Initialising ...
Initialising ...
Initialising ...
Initialising ...
Initialising ...
Initialising ...
Initialising ...
Tobita, Yoshiharu*; Kondo, Satoru; Suzuki, Toru*
JAEA-Research 2024-011, 39 Pages, 2024/10
The SIMMER-III and SIMMER-IV computer code, developed at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), is a two- and three-dimensional, multi-velocity-field, multi-component fluid-dynamics model, coupled with a space- and time-dependent neutron kinetics model. The codes have been used widely for simulating complex phenomena during core-disruptive accidents in liquid-metal fast reactors. In the multi-velocity-field fluid dynamics, momentum exchange functions (MXFs) are required for treating inter-field drag and fluid-structure friction effects and thereby for accurately simulating reactivity effects of relative motion of core materials. Up to 8 velocity fields can be used in SIMMER-III and SIMMER-IV, with each field exchanging momentum with other fields and structure surfaces. Since both theoretical and experimental knowledge of the momentum exchange processes for a multi-component, multi-velocity flows is limited, the developed MXF formulations are based on engineering correlations of steady-state two-phase flows. Multi-phase flow regimes for both the pool and channel flows are modeled with using an appropriate averaging procedure such as to avoid abrupt changes in MXFs at flow regime transition. The MXF model, together with the multi-phase flow topology and interfacial area model, has been extensively tested through the code assessment (verification and validation) program, which has demonstrated that many of the problems associated with limitation of two velocity fields and simplistic modeling in the previous codes were resolved.
Tobita, Yoshiharu*; Kondo, Satoru; Morita, Koji*
JAEA-Research 2024-010, 77 Pages, 2024/10
The multi-component, multi-phase flow topology and interfacial area model has been developed for the SIMMER-III and SIMMER-IV computer codes, which have been extensively used in liquid-metal fast reactor core-disruptive accident analyses. To systematically simulate complex flow topology, flow regime maps are modeled, for both the pool flow and channel flow regimes, with smooth transition between flow regimes. The interfacial area convection model was formulated to enhance the applicability and flexibility of the codes, by tracing the transport and history of interfaces, and thereby better representing transient physical phenomena. The changes of interfacial areas resulting from such as breakup, coalescence, and production of droplets or bubbles were treated as source terms in the interfacial area convection equation. In a multi-component system of SIMMER-III and SIMMER-IV, all the possible contacts between components are taken into account, and the fluid-to-fluid and fluid-to-structure binary contact areas are prepared for the calculations of heat and mass transfer processes and momentum-exchange functions. The multi-phase flow topology and interfacial area model developed in this study was the first of a kind as a fast reactor safety analysis code. The model has been extensively tested through the code assessment (verification and validation) program, which has demonstrated that many of the problems associated with simplistic modeling in the previous codes were resolved.
Brear, D. J.*; Kondo, Satoru; Sogabe, Joji; Tobita, Yoshiharu*; Kamiyama, Kenji
JAEA-Research 2024-009, 134 Pages, 2024/10
The SIMMER-III/SIMMER-IV computer codes are being used for liquid-metal fast reactor (LMFR) core disruptive accident (CDA) analysis. The sequence of events predicted in a CDA is often influenced by the heat exchanges between LMFR materials, which are controlled by heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) in the respective materials. The mass transfer processes of melting and freezing, and vaporization and condensation are also controlled by HTCs. The complexities in determining HTCs in a multi-component and multi-phase system are the number of HTCs to be defined at binary contact areas of a fluid with other fluids and structure surfaces, and the modes of heat transfer taking into account different flow topologies representing flow regimes with and without structure. As a result, dozens of HTCs are evaluated in each mesh cell for the heat and mass transfer calculations. This report describes the role of HTCs in SIMMER-III/SIMMER-IV, the heat transfer correlations implemented and the calculation of HTCs in all topologies in multi-component, multi-phase flows. A complete description of the physical basis of HTCs and available experimental correlations is contained in Appendices to this report. The major achievement of the code assessment program conducted in parallel with code development is summarized with respect to HTC modeling to demonstrate that the coding is reliable and that the model is applicable to various multi-phase problems with and without reactor materials.
