

Using implementation tools to design and conduct quality improvement projects for faster and more effective improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Ovretveit, John; Mittman, Brian; Rubenstein, Lisa; Ganz, David A

2017-10-09

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to enable improvers to use recent knowledge from implementation science to carry out improvement changes more effectively. It also highlights the importance of converting research findings into practical tools and guidance for improvers so as to make research easier to apply in practice. Design/methodology/approach This study provides an illustration of how a quality improvement (QI) team project can make use of recent findings from implementation research so as to make their improvement changes more effective and sustainable. The guidance is based on a review and synthesis of improvement and implementation methods. Findings The paper illustrates how research can help a quality project team in the phases of problem definition and preparation, in design and planning, in implementation, and in sustaining and spreading a QI. Examples of the use of different ideas and methods are cited where they exist. Research limitations/implications The example is illustrative and there is little limited experimental evidence of whether using all the steps and tools in the one approach proposed do enable a quality team to be more effective. Evidence supporting individual guidance proposals is cited where it exists. Practical implications If the steps proposed and illustrated in the paper were followed, it is possible that quality projects could avoid waste by ensuring the conditions they need for success are in place, and sustain and spread improvement changes more effectively. Social implications More patients could benefit more quickly from more effective implementation of proven interventions. Originality/value The paper is the first to describe how improvement and implementation science can be combined in a tangible way that practical improvers can use in their projects. It shows how QI project teams can take advantage of recent advances in improvement and implementation science to make their work more effective and sustainable.

Playing Linear Number Board Games--but Not Circular Ones--Improves Low-Income Preschoolers' Numerical Understanding

Science.gov (United States)

Siegler, Robert S.; Ramani, Geetha B.

2009-01-01

A theoretical analysis of the development of numerical representations indicated that playing linear number board games should enhance preschoolers' numerical knowledge and ability to acquire new numerical knowledge. The effect on knowledge of numerical magnitudes was predicted to be larger when the game was played with a linear board than with a…

Numerical Simulation of the Application of Solar Radiant Systems, Internal Airflow and Occupants’ Presence in the Improvement of Comfort in Winter Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eusébio Z. E. Conceição

2016-09-01

Full Text Available In this work, the use of numerical simulation in the application of solar radiant systems, internal airflow and occupants’ presence in the improvement of comfort in winter conditions is made. The thermal comfort, the local thermal discomfort and the air quality in an occupied chamber space are evaluated. In the experimental measurements, a wood chamber, a desk, two seats, two seated hygro-thermal manikins, a warm radiant floor, a solar radiation simulator and a water solar collector are used. The air velocity and the air temperature fluctuation are experimentally evaluated around 15 human body sections. The chamber surface temperature is experimentally measured. In the numerical simulation, a coupling human thermal comfort (HTC integral model, a computational fluids dynamics (CFD differential model and a building thermal response (BTR integral model are applied. The human thermal comfort level is evaluated by the HTC numerical model. The airflow inside the virtual chamber, using the k-epsilon and RNG turbulence models, is evaluated by the CFD numerical model. The chamber surface and the collector temperatures are evaluated by the BTR numerical model. In the human thermal comfort level, in non-uniform environments, the predicted mean vote (PMV and the predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD people are numerically evaluated; in the local thermal discomfort level the draught risk (DR is experimentally and numerically analyzed; and in the air quality, the carbon dioxide CO2 concentration is numerically calculated. In the validation tests, the experimental and numerical values of the chamber surface temperature, the air temperature, the air velocity, the air turbulence intensity and the DR are presented.

Improving Student Commitment to Healthcare-Related Design Practice by Improving the Studio Learning Experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Lindsay; Hong, Miyoung; Albert, Taneshia West

2017-10-01

This case study explores the influence of the healthcare design studio experience on students' short-term professional goals as measured through rates of healthcare-related certification and internship/employment. The value and relevance of interior design is evident in the healthcare design sector. However, interior design students may not perceive this value if it is not communicated through their design education. Students' experience in the design studio plays a crucial role in determining career choices, and students may be more committed to career goals when there is clear connection between major coursework and professional practice. The authors compared healthcare-related certification and internship/employment levels between two student cohorts in a capstone undergraduate interior design healthcare design studio course. The first cohort was led by the existing curriculum. The second cohort was led by the revised curriculum that specifically aimed at encouraging students to commit to healthcare-related design practice. When measured at 3 months from graduation, the second cohort, led by the revised curriculum, saw a 30% increase in Evidence-based Design Accreditation and Certification exam pass rates and a 40% increase in healthcare-related internship/employment. The challenge of interior design education is to instill in emerging professionals not only professional competence but also those professional attitudes that will make them better prepared to design spaces that improve quality of life, particularly in healthcare environments. The results exceeded the project goals, and so this could be considered a promising practice for courses focused on healthcare design education.

Using design science and artificial intelligence to improve health communication: ChronologyMD case example.

Science.gov (United States)

Neuhauser, Linda; Kreps, Gary L; Morrison, Kathleen; Athanasoulis, Marcos; Kirienko, Nikolai; Van Brunt, Deryk

2013-08-01

This paper describes how design science theory and methods and use of artificial intelligence (AI) components can improve the effectiveness of health communication. We identified key weaknesses of traditional health communication and features of more successful eHealth/AI communication. We examined characteristics of the design science paradigm and the value of its user-centered methods to develop eHealth/AI communication. We analyzed a case example of the participatory design of AI components in the ChronologyMD project intended to improve management of Crohn's disease. eHealth/AI communication created with user-centered design shows improved relevance to users' needs for personalized, timely and interactive communication and is associated with better health outcomes than traditional approaches. Participatory design was essential to develop ChronologyMD system architecture and software applications that benefitted patients. AI components can greatly improve eHealth/AI communication, if designed with the intended audiences. Design science theory and its iterative, participatory methods linked with traditional health communication theory and methods can create effective AI health communication. eHealth/AI communication researchers, developers and practitioners can benefit from a holistic approach that draws from theory and methods in both design sciences and also human and social sciences to create successful AI health communication. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Do Architectural Design Decisions Improve the Understanding of Software Architecture? Two Controlled Experiments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shahin, M.; Liang, P.; Li, Z.

2014-01-01

Architectural design decision (ADD) and its design rationale, as a paradigm shift on documenting and enriching architecture design description, is supposed to facilitate the understanding of architecture and the reasoning behind the design rationale, which consequently improves the architecting

Developing Instructional Design to Improve Mathematical Higher Order Thinking Skills of Students

Science.gov (United States)

Apino, E.; Retnawati, H.

2017-02-01

This study aimed to describe the instructional design to improve the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) of students in learning mathematics. This research is design research involving teachers and students of class X MIPA 1 MAN Yigyakarta III, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Data collected through focus group discussions and tests. Data analyzed by quantitative descriptive. The results showed that the instructional design developed is effective to improving students’ HOTS in learning mathematics. Instructional design developed generally include three main components: (1) involve students in the activities non-routine problem solving; (2) facilitating students to develop the ability to analyze and evaluate (critical thinking) and the ability to create (creative thinking); and (3) encourage students to construct their own knowledge.

Integrating Participatory Design and Health Literacy to Improve Research and Interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Neuhauser, Linda

2017-01-01

Health communication is an essential health promotion strategy to convert scientific findings into actionable, empowering information for the public. Health communication interventions have shown positive outcomes, but many efforts have been disappointing. A key weakness is that expert-designed health communication is often overly generic and not adequately aligned with the abilities, preferences and life situations of specific audiences. The emergence of the field of health literacy is providing powerful theoretical guidance and practice strategies. Health literacy, in concert with other determinants of health, has greatly advanced understanding of factors that facilitate or hinder health promotion at individual, organizational and community settings. However, health literacy models are incomplete and interventions have shown only modest success to date. A challenge is to move beyond the current focus on individual comprehension and address deeper factors of motivation, self-efficacy and empowerment, as well as socio-environmental influences, and their impact to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities. Integrating participatory design theory and methods drawn from social sciences and design sciences can significantly improve health literacy models and interventions. Likewise, researchers and practitioners using participatory design can greatly benefit from incorporating health literacy principles into their efforts. Such interventions at multiple levels are showing positive health outcomes and reduction of health disparities, but this approach is complex and not yet widespread. This chapter focuses on research findings about health literacy and participatory design to improve health promotion, and practical guidance and case examples for researchers, practitioners and policymakers.

El numeral 8 de la norma y la mejora continua en las empresas de Ibagué

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mario Enrique Uribe Macías

2015-03-01

Full Text Available El proyecto de investigación se realizó a partir de la aplicación de un cuestionario estructurado, diseñado con base en la Norma ISO 9004, a siete empresas que habían sido certificadas, siendo una muestra definida por conveniencia. El artículo presenta los resultados del análisis de la aplicación del numeral 8 de la norma “Medición, análisis y mejora”, resaltándose dos grandes conclusiones: el alto grado de autoapreciación que las empresas tienen de su gestión del Sistema de calidad y la aplicación, desarrollo y demostración de las acciones que ellas adelantan se enfocan a mejorar la eficacia de sus sistemas de calidad y a fortalecer su cultura de calidad.Palabras clave: Calidad; Mejora continua; Numeral 8 Norma ISO. Standard ítem 8 and continue improvement in enterprises from IbagueAbstractThe research project was developed by a structured questionnaire application, designed ISO 9004 based-on, to seven certified enterprises that formed a sample chosen by convenience method. This paper presents the results of application of Standard numeral 8. Measuring, analysis and improve behavior analysis, emphasizing two great conclusions: the self-appreciation high level enterprises have about theirs Quality system management, and the application, development and demonstration about the actions they do are focused to improve their  quality systems efficacy and to strengthen their quality culture.Keywords: Quality; Continue improving; Standard ISO numeral 8.

