• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.821-830
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• 2009

In this paper, modal testing and finite element modeling results to identify the modal parameters of a nuclear fuel rod as well as its cladding tube are discussed. A vertically standing full-size cladding tube and a fuel rod with lead pellets were used in the modal testing. As excessive flow-induced vibration causes a failure in fuel rods, such as fretting wear, the vibration level of fuel rods should be low enough to prevent failure of these components. Because vibration amplitude can be estimated based on the modal parameters, the dynamic characteristics must be determined during the design process. Therefore, finite element models are developed based on the test results. The effect of a lumped mass attached to a cladding tube model was identified during the finite element model optimization process. Unlike a cladding tube model, the density of a fuel rod with pellets cannot be determined in a straightforward manner because pellets do not move in the same phase with the cladding tube motion. The density of a fuel rod with lead pellets was determined by comparing natural frequency ratio between the cladding tube and the rod. Thus, an improved fuel rod finite element model was developed based on the updated cladding tube model and an estimated fuel rod density considering the lead pellets. It is shown that the entire pellet mass does not contribute to the fuel rod dynamics; rather, they are only partially responsible for the fuel rod dynamic behavior.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.323-334
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• 2013

During a hypothetical core-disruptive accident (CDA) in a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), degraded core materials can form roughly conically-shaped debris beds over the core-support structure and/or in the lower inlet plenum of the reactor vessel from rapid quenching and fragmentation of the core material pool. However, coolant boiling may ultimately lead to leveling of the debris bed, which is crucial to the relocation of the molten core and heat-removal capability of the debris bed. To clarify the mechanisms underlying this self-leveling behavior, a large number of experiments were performed within a variety of conditions in recent years, under the constructive collaboration between the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Kyushu University (Japan). The present contribution synthesizes and gives detailed comparative analyses of those experiments. Effects of various experimental parameters that may have potential influence on the leveling process, such as boiling mode, particle size, particle density, particle shape, bubbling rate, water depth and column geometry, were investigated, thus giving a large palette of favorable data for the better understanding of CDAs, and improved verifications of computer models developed in advanced fast reactor safety analysis codes.

• KSTLE International Journal
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.33-38
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• 2005

Submicron-scale patterns made of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) were fabricated on silicon-wafer using a capillarity-directed soft lithographic technique. Polyurethane acrylate (PUA) stamps (Master molds) were used to fabricate the patterns. Patterns with three different aspect ratios were fabricated by varying the holding time. The patterns fabricated were the negative replica of the master mold. The patterns so obtained were investigated for their adhesion and friction properties at nano-scale using AFM. Friction tests were conducted in the range of 0-80 nN. Glass (Borosilicate) balls of diameter 1.25 mm mounted on cantilever (Contact Mode type NPS) were used as tips. Further, micro-friction tests were performed using a ball-on-flat type micro-tribe tester, under reciprocating motion, using a soda lime ball (1 mm diameter) under a normal load of 3,000 mN. All experiments were conducted at ambient temperature ($24{\pm}1^{\circ}C$) and relative humidity ($45{\pm}5\%$). Results showed that the patterned samples exhibited superior tribological properties when compared to the silicon wafer and non-patterned sample (PMMA thin film) both at the nano and micro-scales, owing to their increased hydrophobicity and reduced real area of contact. In the case of patterns it was observed that their morphology (shape factor and size factor) was decisive in defining the real area of contact.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.23 no.8 s.185
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• pp.127-136
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• 2006

Metallic sandwich plates with inner dimpled shell subject to 3-point bending have been analyzed and then optimized for minimum weight. Inner dimpled shells can be easily fabricated by press or roll with high precision and bonded with same material skin sheets by resistance welding or adhesive bonding. Metallic sandwich plates with inner dimpled shell structure can be optimally designed for minimum weight subject to prescribed combination of bending and transverse shear loads. Fundamental findings for lightweight design are presented through constrained optimization. Failure responses of sandwich plates are predicted and formulated with an assumption of narrow sandwich beam theory. Failure is attributed to four kinds of mechanisms: face yielding, face buckling, dimple buckling and dimple collapse. Optimized shape of inner dimpled shell structure is a hemispherical shell to minimize weight without failure. It is demonstrated that bending stiffness of sandwich plate is 2 or 3 times larger than solid plates with the same strength. Failure mode boundaries and iso-strength lines dependent upon the geometry and yield strain of the material are plotted with respect to geometric parameters on the failure map. Because optimal parameters of maximum strength for given material weight can be selected from the map, analytic solutions for maximum strength are expressed as a function of only material property and proposed strength. These optimal parameters match well with numerical optimal parameters.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.12 no.11
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• pp.833-839
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• 2002