Kondo, Satoru; Tobita, Yoshiharu*; Morita, Koji*; Kamiyama, Kenji; Yamano, Hidemasa; Suzuki, Toru*; Tagami, Hirotaka; Sogabe, Joji; Ishida, Shinya
JAEA-Research 2024-008, 235 Pages, 2024/10
The SIMMER-III and SIMMER-IV computer codes, developed at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency are the codes with two- and three-dimensional, multi-field, multi-component fluid-dynamics models, coupled with a space- and time-dependent neutron kinetics model. The codes have been used widely for simulating complex phenomena during core-disruptive accidents in liquid-metal fast reactors. Advanced features of the codes in comparison with the former codes include: stable and robust fluid-dynamics algorithm with up to 8 velocity fields, improved representation of structures and multi-phase flow topology, comprehensive treatment of complex heat and mass transfer processes, accurate analytic equations of state, a stable and efficient neutron flux shape solution method and decay heat model. This report describes the models and methods of SIMMER-III and SIMMER-IV. For those individual models, the details of which have been reported elsewhere, only the outlines of the models are presented. The reports of code verification and validation have been already published.
Machida, Masahiko; Yamada, Susumu; Kim, M.; Tanaka, Satoshi*; Tobita, Yasuhiro*; Iwata, Ayako*; Aoki, Yuto; Aoki, Kazuhisa; Yanagisawa, Kenichi*; Yamaguchi, Takashi; et al.
RIST News, (70), p.3 - 22, 2024/09
Inside the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F), there are many locations with high radiation levels due to contamination by radioactive materials that leaked from the reactor. These pose a significant obstacle to the smooth progress of decommissioning work. To help solve this issue, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), under a subsidy from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry's decommissioning and contaminated water management project, is conducting research and development on digital technologies to improve the radiation environment inside the decommissioning site. This project, titled "Development of Technology to Improve the Environment Inside Reactor Buildings (Enhancing Digital Technology for Environment and Source Distribution to Reduce Radiation Exposure)," began in April of FY 2023. In this project, the aim is to develop three interconnected systems: FrontEnd, Pro, and BackEnd. The FrontEnd system, based on the previously developed 3D-ADRES-Indoor (prototype) from FY 2021-2022, will be upgraded to a high-speed digital twin technology usable on-site. The Pro system will carry out detailed analysis in rooms such as the new office building at 1F, while the BackEnd system will serve as a database to centrally manage the collected and analyzed data. This report focuses on the FrontEnd system, which will be used on-site. After point cloud measurement, the system will quickly create a 3D mesh model, estimate the radiation source from dose rate measurements, and refine the position and intensity of the estimated source using recalculation techniques (re-observation instructions and re-estimation). The results of verification tests conducted on Unit 5 are also presented. Furthermore, the report briefly discusses the future research and development plans for this project.
Machida, Masahiko; Yamada, Susumu; Kim, M.; Okumura, Masahiko; Miyamura, Hiroko; Shikaze, Yoshiaki; Sato, Tomoki*; Numata, Yoshiaki*; Tobita, Yasuhiro*; Yamaguchi, Takashi; et al.
RIST News, (69), p.2 - 18, 2023/09
The contamination of radioactive materials leaked from the reactor has resulted in numerous hot spots in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F) building, posing obstacles to its decommissioning. In order to solve this problem, JAEA has conducted research and development of the digital technique for inverse estimation of radiation source distribution and countermeasures against the estimated source in virtual space for two years from 2021 based on the subsidy program "Project of Decommissioning and Contaminated Water Management" performed by the funds from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. In this article, we introduce the results of the project and the plan of the renewal project started in April 2023. For the former project, we report the derivative method for LASSO method considering the complex structure inside the building and the character of the source and show the result of the inverse estimation using the method in the real reactor building. Moreover, we explain the platform software "3D-ADRES-Indoor" which integrates these achievements. Finally, we introduce the plan of the latter project.
Ha, Yoosung; Tobita, Toru; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Katsuyama, Jinya
Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, 145(2), p.021501_1 - 021501_9, 2023/04
Times Cited Count:1 Percentile:20.57(Engineering, Mechanical)Machida, Masahiko; Yamada, Susumu; Kim, M.; Okumura, Masahiko; Miyamura, Hiroko; Malins, A.; Shikaze, Yoshiaki; Sato, Tomoki*; Numata, Yoshiaki*; Tobita, Yasuhiro*; et al.