Nuclear power control system design using genetic algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Yoon Joon; Cho, Kyung Ho

1996-01-01

The genetic algorithm(GA) is applied to the design of the nuclear power control system. The reactor control system model is described in the LQR configuration. The LQR system order is increased to make the tracking system. The key parameters of the design are weighting matrices, and these are usually determined through numerous simulations in the conventional design. To determine the more objective and optimal weightings, the improved GA is applied. The results show that the weightings determined by the GA yield the better system responses than those obtained by the conventional design method

Improving SFR Economics through Innovations from Thermal Design and Analysis Aspects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haihua Zhao; Hongbin Zhang; Vincent Mousseau; Per F. Peterson

2008-06-01

Achieving economic competitiveness as compared to LWRs and other Generation IV (Gen-IV) reactors is one of the major requirements for large-scale investment in commercial sodium cooled fast reactor (SFR) power plants. Advances in R&D for advanced SFR fuel and structural materials provide key long-term opportunities to improve SFR economics. In addition, other new opportunities are emerging to further improve SFR economics. This paper provides an overview on potential ideas from the perspective of thermal hydraulics to improve SFR economics. These include a new hybrid loop-pool reactor design to further optimize economics, safety, and reliability of SFRs with more flexibility, a multiple reheat and intercooling helium Brayton cycle to improve plant thermal efficiency and reduce safety related overnight and operation costs, and modern multi-physics thermal analysis methods to reduce analysis uncertainties and associated requirements for over-conservatism in reactor design. This paper reviews advances in all three of these areas and their potential beneficial impacts on SFR economics.

Aerodynamic design on high-speed trains

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, San-San; Li, Qiang; Tian, Ai-Qin; Du, Jian; Liu, Jia-Li

2016-04-01

Compared with the traditional train, the operational speed of the high-speed train has largely improved, and the dynamic environment of the train has changed from one of mechanical domination to one of aerodynamic domination. The aerodynamic problem has become the key technological challenge of high-speed trains and significantly affects the economy, environment, safety, and comfort. In this paper, the relationships among the aerodynamic design principle, aerodynamic performance indexes, and design variables are first studied, and the research methods of train aerodynamics are proposed, including numerical simulation, a reduced-scale test, and a full-scale test. Technological schemes of train aerodynamics involve the optimization design of the streamlined head and the smooth design of the body surface. Optimization design of the streamlined head includes conception design, project design, numerical simulation, and a reduced-scale test. Smooth design of the body surface is mainly used for the key parts, such as electric-current collecting system, wheel truck compartment, and windshield. The aerodynamic design method established in this paper has been successfully applied to various high-speed trains (CRH380A, CRH380AM, CRH6, CRH2G, and the Standard electric multiple unit (EMU)) that have met expected design objectives. The research results can provide an effective guideline for the aerodynamic design of high-speed trains.

Design of welding parameters for laser welding of thin-walled stainless steel tubes using numerical simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Nagy, M.; Behúlová, M.

2017-11-01

Nowadays, the laser technology is used in a wide spectrum of applications, especially in engineering, electronics, medicine, automotive, aeronautic or military industries. In the field of mechanical engineering, the laser technology reaches the biggest increase in the automotive industry, mainly due to the introduction of automation utilizing 5-axial movements. Modelling and numerical simulation of laser welding processes has been exploited with many advantages for the investigation of physical principles and complex phenomena connected with this joining technology. The paper is focused on the application of numerical simulation to the design of welding parameters for the circumferential laser welding of thin-walled exhaust pipes from theAISI 304 steel for automotive industry. Using the developed and experimentally verified simulation model for laser welding of tubes, the influence of welding parameters including the laser velocity from 30 mm.s-1 to 60 mm.s-1 and the laser power from 500 W to 1200 W on the temperature fields and dimensions of fusion zone was investigated using the program code ANSYS. Based on obtained results, the welding schedule for the laser beam welding of thin-walled tubes from the AISI 304 steel was suggested.

Numerical method improvement for a subchannel code

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ding, W.J.; Gou, J.L.; Shan, J.Q. [Xi' an Jiaotong Univ., Shaanxi (China). School of Nuclear Science and Technology

2016-07-15

Previous studies showed that the subchannel codes need most CPU time to solve the matrix formed by the conservation equations. Traditional matrix solving method such as Gaussian elimination method and Gaussian-Seidel iteration method cannot meet the requirement of the computational efficiency. Therefore, a new algorithm for solving the block penta-diagonal matrix is designed based on Stone's incomplete LU (ILU) decomposition method. In the new algorithm, the original block penta-diagonal matrix will be decomposed into a block upper triangular matrix and a lower block triangular matrix as well as a nonzero small matrix. After that, the LU algorithm is applied to solve the matrix until the convergence. In order to compare the computational efficiency, the new designed algorithm is applied to the ATHAS code in this paper. The calculation results show that more than 80 % of the total CPU time can be saved with the new designed ILU algorithm for a 324-channel PWR assembly problem, compared with the original ATHAS code.

Improvement of the thickness distribution of a quartz crystal wafer by numerically controlled plasma chemical vaporization machining

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shibahara, Masafumi; Yamamura, Kazuya; Sano, Yasuhisa; Sugiyama, Tsuyoshi; Endo, Katsuyoshi; Mori, Yuzo

2005-01-01

To improve the thickness uniformity of thin quartz crystal wafer, a new machining process that utilizes an atmospheric pressure plasma was developed. In an atmospheric pressure plasma process, since the kinetic energy of ions that impinge to the wafer surface is small and the density of the reactive species is large, high-efficiency machining without damage is realized, and the thickness distribution is corrected by numerically controlled scanning of the quartz wafer to the localized high-density plasma. By using our developed machining process, the thickness distribution of an AT cut wafer was improved from 174 nm [peak to valley (p-v)] to 67 nm (p-v) within 94 s. Since there are no unwanted spurious modes in the machined quartz wafer, it was proved that the developed machining method has a high machining efficiency without any damage

Numerical modeling of underground openings behavior with a viscoplastic approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kleine, A.

2007-01-01

Nature is complex and must be approached in total modesty by engineers seeking to predict the behavior of underground openings. The engineering of industrial projects in underground situations, with high economic and social stakes (Alpine mountain crossings, nuclear waste repository), mean striving to gain better understanding of the behavioral mechanisms of the openings to be designed. This improvement necessarily involves better physical representativeness of macroscopic mechanisms and the provision of prediction tools suited to the expectations and needs of the engineers. The calculation tools developed in this work is in step with this concern for satisfying industrial needs and developing knowledge related to the rheology of geo-materials. These developments led to the proposing of a mechanical constitutive model, suited to lightly fissured rocks, comparable to continuous media, while integrating more particularly the effect of time. Thread of this study, the problematics ensued from the subject of the thesis is precisely about the rock mass delayed behavior in numerical modeling and its consequences on underground openings design. Based on physical concepts of reference, defined in several scales (macro/meso/micro), the developed constitutive model is translated in a mathematical formalism in order to be numerically implemented. Numerical applications presented as illustrations fall mainly within the framework of nuclear waste repository problems. They concern two very different configurations of underground openings: the AECL's underground canadian laboratory, excavated in the Lac du Bonnet granite, and the GMR gallery of Bure's laboratory (Meuse/Haute-Marne), dug in argillaceous rock. In this two cases, this constitutive model use highlights the gains to be obtained from allowing for delayed behavior regarding the accuracy of numerical tunnel behavior predictions in the short, medium and long terms. (author)

Usability of consumer-related information sources for design improvement

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Thiruvenkadam, G.; Brombacher, A.C.; Lu, Y.; Ouden, den P.H.

2008-01-01

In this paper we report the findings of a study intended to assess the usability of consumer related information sources in order to improve the design processes of innovative electronic products. Specifically, an evaluation is done of the quality and content of information that would help product

Evaluation of aluminum drill-pipe material and design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Placido, Joao C. [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Lourenco, Marcelo I.; Netto, Theodoro Antoun [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-graduacao de Engenharia (COPPE)

2008-07-01

Experimental program and numerical analyses were carried out to investigate the fatigue mechanisms of aluminum drill pipes designed and manufactured in compliance with ISO 15546. The main objective is to improve the fatigue performance of these components by selecting the appropriate aluminum alloy and by enhancing the mechanical design of the threaded steel connector. This paper presents the experimental test program and numerical analyses conducted on a drill-pipe of different materials (Al-Cu-Mg and Al-Zn-Mg system aluminum alloys) and geometry. Material mechanical properties, including S-N curve, were determined through small-scale tests on specimens cut from actual drill pipes. Full-scale experiments were also performed in laboratory. A finite element model of the drill pipe, including the tool-joint region, was developed. The model simulates, through different load steps, the tool-joint hot assembly, and then reproduces the physical experiments numerically in order to obtain the actual stress distribution. Good correlation between full-scale and small-scale fatigue tests was obtained by adjusting the strain/stress levels monitored in the full-scale tests in light of the numerical simulations and performing fatigue life calculations via multiaxial fatigue models. The weak points of the current practice design are highlighted for further development. (author)

Numerical modeling of the creep behavior of clays with emphasis on tunnels and underground openings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-02-01

This report presents an interpretive overview and critical assessment of the state-of-the-art for numerical modeling of the creep behavior of clays. The overview and assessment is focused upon application to underground openings. Field and laboratory observations of time-dependent behavior, constitutive modeling of creep behavior, and numerical implementation of constitutive equations are addressed. A critical assessment of the ability of existing models to predict aspects of creep behavior relevant to waste repository design and suggestions for improved analyses that can be developed with existing technology are provided. Both heuristic and mathematical constitutive models are reviewed. Heuristic models provide a basis for evaluation of the required parameters for the continuum mechanics based mathematical models. The continuum mechanics models are required for numerical analysis. It has been demonstrated that, by using iterative and incremental analysis, virtually any viscous or inviscid continuum mechanics material model can be adapted to consider time-dependent behavior. Available numerical models for numerical analysis of geotechnical problems involving creep deformations are reviewed. Models for thermo-mechanical coupling are also addressed in this review. Cases where creep-inclusive analyses have been applied to analysis of prototype behavior are cited. However, the lack of well documented case histories of time-dependent deformations over significant time spans is identified as a major obstacle to model verification. Recommendations are made for an alternative design approach capable of guaranteeing the very long term mechanical integrity of the liner. 167 refs., 22 figs., 6 tabs

Numerical investigation of pollution transport and environmental improvement measures in a tidal bay based on a Lagrangian particle-tracking model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

En-jin Zhao

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In view of the severity of oceanic pollution, based on the finite volume coastal ocean model (FVCOM, a Lagrangian particle-tracking model was used to numerically investigate the coastal pollution transport and water exchange capability in Tangdao Bay, in China. The severe pollution in the bay was numerically simulated by releasing and tracking particles inside it. The simulation results demonstrate that the water exchange capability in the bay is very low. Once the bay has suffered pollution, a long period will be required before the environment can purify itself. In order to eliminate or at least reduce the pollution level, environmental improvement measures have been proposed to enhance the seawater exchange capability and speed up the water purification inside the bay. The study findings presented in this paper are believed to be instructive and useful for future environmental policy makers and it is also anticipated that the numerical model in this paper can serve as an effective technological tool to study many emerging coastal environment problems. Keywords: Particle-tracking, Water exchange capability, Lagrangian system, Coastal pollution, Tangdao bay, FVCOM

Improved Design of Beam Tunnel for 42 GHz Gyrotron

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Udaybir; Kumar, Nitin; Purohit, L. P.; Sinha, A. K.