As the demand for slim laptops requires low-height optical disc drives, vibration problems of optical disc drives are of great concern. Additionally, with the decrease of a track width and a depth of focus in high density drives, studies on vibration resonance between mechanical parts become more important. From the vibration point of view, the performance of optical disc drives is closely related with the relative displacement between a disc and an objective lens which is controlled by servo mechanism. In other words, to read and write data properly, the relative displacement between an optical disc and an objective lens should be within a certain limit. The relative displacement is dependent on not only an anti-vibration mechanism design but also servo control capability. Good servo controls can make compensation for poor mechanisms, and vice versa. In a usual development process, robustness of the anti-vibration mechanism is always verified with the servo control of an objective lens. Engineers partially modify servo gain margin in case of a data reading error. This modification cannot correct the data reading error occasionally and the mechanism should be redesigned more robustly. Therefore it is necessary to verify a mechanism with respect to the possible servo gain plot. In this study we propose the experimental verification method for anti-vibration mechanism with respect to the existing servo gain plot. Thismethod verifies axial vibration characteristics of optical disc drives on the basis of transmissibility. Using this method, we verified our mechanism and modified the mechanism for better anti-vibration characteristics.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.163-174
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• 1998

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the distribution of stress in the root end resected teeth. The finite element method was used to compare stresses along the root and retrograde filling material in seven two-dimensional models of mandibular 2nd premolar. Each model was endodontic treatment and gold crown' restoration. Each model divided with amagam core restoration or gold casting post restoration. Thus each model divided with shape of root end resection, depth of retropreparation and exposure length of root in the bony cavity. The seven models were classified as in the table 1 below. A load of 500N was applied $45^{\circ}$ diagonally on the lingual slope of the buccal cusp. These mode were analyzed with two dimensional finite element methods. The results of this study were as follows : 1. The maximum tensile stress along the inner canal wall was shown on the model 7. 2. When the model 1 was compared with the model 5, the maximum tensile stress along the inner canal wall showed the model 1. 3. Less equivalent stress was shown on the model 6 and more equivalent stress was shown on the model 4. 4. More shear stress was shown on the retrograde filling material of the model 7. 5. The models with increased length of exposed root in the bony cavity demonstrated a gradual increase to the tensile stress in X direction which occurred approximately a boundary between the bone and exposed root in' the bony cavity. 6. The model which had a case of matching the apex of post and a boundary between the bone and exposed root in the bony cavity demonstrated more increase tensile stress in X direction than other models.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.7-15
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• 2007

A mechanical model was developed to predict the behavior of point-loaded RC slender beams (a/d > 2.5) without stirrups. It is commonly accepted by most researchers that a diagonal tension crack plays a predominant role in the failure mode of these beams, but the failure mechanism of these members is still debatable. In this paper, it was assumed that diagonal tension failure was triggered by the concrete cover splitting due to the dowel action at the initial location of diagonal tension cracks, which propagate from flexural cracks. When concrete cover splitting occurred, the shape of a diagonal tension crack was simultaneously developed, which can be determined from the principal tensile stress trajectory. This fictitious crack rotates onto the crack tip with load increase. During the rotation, all forces acting on the crack (i.e, dowel force of longitudinal bars, vertical component of concrete tensile force, shear force by aggregate interlock, shear force in compression zone) were calculated by considering the kinematical conditions such as crack width or sliding. These forces except for the shear force in the compression zone were uncoupled with respect to crack width and sliding by the proposed constitutive relations for friction along the crack. Uncoupling the shear forces along the crack was aimed at distinguishing each force from the total shear force and clarifying the failure mechanism of RC slender beams without stirrups. In addition, a proposed method deriving the dowel force of longitudinal bars made it possible to predict the secondary shear failure. The proposed model can be used to predict not only the entire behavior of point-loaded RC slender shear beams, but also the ultimate shear strength. The experiments used to validate the proposed model are reported in a companion paper.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.107-113
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• 2018