RIST News, (68), p.3 - 19, 2022/09
no abstracts in English
Shimodaira, Masaki; Tobita, Toru; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Katsuyama, Jinya; Hanawa, Satoshi
Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, 144(1), p.011304_1 - 011304_7, 2022/02
Times Cited Count:1 Percentile:10.66(Engineering, Mechanical)In the structural integrity assessment of a reactor pressure vessel (RPV), the fracture toughness (K) should be higher than the stress intensity factor at the crack tip of an under-clad crack (UCC), which is prescribed in JEAC4206-2016. However, differences in crack depth and existence of cladding between the postulated crack and fracture toughness test specimens would be affected to the plastic constraint state and K
evaluation. In this study, we performed fracture toughness tests and finite element analyses (FEAs) to investigate the effect of cladding on K
evaluation. FEA showed that the cladding decreased the plastic constraint in the UCC rather than the surface crack. Moreover, it was also found that the apparent K
for the UCC was higher than that for the surface crack from tests and the local approach.
Iwata, Keiko; Hata, Kuniki; Tobita, Toru; Hirota, Takatoshi*; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Chimi, Yasuhiro; Nishiyama, Yutaka
Proceedings of ASME 2021 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference (PVP 2021) (Internet), 7 Pages, 2021/07
Shimodaira, Masaki; Tobita, Toru; Nagoshi, Yasuto*; Lu, K.; Katsuyama, Jinya
Proceedings of ASME 2021 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference (PVP 2021) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2021/07
In the structural integrity assessment of a reactor pressure vessel (RPV), the fracture toughness (K) should be higher than the stress intensity factor at the crack tip of a semi-elliptical shaped under-clad crack (UCC), which is prescribed in JEAC4206-2016. However, differences in crack depth and existence of cladding between the postulated crack and fracture toughness test specimens would be affected to the plastic constraint state and K
evaluation. In this study, we performed fracture toughness tests and finite element analyses to investigate the effect of plastic constraint and cladding on the semi-elliptical shaped crack in K
evaluation. The apparent K
value evaluated at the deepest point of the crack exceeded 5% fracture probability based on the Master Curve method estimated from C(T) specimens, and the conservativeness of the current integrity assessment method was confirmed. Few initiation sites were observed along the tip of semi-elliptical shaped crack other than the deepest point. The plastic constraint state was also analyzed along the crack tip, and it was found that the plastic constraint at the crack tip near the surface was lower than that for the deepest point. Moreover, it was quantitatively showed that the UCC decreased the plastic constraint. The local approach suggested higher K
value for the UCC than that for the surface crack, reflecting the low constraint effect for the UCC.
Ha, Yoosung; Shimodaira, Masaki; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Tobita, Toru; Katsuyama, Jinya; Nishiyama, Yutaka
Proceedings of ASME 2021 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference (PVP 2021) (Internet), 6 Pages, 2021/07
Shimodaira, Masaki; Tobita, Toru; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Katsuyama, Jinya; Hanawa, Satoshi
Proceedings of ASME 2020 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference (PVP 2020) (Internet), 7 Pages, 2020/08
In JEAC 4206 which prescribes the methodology for assessing the structural integrity of reactor pressure vessels (RPVs), an under-clad crack (UCC) at the inner surface of RPV is postulated, and it is required that the fracture toughness of RPV steels is higher than stress intensity factor for at the crack tip during the pressurized thermal shock event. In the present study, to investigate the effect of cladding on the fracture toughness, we performed three-point bending fracture toughness tests and finite element analyses (FEAs) for an RPV steel containing an UCC or a surface crack, and the constraint effect for UCC was also discussed. As the result, we found that the fracture toughness for UCC was considerably higher than that for surface crack. On the other hand, the FEAs showed that the cladding decreased the constraint effect for UCC.