2011-04-01

In gyrotron, there is the chance of generation and excitation of unwanted RF modes (parasite oscillations). These modes may interact with electron beam and consequently degrade the beam quality. This paper presents the improved design of the beam tunnel to reduce the parasite oscillations and the effect of beam tunnel geometry on the electron beam parameters. The design optimization of the beam tunnel has been done with the help of 3-D simulation software CST-Microwave Studio and the effect of beam tunnel geometry on the electron beam parameters has been analyzed by EGUN code.

Design proposal for ultimate shear strength of tapered steel plate girders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Bedynek

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Numerous experimental and numerical studies on prismatic plate girders subjected to shear can be found in the literature. However, the real structures are frequently designed as non-uniform structural elements. The main objective of the research is the development of a new proposal for the calculation of the ultimate shear resistance of tapered steel plate girders taking into account the specific behaviour of such members. A new mechanical model is presented in the paper and it is used to show the differences between the behaviour of uniform and tapered web panels subjected to shear. EN 1993-1-5 design specifications for the determination of the shear strength for rectangular plates are improved in order to assess the shear strength of tapered elements. Numerical studies carried out on tapered steel plate girders subjected to shear lead to confirm the suitability of the mechanical model and the proposed design expression.

Numerical modeling for an electric-field hyperthermia applicator

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Te-Kao; Chou, C. K.; Chan, K. W.; Mcdougall, J.

1993-01-01

Hyperthermia, in conjunction with radiation and chemotherapy for treatment of cancers, is an area of current concern. Experiments have shown that hyperthermia can increase the potency of many chemotherapy drugs and the effectiveness of radiation for treating cancer. A combination of whole body or regional hyperthermia with chemotherapy or radiation should improve treatment results. Conventional methods for inducing whole body hyperthermia, such as exposing a patient in a radiant cabinet or under a hot water blanket, conduct heat very slowly from the skin to the body core. Thus a more efficient system, such as the three-plate electric-field hyperthermia applicator (EHA), is developed. This three-plate EHA has one top plate over and two lower plates beneath the patient. It is driven at 27.12 MHz with 500 Watts through a matching circuit. Using this applicator, a 50 kg pig was successfully heated to 42 C within 45 minutes. However, phantom and animal studies have indicated non-uniform heating near the side of the body. In addition, changes in the size and distance between the electrode plates can affect the heating (or electromagnetic field) pattern. Therefore, numerical models using the method of moments (MOM) or the finite difference time domain (FDTD) technique are developed to optimize the heating pattern of this EHA before it is used for human trials. The accuracy of the numerical modeling has been achieved by the good agreement between the MOM and FDTD results for the three-plate EHA without a biological body. The versatile FDTD technique is then applied to optimize the EHA design with a human body. Both the numerical and measured data in phantom blocks will be presented. The results of this study will be used to design an optimized system for whole body or regional hyperthermia.

Cavitation performance improvement of high specific speed mixed-flow pump

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, T; Sun, Y B; Wu, D Z; Wang, L Q

2012-01-01

Cavitation performance improvement of large hydraulic machinery such as pump and turbine has been a hot topic for decades. During the design process of the pumps, in order to minimize size, weight and cost centrifugal and mixed-flow pump impellers are required to operate at the highest possible rotational speed. The rotational speed is limited by the phenomenon of cavitation. The hydraulic model of high-speed mixed-flow pump with large flow rate and high pumping head, which was designed based on the traditional method, always involves poor cavitation performance. In this paper, on the basis of the same hydraulic design parameters, two hydraulic models of high-speed mixed-flow pump were designed by using different methods, in order to investigate the cavitation and hydraulic performance of the two models, the method of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was adopted for internal flow simulation of the high specific speed mixed-flow pump. Based on the results of numerical simulation, the influences of impeller parameters and three-dimensional configuration on pressure distribution of the blades' suction surfaces were analyzed. The numerical simulation results shows a better pressure distribution and lower pressure drop around the leading edge of the improved model. The research results could provide references to the design and optimization of the anti-cavitation blade.

Design of Electronic Medical Record User Interfaces: A Matrix-Based Method for Improving Usability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kushtrim Kuqi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This study examines a new approach of using the Design Structure Matrix (DSM modeling technique to improve the design of Electronic Medical Record (EMR user interfaces. The usability of an EMR medication dosage calculator used for placing orders in an academic hospital setting was investigated. The proposed method captures and analyzes the interactions between user interface elements of the EMR system and groups elements based on information exchange, spatial adjacency, and similarity to improve screen density and time-on-task. Medication dose adjustment task time was recorded for the existing and new designs using a cognitive simulation model that predicts user performance. We estimate that the design improvement could reduce time-on-task by saving an average of 21 hours of hospital physicians’ time over the course of a month. The study suggests that the application of DSM can improve the usability of an EMR user interface.

Design and implementation of new design of numerical experiments for non linear models; Conception et mise en oeuvre de nouvelles methodes d'elaboration de plans d'experiences pour l'apprentissage de modeles non lineaires

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gazut, St

2007-03-15

This thesis addresses the problem of the construction of surrogate models in numerical simulation. Whenever numerical experiments are costly, the simulation model is complex and difficult to use. It is important then to select the numerical experiments as efficiently as possible in order to minimize their number. In statistics, the selection of experiments is known as optimal experimental design. In the context of numerical simulation where no measurement uncertainty is present, we describe an alternative approach based on statistical learning theory and re-sampling techniques. The surrogate models are constructed using neural networks and the generalization error is estimated by leave-one-out, cross-validation and bootstrap. It is shown that the bootstrap can control the over-fitting and extend the concept of leverage for non linear in their parameters surrogate models. The thesis describes an iterative method called LDR for Learner Disagreement from experiment Re-sampling, based on active learning using several surrogate models constructed on bootstrap samples. The method consists in adding new experiments where the predictors constructed from bootstrap samples disagree most. We compare the LDR method with other methods of experimental design such as D-optimal selection. (author)

Design of 2-D Recursive Filters Using Self-adaptive Mutation Differential Evolution Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lianghong Wu

2011-08-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates a novel approach to the design of two-dimensional recursive digital filters using differential evolution (DE algorithm. The design task is reformulated as a constrained minimization problem and is solved by an Self-adaptive Mutation DE algorithm (SAMDE, which adopts an adaptive mutation operator that combines with the advantages of the DE/rand/1/bin strategy and the DE/best/2/bin strategy. As a result, its convergence performance is improved greatly. Numerical experiment results confirm the conclusion. The proposedSAMDE approach is effectively applied to test a numerical example and is compared with previous design methods. The computational experiments show that the SAMDE approach can obtain better results than previous design methods.

Development of generalized boiling transition model applicable for wide variety of fuel bundle geometries. Basic strategy and numerical approaches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ninokata, Hisashi; Sadatomi, Michio; Okawa, Tomio

2003-01-01

In order to establish a key technology to realize advanced BWR fuel designs, a three-year project of the advanced subchannel analysis code development had been started since 2002. The five dominant factors involved in the boiling transitional process in the fuel bundles were focused. They are, (1) inter-subchannel exchanges, (2) influences of obstacles (3) dryout of liquid film, (4) transition of two-phase flow regimes and (5) deposition of droplets. It has been recognized that present physical models or constitutive equations in subchannel formulations need to be improved so that they include geometrical effects in the fuel bundle design more mechanistically and universally. Through reviewing literatures and existent experimental results, underlying elementary processes and geometrical factors that are indispensable for improving subchannel codes were identified. The basic strategy that combines numerical and experimental approaches was proposed aiming at establishment of mechanistic models for the five dominant factors. In this paper, the present status of methodologies for detailed two-phase flow studies has been summarized. According to spatial scales of focused elementary processes, proper numerical approaches were selected. For some promising numerical approaches, preliminary calcitonins were performed for assessing their applicability to investigation of elementary processes involved in the boiling transition. (author)

Improvement of SSR core design for ABWR-II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moriwaki, Masanao; Aoyama, Motoo; Okada, Hiroyuki; Kitamura, Hideya; Sakurada, Koichi; Tanabe, Akira

2003-01-01

In order to enhance the spectral shift effect in the ABWR-II reactor, a novel core design to bring out better performance of spectral shift rods (SSRs) is studied. The SSR is a new type of water rod, in which the water level develops naturally during operation and changes according to the coolant flow rate through the channel. By using the SSR, the average moderator density, which is directly related to core reactivity, can be controlled over a wide range by the core flow rate. In the new SSR core design, two types of SSR bundles, in which settings for the SSR water levels are different, are utilized and loaded according to flow distribution in the core. This two-region SSR core design allows wide variation in the average SSR water level, thus improving fuel economy. Enhancement of SSR function in the two-region SSR core increases the uranium saving factor by about 25%, from the 6% of the conventional uniform SSR core to about 8%. (author)

Improving the hygienic design of closed equipment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Friis, Alan; Jensen, Bo Boye Busk

2005-01-01

Maintenance of proper hygiene in closed process equipment is in many ways a complex task. The interaction between the physical design and the nature of fluid flow is of main concern. During cleaning the main performance of the flow is to bring cleaning agents in the right doses to all parts of th...... computational fluid dynamics models to be able to predict the cleaning efficiency in especially complex parts of process plants has excellent potentials for desktop improvements and computer pre-validation of the hygienic performance of process plants....