Coal samples with different joints morphology were subjected to uniaxial compression experiments, cracks evolution was recorded by Nikon D5300 and acoustic emission (AE) energy signals were collected by AEwin Test for Express-8.0. During loading process, coal samples deformed elastically with no obvious cracks changes, then they expanded gradually along the trace of the original cracks, accompanied by the formation of secondary cracks, and eventually produced a large-scale fracture. It was more interesting that the failure mode of samples were all shear shape, whatever the original cracks morphology was. With cracks and damage evolution, AE energy radiated regularly. At the early loading stage, micro damage and small scale fracture events only induced a few AE events with less energy, while large scale fracture leaded to a number of AE events with more energy at the later stage. Based on the multifractal theory, the multifractal spectrum could explain AE energy signals frequency responses and the causes of AE events with load. Multifractal spectrum width (${\Delta}{\alpha}$), could reflect the differences between the large and small AE energy signals. And another parameter (${\Delta}f$) could reflect the relationship between the frequency of the least and greatest signals in the AE energy time series. This research is helpful for us to understand cracks evolution and AE energy signals causes.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.557-567
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• 2018

Cylindrical shell structures buckle at service loads which are much lower than their associated theoretical buckling loads. The main source of this discrepancy is the presence of various imperfections which are created on the cylinder body during different processes as manufacturing, handling, assembling and machining. Many cylindrical shell structures are still designed against buckling based on the experimental data introduced by NASA SP-8007 as conservative lower bound curves. This study employed the numerical based Linear Buckling mode shape Imperfection (LBMI) method and modified it using a stochastic method to assess the effect of geometrical imperfections in more details on the buckling of cylindrical shells with and without the cutout. The comparison of results with those obtained from the numerical Simcple Perturbation Load Imperfection (SPLI) method for cylinders with and without cutout revealed a good correlation. The effect of two parameters of size and number of cutouts on the buckling load was investigated using the linear buckling and Modified LBMI methods. Results confirmed that in cylinders with a small cutout inserting geometrical imperfection using either SPLI or modified LBMI methods significantly reduced the value of the predicted buckling load. However, in cylinders with larger cutouts, the effect of the cutout is dominant, thus considering geometrical imperfection had a minor effect on the buckling loads predicted by both SPLI and modified LBMI methods. Furthermore, the modified LBMI method was employed to evaluate the combination effect of cutout numbers and size on the buckling load. It is shown that in small cutouts, an increasing in the cutout size up to a certain value resulted in a remarkable reduction of the buckling load, and beyond that limit, the buckling loads were constant against D/R ratios. In addition, the cutout number shows a more significant effect on decreasing the buckling load at small D/R ratios than large D/R ratios.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1240-1247
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• 2018

Magnetic hysteresis in Ni nanowire arrays grown by electrodeposition inside the pores of anodic alumina templates is studied as a function of temperature in the range between 5 K and 300 K. Nanowires with different diameters, aspect ratios, inter-wire distance in the array and surface condition (smooth and rough) are synthesized. These microstructure parameters are linked to the different free magnetic energy contributions determining coercivity and the controlling magnetization reversal mechanisms. Coercivity increases with temperature in arrays of nanowires with rough surfaces and small diameters -33 nm and 65 nm- when measured without removing the alumina template and/or the Al substrate. For thicker wires -200 nm in diameter and relatively smooth surfaces- measured without the Al substrate, coercivity decreases as temperature rises. These temperature dependences of magnetic hysteresis are described in terms of an effective magnetic anisotropy $K_a$, resulting from the interplay of magnetocrystalline, magnetoelastic and shape anisotropies, together with the magnetostatic interaction energy density between nanowires in the array. The experimentally determined coercive fields are compared with results of micromagnetic calculations, performed considering the magnetization reversal mode acting in each studied array and microstructure parameters. A method is proposed to roughly estimate the value of $K_a$ experimentally, from the hysteresis loops measured at different temperatures. These measured values are in agreement with theoretical calculations. The observed temperature dependence of coercivity does not arise from an intrinsic property of pure Ni but from the nanowires surface roughness and the way the array is measured, with or without the alumina template and/or the aluminum support.