scholarly journals Flow Testing and Analysis of the FSP-1 Experiment

Author(s):  
Grant L. Hawkes ◽  
Warren F. Jones ◽  
Wade Marcum ◽  
Aaron Weiss ◽  
Trevor Howard

The U.S. High Performance Research Reactor conversions fuel development team is focused on developing and qualifying the uranium-molybdenum (U-Mo) alloy monolithic fuel to support conversion of domestic research reactors to low enriched uranium. Several previous irradiations have demonstrated the favorable behavior of the monolithic fuel. The Full Size Plate 1 (FSP-1) fuel plate experiment will be irradiated in the northeast (NE) flux trap of the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). This fueled experiment contains six aluminum-clad fuel plates consisting of monolithic U-Mo fuel meat. Flow testing experimentation and hydraulic analysis have been performed on the FSP-1 experiment to be irradiated in the ATR at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). A flow test experiment mockup of the FSP-1 experiment was completed at Oregon State University. Results of several flow test experiments are compared with analyses. This paper reports and shows hydraulic analyses are nearly identical to the flow test results. A water channel velocity of 14.0 meters per second is targeted between the fuel plates. Comparisons between FSP-1 measurements and this target will be discussed. This flow rate dominates the flow characteristics of the experiment and model. Separate branch flows have minimal effect on the overall experiment. A square flow orifice was placed to control the flowrate through the experiment. Four different orifices were tested. A pressure differential versus flow rate curve for each orifice is reported herein. Fuel plates with depleted uranium in the fuel meat zone were used in one of the flow tests. This test was performed to evaluate flow test vibration with actual fuel meat densities and reported.

Author(s):  
Grant L. Hawkes ◽  
Nicolas E. Woolstenhulme

The U.S. High Performance Research Reactor Conversions fuel development team is focused on developing and qualifying the uranium-molybdenum (U-Mo) alloy monolithic fuel to support conversion of domestic research reactors to low enriched uranium. Several previous irradiations have demonstrated the favorable behavior of the monolithic fuel. The Full Scale Plate 1 (FSP-1) fuel plate experiment will be irradiated in the northeast (NE) flux trap of the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). This fueled experiment contains six aluminum-clad fuel plates consisting of monolithic U-Mo fuel meat. Three different types of fuel plates with matching pairs for a total of six plates were analyzed. These three types of plates are: full burn, intermediate power, and thick meat. A thermal analysis has been performed on the FSP-1 experiment to be irradiated in the ATR at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). A thermal safety evaluation was performed to demonstrate that the FSP-1 irradiation experiment complies with the thermal-hydraulic safety requirements of the ATR Safety Analysis Report (SAR). The ATR SAR requires that minimum safety margins to critical heat flux and flow instability be met in the case of a loss of commercial power with primary coolant pump coast-down to emergency flow. The thermal safety evaluation was performed at 26 MW NE lobe power to encompass the expected range of operating power during a standard cycle. Additional safety evaluations of reactivity insertion events, loss of coolant event, and free convection cooling in the reactor and in the canal are used to determine the response of the experiment to these events and conditions. This paper reports and shows that each safety evaluation complies with each safety requirement of the ATR SAR.


Author(s):  
Grant L. Hawkes ◽  
James W. Sterbentz ◽  
John T. Maki

A thermal analysis was performed for the Advanced Gas Reactor test experiment (AGR-3/4) with time-varying gas gaps. The experiment was irradiated at the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Several fuel irradiation experiments are planned for the AGR Fuel Development and Qualification Program that supports the development of the Very-High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR) under the Next-Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) project. AGR-3/4 combines two tests in a series of planned AGR experiments to test tristructural-isotropic (TRISO)-coated, low-enriched uranium oxy-carbide fuel. Forty-eight TRISO-fueled compacts were inserted into 12 separate capsules for the experiment (four compacts per capsule). The purpose of this analysis was to calculate the temperatures of each compact and graphite layer to obtain daily average temperatures using time (fast neutron fluence)-varying gas gaps and to compare with experimentally measured thermocouple data. A finite-element heat transfer model was created for each capsule using the commercial code ABAQUS. Model results are compared to thermocouple data taken during the experiment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-34
Author(s):  
Benjamin R. Betzler ◽  
David Chandler ◽  
Thomas M. Evans ◽  
Gregory G. Davidson ◽  
Charles R. Daily ◽  
...  