Owl: A General-Purpose Numerical Library in OCaml

OpenAIRE

Wang, Liang

2017-01-01

Owl is a new numerical library developed in the OCaml language. It focuses on providing a comprehensive set of high-level numerical functions so that developers can quickly build up data analytical applications. In this abstract, we will present Owl's design, core components, and its key functionality.

Probabilistic numerics and uncertainty in computations.

Science.gov (United States)

Hennig, Philipp; Osborne, Michael A; Girolami, Mark

2015-07-08

We deliver a call to arms for probabilistic numerical methods : algorithms for numerical tasks, including linear algebra, integration, optimization and solving differential equations, that return uncertainties in their calculations. Such uncertainties, arising from the loss of precision induced by numerical calculation with limited time or hardware, are important for much contemporary science and industry. Within applications such as climate science and astrophysics, the need to make decisions on the basis of computations with large and complex data have led to a renewed focus on the management of numerical uncertainty. We describe how several seminal classic numerical methods can be interpreted naturally as probabilistic inference. We then show that the probabilistic view suggests new algorithms that can flexibly be adapted to suit application specifics, while delivering improved empirical performance. We provide concrete illustrations of the benefits of probabilistic numeric algorithms on real scientific problems from astrometry and astronomical imaging, while highlighting open problems with these new algorithms. Finally, we describe how probabilistic numerical methods provide a coherent framework for identifying the uncertainty in calculations performed with a combination of numerical algorithms (e.g. both numerical optimizers and differential equation solvers), potentially allowing the diagnosis (and control) of error sources in computations.

A design approach for improving the performance of single-grid planar retarding potential analyzers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davidson, R. L.; Earle, G. D.

2011-01-01

Planar retarding potential analyzers (RPAs) have a long flight history and have been included on numerous spaceflight missions including Dynamics Explorer, the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, and the Communications/Navigation Outage Forecast System. RPAs allow for simultaneous measurement of plasma composition, density, temperature, and the component of the velocity vector normal to the aperture plane. Internal conductive grids are used to approximate ideal potential planes within the instrument, but these grids introduce perturbations to the potential map inside the RPA and cause errors in the measurement of the parameters listed above. A numerical technique is presented herein for minimizing these grid errors for a specific mission by varying the depth and spacing of the grid wires. The example mission selected concentrates on plasma dynamics near the sunset terminator in the equatorial region. The international reference ionosphere model is used to discern the average conditions expected for this mission, and a numerical model of the grid-particle interaction is used to choose a grid design that will best fulfill the mission goals.

Analysis of the thermo-mechanical deformations in a hot forging tool by numerical simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

L-Cancelos, R.; Varas, F.; Viéitez, I.; Martín, E.

2016-01-01

Although programs have been developed for the design of tools for hot forging, its design is still largely based on the experience of the tool maker. This obliges to build some test matrices and correct their errors to minimize distortions in the forged piece. This phase prior to mass production consumes time and material resources, which makes the final product more expensive. The forging tools are usually constituted by various parts made of different grades of steel, which in turn have different mechanical properties and therefore suffer different degrees of strain. Furthermore, the tools used in the hot forging are exposed to a thermal field that also induces strain or stress based on the degree of confinement of the piece. Therefore, the mechanical behaviour of the assembly is determined by the contact between the different pieces. The numerical simulation allows to analyse different configurations and anticipate possible defects before tool making, thus, reducing the costs of this preliminary phase. In order to improve the dimensional quality of the manufactured parts, the work presented here focuses on the application of a numerical model to a hot forging manufacturing process in order to predict the areas of the forging die subjected to large deformations. The thermo-mechanical model developed and implemented with free software (Code-Aster) includes the strains of thermal origin, strains during forge impact and contact effects. The numerical results are validated with experimental measurements in a tooling set that produces forged crankshafts for the automotive industry. The numerical results show good agreement with the experimental tests. Thereby, a very useful tool for the design of tooling sets for hot forging is achieved. (paper)

Analysis of the thermo-mechanical deformations in a hot forging tool by numerical simulation

Science.gov (United States)

L-Cancelos, R.; Varas, F.; Martín, E.; Viéitez, I.

2016-03-01

Although programs have been developed for the design of tools for hot forging, its design is still largely based on the experience of the tool maker. This obliges to build some test matrices and correct their errors to minimize distortions in the forged piece. This phase prior to mass production consumes time and material resources, which makes the final product more expensive. The forging tools are usually constituted by various parts made of different grades of steel, which in turn have different mechanical properties and therefore suffer different degrees of strain. Furthermore, the tools used in the hot forging are exposed to a thermal field that also induces strain or stress based on the degree of confinement of the piece. Therefore, the mechanical behaviour of the assembly is determined by the contact between the different pieces. The numerical simulation allows to analyse different configurations and anticipate possible defects before tool making, thus, reducing the costs of this preliminary phase. In order to improve the dimensional quality of the manufactured parts, the work presented here focuses on the application of a numerical model to a hot forging manufacturing process in order to predict the areas of the forging die subjected to large deformations. The thermo-mechanical model developed and implemented with free software (Code-Aster) includes the strains of thermal origin, strains during forge impact and contact effects. The numerical results are validated with experimental measurements in a tooling set that produces forged crankshafts for the automotive industry. The numerical results show good agreement with the experimental tests. Thereby, a very useful tool for the design of tooling sets for hot forging is achieved.

Numerical comparison of improved methods of testing in contingency tables with small frequencies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sugiura, Nariaki; Otake, Masanori

1968-11-14

The significance levels of various tests for a general c x k contingency table are usually given by large sample theory. But they are not accurate for the one having small frequencies. In this paper, a numerical evaluation was made to determine how good the approximation of significance level is for various improved tests that have been developed by Nass, Yoshimura, Gart, etc. for c x k contingency table with small frequencies in some of cells. For this purpose we compared the significance levels of the various approximate methods (i) with those of one-sided tail defined in terms of exact probabilities for given marginals in 2 x 2 table; (ii) with those of exact probabilities accumulated in the order of magnitude of Chi/sup 2/ statistic or likelihood ratio (=LR) statistic in 2 x 3 table mentioned by Yates. In 2 x 2 table it is well known that Yates' correction gives satisfactory result for small cell frequencies and the other methods that we have not referred here, can be considered if we devote our attention only to 2 x 2 or 2 x k table. But we are mainly interested in comparing the methods that are applicable to a general c x k table. It appears that such a comparison for the various improved methods in the same example has not been made explicitly, even though these tests are frequently used in biological and medical research. 9 references, 6 figures, 6 tables.

Improving the trust in results of numerical simulations and scientific data analytics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cappello, Franck [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Constantinescu, Emil [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Hovland, Paul [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Peterka, Tom [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Phillips, Carolyn [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Snir, Marc [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Wild, Stefan [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

2015-04-30

This white paper investigates several key aspects of the trust that a user can give to the results of numerical simulations and scientific data analytics. In this document, the notion of trust is related to the integrity of numerical simulations and data analytics applications. This white paper complements the DOE ASCR report on Cybersecurity for Scientific Computing Integrity by (1) exploring the sources of trust loss; (2) reviewing the definitions of trust in several areas; (3) providing numerous cases of result alteration, some of them leading to catastrophic failures; (4) examining the current notion of trust in numerical simulation and scientific data analytics; (5) providing a gap analysis; and (6) suggesting two important research directions and their respective research topics. To simplify the presentation without loss of generality, we consider that trust in results can be lost (or the results’ integrity impaired) because of any form of corruption happening during the execution of the numerical simulation or the data analytics application. In general, the sources of such corruption are threefold: errors, bugs, and attacks. Current applications are already using techniques to deal with different types of corruption. However, not all potential corruptions are covered by these techniques. We firmly believe that the current level of trust that a user has in the results is at least partially founded on ignorance of this issue or the hope that no undetected corruptions will occur during the execution. This white paper explores the notion of trust and suggests recommendations for developing a more scientifically grounded notion of trust in numerical simulation and scientific data analytics. We first formulate the problem and show that it goes beyond previous questions regarding the quality of results such as V&V, uncertainly quantification, and data assimilation. We then explore the complexity of this difficult problem, and we sketch complementary general

Improve the design of the logistic infrastructure for ASML

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yang, Lionel

2009-01-01

This report is the outcome of a Logistics Design Project carried out at ASML B.V., a lithography systems manufacturer, from February 2009 - Sept. 2009. Because of the dramatic change of market conditions in 2008, ASML notices that there is a need to improve its planning and control of its supply

THE STIRLING GAS REFRIGERATING MACHINE MECHANICAL DESIGN IMPROVING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. V. Trandafilov

2016-06-01

Full Text Available To improve the mechanical design of the piston Stirling gas refrigeration machine the structural optimization of rotary vane Stirling gas refrigeration machine is carried out. This paper presents the results of theoretical research. Analysis and prospects of rotary vane Stirling gas refrigeration machine for domestic and industrial refrigeration purpose are represented. The results of a patent search by mechanisms of transformation of rotary vane machines are discussed.