Kondo, Satoru; Tobita, Yoshiharu
JAEA-Research 2019-009, 382 Pages, 2020/03
The SIMMER-III computer code, developed at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA, the former Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation), is a two-dimensional, multi-velocity-field, multi-component fluid-dynamics code, coupled with a space- and time-dependent neutron kinetics model. The code is being used widely for simulating complex phenomena during core-disruptive accidents (CDAs) in liquid-metal fast reactors (LMFRs). In parallel to the code development, a comprehensive assessment program was performed in two phases: Phase 1 for verifying individual fluid-dynamics models; and Phase 2 for validating its applicability to integral phenomena important to evaluating LMFR CDAs. The SIMMERIII assessment program was participated by European research and development organizations, and the achievement of Phase 1 was compiled and synthesized in 1996. This report has been edited by revising and reproducing the original 1996 informal report, which compiled the achievement of Phase 1 assessment. A total of 34 test problems were studied in the areas: fluid convection, interfacial area and momentum exchange, heat transfer, melting and freezing, and vaporization and condensation. The problems identified have been reflected to the Phase 2 assessment and later model development and improvement. Although the revisions were made in the light of knowledge base obtained later, the original individual contributions by the participants, both positive and negative, are retained except for editorial changes.
Ha, Yoosung; Shimodaira, Masaki; Tobita, Toru; Hanawa, Satoshi; Yamasaki, Shota*; Uno, Sadanori*
2018-Nendo Ryoshi Kagaku Gijutsu Kenkyu Kaihatsu Kiko Shisetu Kyoyo Jisshi Hokokusho (Internet), 3 Pages, 2019/09
no abstracts in English
Takamizawa, Hisashi; Katsuyama, Jinya; Ha, Yoosung; Tobita, Toru; Nishiyama, Yutaka; Onizawa, Kunio
Proceedings of 2019 ASME Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference (PVP 2019) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2019/07
no abstracts in English
Tobita, Toru; Nishiyama, Yutaka; Onizawa, Kunio
JAEA-Data/Code 2018-013, 60 Pages, 2018/11
Mechanical properties of materials including fracture toughness are extremely important for evaluating the structural integrity of reactor pressure vessels (RPVs). In this report, the published data of mechanical properties of nuclear RPVs steels, including neutron irradiated materials, acquired by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), specifically tensile test data, Charpy impact test data, drop-weight test data, and fracture toughness test data, are summarized. There are five types of RPVs steels with different toughness levels equivalent to JIS SQV2A (ASTM A533B Class 1) containing impurities in the range corresponding to the early plant to the latest plant. In addition to the base material of RPVs, the mechanical property data of the two types of stainless overlay cladding materials used as the lining of the RPV are summarized as well. These mechanical property data are organized graphically for each material and listed in tabular form to facilitate easy utilization of data.
Ha, Yoosung; Tobita, Toru; Otsu, Takuyo; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Nishiyama, Yutaka
Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, 140(5), p.051402_1 - 051402_6, 2018/10
Times Cited Count:8 Percentile:37.59(Engineering, Mechanical)Ha, Yoosung; Tobita, Toru; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Hanawa, Satoshi; Nishiyama, Yutaka
Proceedings of 2018 ASME Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference (PVP 2018), 6 Pages, 2018/07
Chimi, Yasuhiro; Iwata, Keiko; Tobita, Toru; Otsu, Takuyo; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Yoshimoto, Kentaro*; Murakami, Takeshi*; Hanawa, Satoshi; Nishiyama, Yutaka
JAEA-Research 2017-018, 122 Pages, 2018/03
Warm pre-stress (WPS) effect is a phenomenon that after applying a load at a high temperature fracture does not occur in unloading during cooling, and then the fracture toughness in reloading at a lower temperature increases effectively. Engineering evaluation models to predict an apparent fracture toughness in reloading are established using experimental data with linear elasticity. However, there is a lack of data on the WPS effect for the effects of specimen size and surface crack in elastic-plastic regime. In this study, fracture toughness tests were performed after applying load-temperature histories which simulate pressurized thermal shock transients to confirm the WPS effect. The experimental results of an apparent fracture toughness tend to be lower than the predictive results using the engineering evaluation models in the case of a high degree of plastic deformation in preloading. Considering the plastic component of preloading can refine the engineering evaluation models.