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) is an 85 MWt flux trap-type research reactor that supports key research missions, including isotope production, materials irradiation, and neutron scattering. The core consists of an inner and an outer fuel element containing 171 and 369 involute-shaped plates, respectively. The thin fuel plates consist of a U3O8-Al dispersion fuel (highly enriched), an aluminum-based filler, and aluminum cladding. The fuel meat thickness is varied across the width of the involute plate to reduce thermal flux peaks at the radial edges of the fuel elements. Some deviation from the designed fuel meat shaping is allowed during manufacturing. A homogeneity scan of each fuel plate checks for potential anomalies in the fuel distribution by scanning the surface of the plate and comparing the attenuation of the beam to calibration standards. While typical HFIR simulations use homogenized fuel regions, explicit models of the plates were developed under the Low-Enriched Uranium Conversion Program. These explicit models typically include one inner and one outer fuel plate with nominal fuel distributions, and then the plates are duplicated to fill the space of the corresponding fuel element. Therefore, data extracted from these simulations are limited to azimuthally averaged quantities. To determine the reactivity and physics impacts of an as-built outer fuel element and generate azimuthally dependent data in the element, 369 unique fuel plate models were generated and positioned. This model generates the three-dimensional (i.e., radial–axial–azimuthal) plate power profile, where the azimuthal profile is impacted by features within the adjacent control element region and beryllium reflector. For an as-built model of the outer fuel element, plate-specific homogeneity data, 235U loading, enrichment, and channel thickness measurements were translated into the model, yielding a much more varied azimuthal power profile encompassed by uncertainty factors in analyses. These models were run with the ORNL-TN and Shift Monte Carlo tools, and they contained upwards of 500,000 cells and 100,000 unique tallies.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Fong Jue ◽  
Dennis D. Keiser ◽  
Tammy L. Trowbridge ◽  
Cynthia R. Breckenridge ◽  
Brady L. Mackowiak ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTA monolithic fuel design based on U–Mo alloy has been selected as the fuel type for conversion of United States’ high-performance research reactors (USHPRRs) from highly enriched uranium (HEU) to low-enriched uranium (LEU). In this fuel design, a thin layer of zirconium is used to eliminate the direct interaction between the U–Mo fuel meat and the aluminum-alloy cladding during irradiation. The co-rolling process used to bond the Zr barrier layer to the U–Mo foil during fabrication alters the microstructure of both the U–10Mo fuel meat and the U–Mo/Zr interface. This work studied the effects of post-rolling annealing treatment on the microstructure of the co-rolled U–Mo fuel meat and the U–Mo/Zr interaction layer. The U–Mo/Zr interaction-layer thickness increased with the annealing temperature with an Arrhenius constant for growth of 184kJ/mole, consistent with a previous diffusion-couple study. The phases in the U–Mo/Zr interaction layer produced by co-rolling, however, differ from those reported in the previous diffusion-couple study.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bürge Aşçı ◽  
Mesut Koç

Introduction:This paper presents the development and validation of a novel, fast, sensitive and accurate high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the simultaneous quantitative determination of dibucaine HCl, fluocortolone pivalate and fluocortolone caproate in pharmaceutical preparations.Experiment:Development of the chromatographic method was based on an experimental design approach. A five-level-three-factor central composite design requiring 20 experiments in this optimization study was performed in order to evaluate the effects of three independent variances including mobile phase ratio, flow rate and amount of acid in the mobile phase.Conclusion:The optimum composition for mobile phase was found as a methanol:water:acetic acid mixture at 71.6 : 26.4 : 2 (v/v/v) ratio and optimum separation was acquired by isocratic elution with a flow rate of 1.3 mL/min. The analytes were detected using a UV detector at 240 nm. The developed method was validated in terms of linearity, precision, accuracy, limit of detection/quantitation and solution stability and successfully applied to the determination of dibucaine HCl, fluocortolone pivalate and fluocortolone caproate in pharmaceutical topical formulations such as suppositories and ointments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amol S. Jagdale ◽  
Nilesh S. Pendbhaje ◽  
Rupali V. Nirmal ◽  
Poonam M. Bachhav ◽  
Dayandeo B. Sumbre

Abstract Background A new, sensitive, suitable, clear, accurate, and robust reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method for the determination of brexpiprazole in bulk drug and tablet formulation was developed and validated in this research. Surface methodology was used to optimize the data, with a three-level Box-Behnken design. Methanol concentration in the mobile phase, flow rate, and pH were chosen as the three variables. The separation was performed using an HPLC method with a UV detector and Openlab EZchrom program, as well as a Water spherisorb C18 column (100 mm × 4.6; 5m). Acetonitrile was pumped at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min with a 10 mM phosphate buffer balanced to a pH of 2.50.05 by diluted OPA (65:35% v/v) and detected at 216 nm. Result The developed RP-HPLC method yielded a suitable retention time for brexpiprazole of 4.22 min, which was optimized using the Design Expert-12 software. The linearity of the established method was verified with a correlation coefficient (r2) of 0.999 over the concentration range of 5.05–75.75 g/mL. For API and formulation, the percent assay was 99.46% and 100.91%, respectively. The percentage RSD for the method’s precision was found to be less than 2.0%. The percentage recoveries were discovered to be between 99.38 and 101.07%. 0.64 μg/mL and 1.95 μg/mL were found to be the LOD and LOQ, respectively. Conclusion The developed and validated RP-HPLC system takes less time and can be used in the industry for routine quality control/analysis of bulk drug and marketed brexpiprazole products. Graphical abstract


Author(s):  
Christoph Bettag ◽  
Christian von der Brelie ◽  
Florian Baptist Freimann ◽  
Ulrich-Wilhelm Thomale ◽  
Veit Rohde ◽  
...  