THE STIRLING GAS REFRIGERATING MACHINE MECHANICAL DESIGN IMPROVING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. V. Trandafilov

2016-02-01

Full Text Available To improve the mechanical design of the piston Stirling gas refrigeration machine the structural optimization of rotary vane Stirling gas refrigeration machine is carried out. This paper presents the results of theoretical research. Analysis and prospects of rotary vane Stirling gas refrigeration machine for domestic and industrial refrigeration purpose are represented. The results of a patent search by mechanisms of transformation of rotary vane machines are discussed

NUMERICAL DETERMINATION OF HORIZONTAL SETTLERS PERFORMANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. M. Biliaiev

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Purpose.Horizontal settlers are one of the most important elements in the technological scheme of water purification. Their use is associated with the possibility to pass a sufficiently large volume of water. The important task at the stage of their designing is evaluating of their effectiveness. Calculation of the efficiency of the settler can be made by mathematical modeling. Empirical, analytical models and techniques that are currently used to solve the problem, do not allow to take into account the shape of the sump and various design features that significantly affects the loyalty to a decision on the choice of the size of the settling tank and its design features. The use of analytical models is limited only to one-dimensional solutions, does not allow accounting for nonuniform velocity field of the flow in the settler. The use of advanced turbulence models for the calculation of the hydrodynamics in the settler complex forms now requires very powerful computers. In addition, the calculation of one variant of the settler may last for dozens of hours. The aim of the paper is to build a numerical model to evaluate the effectiveness of horizontal settling tank modified design. Methodology. Numerical models are based on: 1 equation of potential flow; 2 equation of inviscid fluid vortex flow; 3 equation of viscous fluid dynamics; 4 mass transfer equation. For numerical simulation the finite difference schemes are used. The numerical calculation is carried out on a rectangular grid. For the formation of the computational domain markers are used. Findings.The models allow calculating the clarification process in the settler with different form and different configuration of baffles. Originality. A new approach to investigate the mass transfer process in horizontal settler was proposed. This approach is based on the developed CFD models. Three fluid dynamics models were used for the numerical investigation of flows and waste waters purification

Rotor Design Options for Improving XV-15 Whirl-Flutter Stability Margins

Science.gov (United States)

Acree, C. W., Jr.; Peyran, R. J.; Johnson, Wayne

2004-01-01

Rotor design changes intended to improve tiltrotor whirl-flutter stability margins were analyzed. A baseline analytical model of the XV-15 was established, and then a thinner, composite wing was designed to be representative of a high-speed tiltrotor. The rotor blade design was modified to increase the stability speed margin for the thin-wing design. Small rearward offsets of the aerodynamic-center locus with respect to the blade elastic axis created large increases in the stability boundary. The effect was strongest for offsets at the outboard part of the blade, where an offset of the aerodynamic center by 10% of tip chord improved the stability margin by over 100 knots. Forward offsets of the blade center of gravity had similar but less pronounced effects. Equivalent results were seen for swept-tip blades. Appropriate combinations of sweep and pitch stiffness completely eliminated whirl flutter within the speed range examined; alternatively, they allowed large increases in pitch-flap coupling (delta-three) for a given stability margin. A limited investigation of the rotor loads in helicopter and airplane configuration showed only minor increases in loads.

Influence of design improvements in optimising staffing of NPPs - an Indian experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhattacharya, A.S.

2001-01-01

Three decades of operating experience in India has led to sustained high performance of NPP's. The staffing modules and policies are standardised. The basic functions of operation, maintenance, technical support and quality assurance are carried out by a team of 727 in-plant persons (for a 2 x 220 MW PHWR station) organised at five levels, for fifty positions in ten job families. The organisational factors that led to optimising of staff are described in the companion paper. This optimisation of manpower is a result of continuous learning - for (i) optimising quantum of workload and (ii) improving productivity. For the first category, design improvements over older Indian NPP's have increased reliability, operability, maintainability and human factors. Few examples: (i) improved man-machine interface in plant controls and on-power refuelling system with operator guidance, logging as well as diagnostic/health monitoring features; (ii) spread out layout for better access and ease of maintenance, separation of plant services for unit-1 from unit-2 and, removal of reactor auxiliaries out to separate buildings; (iii) reduction of maintenance tasks through redesigned equipment and improved condition monitoring means. However, design and procedural improvements also include additional equipment for upgradation of safety measures, e.g. larger number of safety related pumps separate switchyard control room and increased service system equipment. This paper outlines experience of design improvements in optimising staffing and uses a specific case illustration to establish the findings for better use of staff. (author)

Improving the realism of white matter numerical phantoms: a step towards a better understanding of the influence of structural disorders in diffusion MRI

Science.gov (United States)

Ginsburger, Kévin; Poupon, Fabrice; Beaujoin, Justine; Estournet, Delphine; Matuschke, Felix; Mangin, Jean-François; Axer, Markus; Poupon, Cyril

2018-02-01

White matter is composed of irregularly packed axons leading to a structural disorder in the extra-axonal space. Diffusion MRI experiments using oscillating gradient spin echo sequences have shown that the diffusivity transverse to axons in this extra-axonal space is dependent on the frequency of the employed sequence. In this study, we observe the same frequency-dependence using 3D simulations of the diffusion process in disordered media. We design a novel white matter numerical phantom generation algorithm which constructs biomimicking geometric configurations with few design parameters, and enables to control the level of disorder of the generated phantoms. The influence of various geometrical parameters present in white matter, such as global angular dispersion, tortuosity, presence of Ranvier nodes, beading, on the extra-cellular perpendicular diffusivity frequency dependence was investigated by simulating the diffusion process in numerical phantoms of increasing complexity and fitting the resulting simulated diffusion MR signal attenuation with an adequate analytical model designed for trapezoidal OGSE sequences. This work suggests that angular dispersion and especially beading have non-negligible effects on this extracellular diffusion metrics that may be measured using standard OGSE DW-MRI clinical protocols.

Designing a ticket to ride with the Cognitive Work Analysis Design Toolkit.

Science.gov (United States)

Read, Gemma J M; Salmon, Paul M; Lenné, Michael G; Jenkins, Daniel P

2015-01-01

Cognitive work analysis has been applied in the design of numerous sociotechnical systems. The process used to translate analysis outputs into design concepts, however, is not always clear. Moreover, structured processes for translating the outputs of ergonomics methods into concrete designs are lacking. This paper introduces the Cognitive Work Analysis Design Toolkit (CWA-DT), a design approach which has been developed specifically to provide a structured means of incorporating cognitive work analysis outputs in design using design principles and values derived from sociotechnical systems theory. This paper outlines the CWA-DT and describes its application in a public transport ticketing design case study. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the process provide promising early evidence that the toolkit fulfils the evaluation criteria identified for its success, with opportunities for improvement also highlighted. The Cognitive Work Analysis Design Toolkit has been developed to provide ergonomics practitioners with a structured approach for translating the outputs of cognitive work analysis into design solutions. This paper demonstrates an application of the toolkit and provides evaluation findings.

Numerical Design of Ultra-Wideband Printed Antenna for Surface Penetrating Radar Application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Achmad Munir

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Surface penetrating radar (SPR is an imaging device of electromagnetic wave that works by emitting and transmitting a narrow period pulse through the antenna. Due to the use of narrow period pulse, according to the Fourier transform duality, therefore ultra-wideband (UWB antenna becomes one of the most important needs in SPR system. In this paper, a novel UWB printed antenna is proposed to be used for SPR application. Basically, the proposed antenna is developed from a rectangular microstrip antenna fed by symmetric T-shaped. Some investigation methods such as resistive loading, abrupt transition, and ground plane modification are attempted to achieve required characteristics of bandwidth, radiation efficiency, and compactness needed by the system. To obtain the optimum design, the characteristics of proposed antenna are numerically investigated through the physical parameters of antenna. It is shown that proposed antenna deployed on an FR-4 Epoxy substrate with permittivity of 4.3 and thickness of 1.6mm has a compact size of 72.8mm x 60.0mm and a large bandwidth of 50MHz-5GHz which is suitable for SPR application.

Improved Design of Crew Operation in Computerized Procedure System of APR1400

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seong, No Kyu; Jung, Yeon Sub; Sung, Chan Ho [KHNP, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

The operators perform the paper-based procedures in analog-based conventional main control room (MCR) depending on only communications between operators except a procedure controller such as a Shift Supervisor (SS), however in digital-based MCR the operators can confirm the procedures simultaneously in own console when the procedure controller of computerized procedure (CP) opens the CP. The synchronization and a synchronization function between procedure controller and other operators has to be considered to support the function of crew operation. This paper suggests the improved design of crew operation in computerized procedure system of APR1400. This paper suggests the improved design of APR1400 CPS. These improvements can help operators perform the crew procedures more efficiently. And they reduce a burden of communication and misunderstanding of computerized procedures. These improvements can be applied to CPS after human factors engineering verification and validation.

Overview of the engineering design of the ITER divertor improvements towards manufacture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tivey, R.; D'Agata, E.; Chuyanov, V.; Heidl, H.

2005-01-01

A divertor design, supported by R and D, capable of sustaining high heat loads and large electro-magnetic disturbances has been reported previously . This paper reports on design improvements that, in response to reaction from researchers and industry, focus on cost reductions, holding to a minimum the number of component variants and pursuing the establishment of workable acceptance criteria for divertor armour joints (the latter reported in ). In addition, comment from remote assembly experts has prompted improvements of the in-vessel handling and cassette to vessel attachments

Value-Engineering Review for Numerical Control

Science.gov (United States)

Warner, J. L.

1984-01-01

Selecting parts for conversion from conventional machining to numerical control, value-engineering review performed for every part to identify potential changes to part design that result in increased production efficiency.

Experimental and numerical study of guided wave propagation in a thin metamaterial plate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu, R.; Huang, G.L.; Huang, H.H.; Sun, C.T.

2011-01-01

In this Letter, both in-plane and out-of-plane guided waves in a thin plate with local resonators are studied numerically and experimentally. Through the numerical simulation, a new metamaterial plate design is achieved for a low-frequency bandgap in both in-plane and out-of-plane guided waves. Experiments were conducted to validate the numerical design. In the experiment, piezoelectric transducers were used to generate and receive guided wave signals. The results show that the numerical predictions are in very good agreement with the experimental measurements. Specifically, the connection between the local resonance in the thin plate and its wave attenuation mechanism was discussed. -- Highlights: → Both in-plane and out-of-plane guided waves in a thin plate with local resonators are studied numerically and experimentally. → A new metamaterial plate design is achieved for a low-frequency bandgap in both in-plane and out-of-plane guided waves. → Experiments were conducted to validate the numerical design. → The connection between the local resonance in the thin plate and its wave attenuation mechanism was investigated.

ASTROS: A multidisciplinary automated structural design tool

Science.gov (United States)

Neill, D. J.

1989-01-01

ASTROS (Automated Structural Optimization System) is a finite-element-based multidisciplinary structural optimization procedure developed under Air Force sponsorship to perform automated preliminary structural design. The design task is the determination of the structural sizes that provide an optimal structure while satisfying numerous constraints from many disciplines. In addition to its automated design features, ASTROS provides a general transient and frequency response capability, as well as a special feature to perform a transient analysis of a vehicle subjected to a nuclear blast. The motivation for the development of a single multidisciplinary design tool is that such a tool can provide improved structural designs in less time than is currently needed. The role of such a tool is even more apparent as modern materials come into widespread use. Balancing conflicting requirements for the structure's strength and stiffness while exploiting the benefits of material anisotropy is perhaps an impossible task without assistance from an automated design tool. Finally, the use of a single tool can bring the design task into better focus among design team members, thereby improving their insight into the overall task.

The basic discussion on nuclear power safety improvement based on nuclear equipment design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Feiyun; Yao Yangui; Yu Hao; He Yinbiao; Gao Lei; Yao Weida

2013-01-01

The safety of strengthening nuclear power design was described based on nuclear equipment design after Fukushima nuclear accident. From these aspects, such as advanced standard system, advanced design method, suitable test means, consideration of beyond design basis event, and nuclear safety culture construction, the importance of nuclear safety improvement was emphatically presented. The enlightenment was given to nuclear power designer. (authors)

Developing design principles for a Virtual Hospice: improving access to care.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Andrea; French, Tara; Raman, Sneha

2018-03-01

Providing access to hospice services will become increasingly difficult due to the pressures of an ageing population and limited resources. To help address this challenge, a small number of services called Virtual Hospice have been established. This paper presents early-stage design work on a Virtual Hospice to improve access to services provided by a hospice (Highland Hospice) serving a largely remote and rural population in Scotland, UK. The study was structured as a series of Experience Labs with Highland Hospice staff, healthcare professionals and patients. Experience Labs employ a participatory design approach where participants are placed at the centre of the design process, helping to ensure that the resultant service meets their needs. Data from the Experience Labs were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis and design analysis. A number of themes and barriers to accessing Highland Hospice services were identified. In response, an initial set of seven design principles was developed. Design principles are high-level guidelines that are used to improve prioritisation and decision making during the design process by ensuring alignment with research insights. The design principles were piloted with a group of stakeholders and gained positive feedback. The design principles are intended to guide the ongoing development of the Highland Hospice Virtual Hospice. However, the challenges faced by Highland Hospice in delivering services in a largely remote and rural setting are not unique. The design principles, encompassing digital and non-digital guidelines, or the design approach could be applied by other hospices in the UK or overseas. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Embedded Sensors and Controls to Improve Component Performance and Reliability Conceptual Design Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kisner, R.; Melin, A.; Burress, T.; Fugate, D.; Holcomb, D.; Wilgen, J.; Miller, J.; Wilson, D.; Silva, P.; Whitlow, L.; Peretz, F.

2012-09-15

The objective of this project is to demonstrate improved reliability and increased performance made possible by deeply embedding instrumentation and controls (I&C) in nuclear power plant (NPP) components and systems. The project is employing a highly instrumented canned rotor, magnetic bearing, fluoride salt pump as its I&C technology demonstration platform. I&C is intimately part of the basic millisecond-by-millisecond functioning of the system; treating I&C as an integral part of the system design is innovative and will allow significant improvement in capabilities and performance. As systems become more complex and greater performance is required, traditional I&C design techniques become inadequate and more advanced I&C needs to be applied. New I&C techniques enable optimal and reliable performance and tolerance of noise and uncertainties in the system rather than merely monitoring quasistable performance. Traditionally, I&C has been incorporated in NPP components after the design is nearly complete; adequate performance was obtained through over-design. By incorporating I&C at the beginning of the design phase, the control system can provide superior performance and reliability and enable designs that are otherwise impossible. This report describes the progress and status of the project and provides a conceptual design overview for the platform to demonstrate the performance and reliability improvements enabled by advanced embedded I&C.

FEM Optimal Design of Energy Efficient Induction Machines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

TUDORACHE, T.

2009-06-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with a comparative numerical analysis of performances of several design solutions of induction machines with improved energy efficiency. Starting from a typical cast aluminum cage induction machine this study highlights the benefit of replacing the classical cast aluminum cage with a cast copper cage in the manufacture of future generation of high efficiency induction machines used as motors or generators. Then the advantage of replacement of standard electrical steel with higher grade steel with smaller losses is pointed out. The numerical analysis carried out in the paper is based on 2D plane-parallel finite element approach of the induction machine, the numerical results being discussed and compared with experimental measurements.

USER REQUIREMENTS CUSTOMIZATION AND ATTRACTIVE QUALITY CREATION FOR DESIGN IMPROVEMENT ATTRIBUTES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ismail Wilson Taifa

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper was to customize user requirements and quality creation for design improvement of furniture. The major purpose has been achieved with the use of Quality Function Deployment technique and Kano Model. The study involved 564 students from 3 engineering colleges. Extensive user requirements were identified with the help of Questionnaires. The use of House of Quality, Kano Model and Pareto Diagram helped in prioritizing all important features which are needed in customizing user requirements. The prioritized requirements include ergonomic design, desk adjustability, comfortability, product corners (sharp corners and latest material. All these factors both got high relative and absolute weight. Therefore, more engineering efforts need to be directed towards these requirements for achieving user customization for design improvement. The developed House of Quality with the help of Kano Model results has proved to be a good tool in customizing user requirements.

On the numerical verification of industrial codes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Montan, Sethy Akpemado

2013-01-01

Numerical verification of industrial codes, such as those developed at EDF R and D, is required to estimate the precision and the quality of computed results, even more for code running in HPC environments where millions of instructions are performed each second. These programs usually use external libraries (MPI, BLACS, BLAS, LAPACK). In this context, it is required to have a tool as non intrusive as possible to avoid rewriting the original code. In this regard, the CADNA library, which implements the Discrete Stochastic Arithmetic, appears to be one of a promising approach for industrial applications. In the first part of this work, we are interested in an efficient implementation of the BLAS routine DGEMM (General Matrix Multiply) implementing Discrete Stochastic Arithmetic. The implementation of a basic algorithm for matrix product using stochastic types leads to an overhead greater than 1000 for a matrix of 1024 * 1024 compared to the standard version and commercial versions of xGEMM. Here, we detail different solutions to reduce this overhead and the results we have obtained. A new routine Dgemm- CADNA have been designed. This routine has allowed to reduce the overhead from 1100 to 35 compare to optimized BLAS implementations (GotoBLAS). Then, we focus on the numerical verification of Telemac-2D computed results. Performing a numerical validation with the CADNA library shows that more than 30% of the numerical instabilities occurring during an execution come from the dot product function. A more accurate implementation of the dot product with compensated algorithms is presented in this work. We show that implementing these kinds of algorithms, in order to improve the accuracy of computed results does not alter the code performance. (author)

A knowledge-based design framework for airplane conceptual and preliminary design

Science.gov (United States)

Anemaat, Wilhelmus A. J.

The goal of work described herein is to develop the second generation of Advanced Aircraft Analysis (AAA) into an object-oriented structure which can be used in different environments. One such environment is the third generation of AAA with its own user interface, the other environment with the same AAA methods (i.e. the knowledge) is the AAA-AML program. AAA-AML automates the initial airplane design process using current AAA methods in combination with AMRaven methodologies for dependency tracking and knowledge management, using the TechnoSoft Adaptive Modeling Language (AML). This will lead to the following benefits: (1) Reduced design time: computer aided design methods can reduce design and development time and replace tedious hand calculations. (2) Better product through improved design: more alternative designs can be evaluated in the same time span, which can lead to improved quality. (3) Reduced design cost: due to less training and less calculation errors substantial savings in design time and related cost can be obtained. (4) Improved Efficiency: the design engineer can avoid technically correct but irrelevant calculations on incomplete or out of sync information, particularly if the process enables robust geometry earlier. Although numerous advancements in knowledge based design have been developed for detailed design, currently no such integrated knowledge based conceptual and preliminary airplane design system exists. The third generation AAA methods are tested over a ten year period on many different airplane designs. Using AAA methods will demonstrate significant time savings. The AAA-AML system will be exercised and tested using 27 existing airplanes ranging from single engine propeller, business jets, airliners, UAV's to fighters. Data for the varied sizing methods will be compared with AAA results, to validate these methods. One new design, a Light Sport Aircraft (LSA), will be developed as an exercise to use the tool for designing a new airplane

Development of a numerical pump testing framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaufmann, Tim A S; Gregory, Shaun D; Büsen, Martin R; Tansley, Geoff D; Steinseifer, Ulrich