AbstractDiagnosis of symptomatic valve malfunction in hydrocephalic patients treated with VP-Shunt (VPS) might be difficult. Clinical symptoms such as headache or nausea are nonspecific, hence cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) over- or underdrainage can only be suspected but not proven. Knowledge concerning valve malfunction is still limited. We aim to provide data on the flow characteristics of explanted shunt valves in patients with suspected valve malfunction. An in vitro shunt laboratory setup was used to analyze the explanted valves under conditions similar to those in an implanted VPS. The differential pressure (DP) of the valve was adjusted stepwise to 20, 10, 6, and 4 cmH2O. The flow rate of the explanted and the regular flow rate of an identical reference valve were evaluated at the respective DPs. Twelve valves of different types (Codman CertasPlus valve n = 3, Miethke Shuntassistant valve n = 4, Codman Hakim programmable valve n = 3, DP component of Miethke proGAV 2.0 valve n = 2) from eight hydrocephalic patients (four male), in whom valve malfunction was assumed between 2016 and 2017, were replaced with a new valve. Four patients suffered from idiopathic normal pressure (iNPH), three patients from malresorptive and one patient from obstructive hydrocephalus. Post-hoc analysis revealed a significant difference (p < 0.001) of the flow rate between each explanted valve and their corresponding reference valve, at each DP. In all patients, significant alterations of flow rates were demonstrated, verifying a valve malfunction, which could not be objectified by the diagnostic tools used in the clinical routine. In cases with obscure clinical VPS insufficiency, valve deficiency should be considered.


Author(s):  
Xiaoming Chen ◽  
Yuchuan Zhu ◽  
Travis Wiens ◽  
Doug Bitner ◽  
Minghao Tai ◽  
...  

The inertance hydraulic converter relies on fluid inertance to modulate flow or pressure and is considered to be a competitive alternative to the conventional proportional hydraulic system due to its potential advantage in efficiency. As the quantification of fluid inertance, the suction flow characteristic is the crucial performance indicator for efficiency improvement. To explore the discrepancy between the passive inertance hydraulic converter featured by the check valve and the active inertance hydraulic converter driven by an equivalent 2/3 way fast switching valve in regard to suction flow characteristics, analytical models of the inertance hydraulic converters were established in MATLAB/Simulink. The validated models of the respective suction components were incorporated in the overall analytical models and their suction flow characteristics were theoretically and experimentally discussed. The analytical predictions and experimental measurements for the current configurations indicated that the active inertance hydraulic converter yields a larger transient suction flow rate than that of the passive inertance hydraulic converter due to the difference of the respective suction components. The suction flow characteristic can be modulated using the supply pressure and duty cycle, which was confirmed by experimental measurements. In addition, the suction flow characteristics are heavily affected by the resistance of the suction flow passage and switching frequency. There is a compromise between the resistance and switching frequency for inertance hydraulic converters to achieve large suction flow rate.


1977 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 2288-2291 ◽  
Author(s):  
P H Culbreth ◽  
I W Duncan ◽  
C A Burtis

Abstract We used paired-ion high-performance liquid chromatography to determine the 4-nitrophenol content of 4-nitrophenyl phosphate, a substrate for alkaline phosphatase analysis. This was done on a reversed-phase column with a mobile phase of methanol/water, 45/55 by vol, containing 3 ml of tetrabutylammonium phosphate reagent per 200 ml of solvent. At a flow rate of 1 ml/min, 4-nitrophenol was eluted at 9 min and monitored at 404 nm; 4-nitrophenyl phosphate was eluted at 5 min and could be monitored at 311 nm. Samples of 4-nitrophenyl phosphate obtained from several sources contained 0.3 to 7.8 mole of 4-nitrophenol per mole of 4-nitrophenyl phosphate.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 1182
Author(s):  
Seung-Jun Kim ◽  
Yong Cho ◽  
Jin-Hyuk Kim

Under low flow-rate conditions, a Francis turbine exhibits precession of a vortex rope with pressure fluctuations in the draft tube. These undesirable flow phenomena can lead to deterioration of the turbine performance as manifested by torque and power output fluctuations. In order to suppress the rope with precession and a swirl component in the tube, the use of anti-swirl fins was investigated in a previous study. However, vortex rope generation still occurred near the cone of the tube. In this study, unsteady-state Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes analyses were conducted with a scale-adaptive simulation shear stress transport turbulence model. This model was used to observe the effects of the injection in the draft tube on the unsteady internal flow and pressure phenomena considering both active and passive suppression methods. The air injection affected the generation and suppression of the vortex rope and swirl component depending on the flow rate of the air. In addition, an injection level of 0.5%Q led to a reduction in the maximum unsteady pressure characteristics.


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