2014-09-01

It has been shown that left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) increase the survival rate in end-stage heart failure patients. However, there is an ongoing demand for an increased quality of life, fewer adverse events, and more physiological devices. These challenges necessitate new approaches during the design process. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), lumped parameter (LP) modeling, mock circulatory loops (MCLs), and particle image velocimetry (PIV) are combined to develop a numerical Pump Testing Framework (nPTF) capable of analyzing local flow patterns and the systemic response of LVADs. The nPTF was created by connecting a CFD model of the aortic arch, including an LVAD outflow graft to an LP model of the circulatory system. Based on the same geometry, a three-dimensional silicone model was crafted using rapid prototyping and connected to an MCL. PIV studies of this setup were performed to validate the local flow fields (PIV) and the systemic response (MCL) of the nPTF. After validation, different outflow graft positions were compared using the nPTF. Both the numerical and the experimental setup were able to generate physiological responses by adjusting resistances and systemic compliance, with mean aortic pressures of 72.2-132.6 mm Hg for rotational speeds of 2200-3050 rpm. During LVAD support, an average flow to the distal branches (cerebral and subclavian) of 24% was found in the experiments and the nPTF. The flow fields from PIV and CFD were in good agreement. Numerical and experimental tools were combined to develop and validate the nPTF, which can be used to analyze local flow fields and the systemic response of LVADs during the design process. This allows analysis of physiological control parameters at early development stages and may, therefore, help to improve patient outcomes. Copyright © 2014 International Center for Artificial Organs and Transplantation and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Analysis on nuclear power plant control room system design and improvement based on human factor engineering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao Feng; Liu Yanzi; Sun Yongbin

2014-01-01

The design of nuclear power plant control room system is a process of improvement with the implementation of human factor engineering theory and guidance. The method of implementation human factor engineering principles into the nuclear power plant control room system design and improvement was discussed in this paper. It is recommended that comprehensive address should be done from control room system function, human machine interface, digital procedure, control room layout and environment design based on the human factor engineering theory and experience. The main issues which should be paid more attention during the control room system design and improvement also were addressed in this paper, and then advices and notices for the design and improvement of the nuclear power plant control room system were afforded. (authors)

Designing usable web forms- Empirical evaluation of web form improvement guidelines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seckler, Mirjam; Heinz, Silvia; Bargas-Avila, Javier A.

2014-01-01

This study reports a controlled eye tracking experiment (N = 65) that shows the combined effectiveness of 20 guidelines to improve interactive online forms when applied to forms found on real company websites. Results indicate that improved web forms lead to faster completion times, fewer form...... submission trials, and fewer eye movements. Data from subjective questionnaires and interviews further show increased user satisfaction. Overall, our findings highlight the importance for web designers to improve their web forms using UX guidelines....

D5.2 Numerical tools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møhlenberg, Flemming; Christensen, Erik Damgaard

2015-01-01

. The planning and design of MUPS in MERMAID has therefore not only involved standard engineering methods, but also advanced numerical tools, that can enable a detailed understanding of the environment and the interactions between the MUP and the surrounding water environments. The intention of this report...... is to summarise the advanced methods developed and used during MERMAID to support the planning and design of MUP’s and form a guideline and inspiration to planners on how to meet the challenges that turns up during design of such structures....

A Novel Design for Drug-Drug Interaction Alerts Improves Prescribing Efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Russ, Alissa L; Chen, Siying; Melton, Brittany L; Johnson, Elizabette G; Spina, Jeffrey R; Weiner, Michael; Zillich, Alan J

2015-09-01

Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) are common in clinical care and pose serious risks for patients. Electronic health records display DDI alerts that can influence prescribers, but the interface design of DDI alerts has largely been unstudied. In this study, the objective was to apply human factors engineering principles to alert design. It was hypothesized that redesigned DDI alerts would significantly improve prescribers' efficiency and reduce prescribing errors. In a counterbalanced, crossover study with prescribers, two DDI alert designs were evaluated. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) prescribers were video recorded as they completed fictitious patient scenarios, which included DDI alerts of varying severity. Efficiency was measured from time-stamped recordings. Prescribing errors were evaluated against predefined criteria. Efficiency and prescribing errors were analyzed with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Other usability data were collected on the adequacy of alert content, prescribers' use of the DDI monograph, and alert navigation. Twenty prescribers completed patient scenarios for both designs. Prescribers resolved redesigned alerts in about half the time (redesign: 52 seconds versus original design: 97 seconds; p<.001). Prescribing errors were not significantly different between the two designs. Usability results indicate that DDI alerts might be enhanced by facilitating easier access to laboratory data and dosing information and by allowing prescribers to cancel either interacting medication directly from the alert. Results also suggest that neither design provided adequate information for decision making via the primary interface. Applying human factors principles to DDI alerts improved overall efficiency. Aspects of DDI alert design that could be further enhanced prior to implementation were also identified.

Analytical and numerical study on cooling flow field designs performance of PEM fuel cell with variable heat flux

Science.gov (United States)

Afshari, Ebrahim; Ziaei-Rad, Masoud; Jahantigh, Nabi

2016-06-01

In PEM fuel cells, during electrochemical generation of electricity more than half of the chemical energy of hydrogen is converted to heat. This heat of reactions, if not exhausted properly, would impair the performance and durability of the cell. In general, large scale PEM fuel cells are cooled by liquid water that circulates through coolant flow channels formed in bipolar plates or in dedicated cooling plates. In this paper, a numerical method has been presented to study cooling and temperature distribution of a polymer membrane fuel cell stack. The heat flux on the cooling plate is variable. A three-dimensional model of fluid flow and heat transfer in cooling plates with 15 cm × 15 cm square area is considered and the performances of four different coolant flow field designs, parallel field and serpentine fields are compared in terms of maximum surface temperature, temperature uniformity and pressure drop characteristics. By comparing the results in two cases, the constant and variable heat flux, it is observed that applying constant heat flux instead of variable heat flux which is actually occurring in the fuel cells is not an accurate assumption. The numerical results indicated that the straight flow field model has temperature uniformity index and almost the same temperature difference with the serpentine models, while its pressure drop is less than all of the serpentine models. Another important advantage of this model is the much easier design and building than the spiral models.

Design of Thermal Systems Using Topology Optimization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haertel, Jan Hendrik Klaas

printeddry-cooled power plant condensers using a simpliffed thermouid topology optimizationmodel is presented in another study. A benchmarking of the optimized geometriesagainst a conventional heat exchanger design is conducted and the topologyoptimized designs show a superior performance. A thermouid......The goalof this thesis is to apply topology optimization to the design of differentthermal systems such as heat sinks and heat exchangers in order to improve thethermal performance of these systems compared to conventional designs. Thedesign of thermal systems is a complex task that has...... of optimized designs are presentedwithin this thesis.  The maincontribution of the thesis is the development of several numerical optimizationmodels that are applied to different design challenges within thermalengineering.  Topology optimization isapplied in an industrial project to design the heat rejection...

Numerical methods for engine-airframe integration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murthy, S.N.B.; Paynter, G.C.

1986-01-01

Various papers on numerical methods for engine-airframe integration are presented. The individual topics considered include: scientific computing environment for the 1980s, overview of prediction of complex turbulent flows, numerical solutions of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations, elements of computational engine/airframe integrations, computational requirements for efficient engine installation, application of CAE and CFD techniques to complete tactical missile design, CFD applications to engine/airframe integration, and application of a second-generation low-order panel methods to powerplant installation studies. Also addressed are: three-dimensional flow analysis of turboprop inlet and nacelle configurations, application of computational methods to the design of large turbofan engine nacelles, comparison of full potential and Euler solution algorithms for aeropropulsive flow field computations, subsonic/transonic, supersonic nozzle flows and nozzle integration, subsonic/transonic prediction capabilities for nozzle/afterbody configurations, three-dimensional viscous design methodology of supersonic inlet systems for advanced technology aircraft, and a user's technology assessment

Improving the design and analysis of superconducting magnets for particle accelerators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gupta, R.C.

1996-01-01

The field quality in superconducting magnets has been improved to a level that it does not appear to be a limiting factor on the performance of RHIC. The many methods developed, improved and adopted during the course of this work have contributed significantly to that performance. One can not only design and construct magnets with better field quality than in one made before but can also improve on that quality after construction. The relative field error (ΔB/B) can now be made as low as a few parts in 10 -5 at 2/3 of the coil radius. This is about an order of magnitude better than what is generally expected for superconducting magnets. This extra high field quality is crucial to the luminosity performance of RHIC. The research work described here covers a number of areas which all must be addressed to build the production magnets with a high field quality. The work has been limited to the magnetic design of the cross section which in most cases essentially determines the field quality performance of the whole magnet since these magnets are generally long. Though the conclusions to be presented in this chapter have been discussed at the end of each chapter, a summary of them might be useful to present a complete picture. The lessons learned from these experiences may be useful in the design of new magnets. The possibilities of future improvements will also be presented

Improving the design and analysis of superconducting magnets for particle acclerators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gupta, Ramesh Chandra [Univ. of Rajasthan (India)

1996-11-01

The field quality in superconducting magnets has been improved to a level that it does not appear to be a limiting factor on the performance of RHIC. The many methods developed, improved and adopted during the course of this work have contributed significantly to that performance. One can not only design and construct magnets with better field quality than in one made before but can also improve on that quality after construction. The relative field error (ΔB/B) can now be made as low as a few parts in 10^-5 at 2/3 of the coil radius. This is about an order of magnitude better than what is generally expected for superconducting magnets. This extra high field quality is crucial to the luminosity performance of RHIC. The research work described here covers a number of areas which all must be addressed to build the production magnets with a high field quality. The work has been limited to the magnetic design of the cross section which in most cases essentially determines the field quality performance of the whole magnet since these magnets are generally long. Though the conclusions to be presented in this chapter have been discussed at the end of each chapter, a summary of them might be useful to present a complete picture. The lessons learned from these experiences may be useful in the design of new magnets. The possibilities of future improvements will also be presented.

Design recommendation to improve the energy efficiency in Hotel Moka, Las Terrazas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baldoquin, Natalí Collado; Rueda Guzmán, Luis Alberto; Pérez Vallina, Javier

2017-01-01

Tourist facilities are now major energy consumers, which leads to the well-known economic and environmental consequences. The Hotel Moka, in the community Las Terrazas, from its conception have stood out for trying to integrate to the nature and to avoid a high environmental impact. However, after more than two decades of creation, potentialities are identified to improve energy performance from architectural design, as well as technological changes and use of renewable sources of photovoltaic solar energy. In this paper, the main design factors that influence energy consumption are evaluated. It presents recommendations and design strategies that could improve the energy performance of the building from an integral approach achieving significant energy savings and cover about 20% from photovoltaic solar panels. (author)

An improved design method of a tuned mass damper for an in-service footbridge

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Weixing; Wang, Liangkun; Lu, Zheng

2018-03-01

Tuned mass damper (TMD) has a wide range of applications in the vibration control of footbridges. However, the traditional engineering design method may lead to a mistuned TMD. In this paper, an improved TMD design method based on the model updating is proposed. Firstly, the original finite element model (FEM) is studied and the natural characteristics of the in-service or newly built footbridge is identified by field test, and then the original FEM is updated. TMD is designed according to the new updated FEM, and it is optimized according to the simulation on vibration control effects. Finally, the installation and field measurement of TMD are carried out. The improved design method can be applied to both in-service and newly built footbridges. This paper illustrates the improved design method with an engineering example. The frequency identification results of field test and original FEM show that there is a relatively large difference between them. The TMD designed according to the updated FEM has better vibration control effect than the TMD designed according to the original FEM. The site test results show that TMD has good effect on controlling human-induced vibrations.

RE-NUMERATE: A Workshop to Restore Essential Numerical Skills and Thinking via Astronomy Education

Science.gov (United States)

McCarthy, D.; Follette, K.

2013-04-01

The quality of science teaching for all ages is degraded by our students' gross lack of skills in elementary arithmetic and their unwillingness to think, and to express themselves, numerically. Out of frustration educators, and science communicators, often choose to avoid these problems, thereby reinforcing the belief that math is only needed in “math class” and preventing students from maturing into capable, well informed citizens. In this sense we teach students a pseudo science, not its real nature, beauty, and value. This workshop encourages and equips educators to immerse students in numerical thinking throughout a science course. The workshop begins by identifying common deficiencies in skills and attitudes among non-science collegians (freshman-senior) enrolled in General Education astronomy courses. The bulk of the workshop engages participants in well-tested techniques (e.g., presentation methods, curriculum, activities, mentoring approaches, etc.) for improving students' arithmetic skills, increasing their confidence, and improving their abilities in numerical expression. These techniques are grounded in 25+ years of experience in college classrooms and pre-college informal education. They are suited for use in classrooms (K-12 and college), informal venues, and science communication in general and could be applied across the standard school curriculum.

Numerical simulation of "an American haboob"

OpenAIRE

Vukovic, A.; Vujadinovic, M.; Pejanovic, G.; Andric, J.; Kumjian, M. R.; Djurdjevic, V.; Dacic, M.; Prasad, A. K.; El-Askary, H. M.; Paris, B. C.; Petkovic, S.; Nickovic, S.; Sprigg, W. A.

2014-01-01

A dust storm of fearful proportions hit Phoenix in the early evening hours of 5 July 2011. This storm, an American haboob, was predicted hours in advance because numerical, land–atmosphere modeling, computing power and remote sensing of dust events have improved greatly over the past decade. High-resolution numerical models are required for accurate simulation of the small scales of the haboob process, with high velocity surface winds produced by strong convection and severe...

Fuel channel design improvements for large CANDU reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Villamagna, A; Price, E G; Field, G J [Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Mississauga, ON (Canada)

1996-12-31

From the initial designs used in NPD and Douglas point reactors, the CANDU fuel channel and its components have undergone considerable development. Two major designs have evolved: the Pickering/CANDU 6 design which has 12 fuel bundles in the core and where the new fuel is inserted into the inlet end, and the Bruce/Darlington design which has 13 bundles in the channel and where new fuel is inserted into the outlet end. In the development of a single unit CANDU reactor of the size of a Bruce or Darlington unit which would use a Darlington design calandria, the decision has been made to use the CANDU 6 fuel channel rather than the Darlington design. The CANDU 6 channel has provided excellent performance and will not encounter the degree of maintenance required for the Bruce/Darlington design. The channel design in turn influences the fuelling machine/fuel handling concepts required. The changes to the CANDU 6 fuel channel design to incorporate it in the large unit are small. In fact, the changes that are proposed relate to the desire to increase margins between pressure tube properties and design conditions or ameliorate the consequences of postulated accident conditions, rather than necessary adaptation to the larger unit. Better properties have been achieved in the pressure tube material resulting from alloy development program over the past 10 years. Pressure tubes can now he made with very low hydrogen concentrations so that the hydrogen picked up as deuterium will not exceed the terminal solid solubility for the in-core region in 30 years. The improvements in metal chemistry allow the production of high toughness tubes that retain a high level of toughness during service. A small increase in wall thickness will reduce the dimensional changes without significantly affecting burnup. Changes to increase safety margins from postulated accidents are concentrated on containing the consequences of pressure tube damage. The changes are concentrated on the calandria tube

Research needs and improvement of standards for nuclear power plant design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, C.; Moreadith, F.L.

1978-01-01

The need for research and improvement of code requirements, for both economy and safety reasons is discussed for the following topics relevant to nuclear power plant structural analysis: Earthquake definition; dynamic behavior of reinforced concrete structures under impact loads; design for postulated pipe rupture; code requirements for loading combinations for concrete structures, reinforcing steel splicing, reinforced concrete structural design for thermal effects. (Auth.)

Numerical Prediction Of Elastic Springback In An Automotive Complex Structural Part

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fratini, Livan; Ingarao, Giuseppe; Micari, Fabrizio; Lo Franco, Andrea

2007-01-01

The routing and production of 3D complex parts for automotive applications is characterized by springback phenomena affecting the final geometry of the components both after the stamping operations and the trimming ones. FE analyses have to assure effectiveness and consistency in order to be utilized as design tool to be coupled to proper compensating techniques allowing to obtain the desired geometry at the and of the production sequence. In the present paper the full routing of a DP 600 steel automotive structural part is considered and the springback phenomena occurring after forming and trimming are investigated through FE analyses utilizing two different commercial codes. Althought finite element analysis is successful in simulating industrial sheet forming operations, the accurate and reliable applications of this phenomenon and its numerical prediction has not been widely demonstrated. In this paper the influence of the main numerical parameters has been considered i.e. type of the utilized shell element and number of integration points along the thickness, with the aim to improve the effectiveness and reliability of the numerical results. The obtained results have been compared with the experimental evidences derived from CMM acquisitions

DESIGN OF SUBSOIL IMPROVEMENT BELOW HALL FLOORS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Turček

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The construction of an industrial park is now being prepared near the town of Nitra. The investor fixed very strict conditions for the bearing capacity and, above all, the settlement of halls and their floors. The geological conditions at the construction site are difficult: there are soft clay soils with high compressibility and low bearing capacity. A detailed analysis of soil improvement was made. Stone columns were prepared to be fitted into an approximately 5 m thick layer of soft clay. The paper shows the main steps used in the design of the stone columns.

Artificial Neural Network-Based Constitutive Relationship of Inconel 718 Superalloy Construction and Its Application in Accuracy Improvement of Numerical Simulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Junya Lv

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The application of accurate constitutive relationship in finite element simulation would significantly contribute to accurate simulation results, which play critical roles in process design and optimization. In this investigation, the true stress-strain data of an Inconel 718 superalloy were obtained from a series of isothermal compression tests conducted in a wide temperature range of 1153–1353 K and strain rate range of 0.01–10 s−1 on a Gleeble 3500 testing machine (DSI, St. Paul, DE, USA. Then the constitutive relationship was modeled by an optimally-constructed and well-trained back-propagation artificial neural network (ANN. The evaluation of the ANN model revealed that it has admirable performance in characterizing and predicting the flow behaviors of Inconel 718 superalloy. Consequently, the developed ANN model was used to predict abundant stress-strain data beyond the limited experimental conditions and construct the continuous mapping relationship for temperature, strain rate, strain and stress. Finally, the constructed ANN was implanted in a finite element solver though the interface of “URPFLO” subroutine to simulate the isothermal compression tests. The results show that the integration of finite element method with ANN model can significantly promote the accuracy improvement of numerical simulations for hot forming processes.

Improving the radiologist–CAD interaction: designing for appropriate trust

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jorritsma, W.; Cnossen, F.; Ooijen, P.M.A. van

2015-01-01

Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) has great potential to improve radiologists' diagnostic performance. However, the reported performance of the radiologist–CAD team is lower than what might be expected based on the performance of the radiologist and the CAD system in isolation. This indicates that the interaction between radiologists and the CAD system is not optimal. An important factor in the interaction between humans and automated aids (such as CAD) is trust. Suboptimal performance of the human–automation team is often caused by an inappropriate level of trust in the automation. In this review, we examine the role of trust in the radiologist–CAD interaction and suggest ways to improve the output of the CAD system so that it allows radiologists to calibrate their trust in the CAD system more effectively. Observer studies of the CAD systems show that radiologists often have an inappropriate level of trust in the CAD system. They sometimes under-trust CAD, thereby reducing its potential benefits, and sometimes over-trust it, leading to diagnostic errors they would not have made without CAD. Based on the literature on trust in human–automation interaction and the results of CAD observer studies, we have identified four ways to improve the output of CAD so that it allows radiologists to form a more appropriate level of trust in CAD. Designing CAD systems for appropriate trust is important and can improve the performance of the radiologist–CAD team. Future CAD research and development should acknowledge the importance of the radiologist–CAD interaction, and specifically the role of trust therein, in order to create the perfect artificial partner for the radiologist. This review focuses on the role of trust in the radiologist–CAD interaction. The aim of the review is to encourage CAD developers to design for appropriate trust and thereby improve the performance of the radiologist–CAD team. - Highlights: • Radiologists often have an inappropriate

Peer Mentor Program for the General Chemistry Laboratory Designed to Improve Undergraduate STEM Retention

Science.gov (United States)

Damkaci, Fehmi; Braun, Timothy F.; Gublo, Kristin

2017-01-01

We describe the design and implementation of an undergraduate peer mentor program that can overlay an existing general chemistry laboratory and is designed to improve STEM student retention. For the first four freshman cohorts going through the program, year-to-year retention improved by a four-year average of 20% for students in peer-mentored…