Numerical investigation of the accuracy of a conductance-type wire-mesh sensor for a single spherical bubble and bubbly flow

Uesawa, Shinichiro; Ono, Ayako; Nagatake, Taku; Yamashita, Susumu; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 62(5), p.432 - 456, 2025/05

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2024.2447366

We performed electrostatic simulations of a wire-mesh sensor (WMS) for a single spherical bubble and bubbly flow to clarify the accuracy of the WMS. The electrostatic simulation for the single bubble showed the electric current density distribution and the electric current path from the excited transmitter to receivers for various bubble locations. It indicated systematic errors based on the nonuniform current density distribution around the WMS. The electrostatic simulation for the bubbly flow calculated by the computational fluid dynamics code, JAEA Utility Program for Interdisciplinary Thermal-hydraulics Engineering and Research (JUPITER), indicated that the WMS had difficulty in quantitatively measuring the intermediate values of the instantaneous void fraction between 0 and 1 because they cannot be estimated by previous transformation methods from the WMS signal to the void fraction, such as linear approximation or Maxwell's equation, and have a significant deviation of the void fraction of 0.2 for the WMS signal. However, the electrostatic simulation indicated that the time-averaged void fractions around the center of the flow channel can be estimated using linear approximation, and the time-averaged void fraction near the wall of the flow channel can be estimated using Maxwell's equation.

Systematic experimental and model-based evaluation of the synergistic effects of alloy composition and damage rate on the formation of Cr-rich precipitates in Fe-Cr-Al alloys under ion irradiation

Abe, Yosuke; Sasaki, Taisuke*; Yamashita, Shinichiro; Okubo, Nariaki; Ukai, Shigeharu

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 600, p.155271_1 - 155271_12, 2024/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2024.155271

To investigate the formation behavior of Cr-rich precipitates (CrRP) in Fe-Cr-Al (ODS) alloys being developed as accident tolerant fuel cladding for light water reactors, 14 Fe-Cr-Al alloys with systematically varied Cr and Al compositions were irradiated with 10.5 MeV Fe at C at three damage levels. A three-dimensional atom probe analysis showed that the CrRP number density, volume fraction, and Cr concentration increase with increasing Cr composition, decreasing Al composition, and decreasing dose rate. The result of the multiple regression analysis on CrRP volume fractions indicates that in addition to the primary effects of these variables, there are several important interactions. It was also highlighted that to understand the dose rate effect on the CrRP formation behavior under neutron irradiation, it is useful to examine the irradiation time dependence, including the effective use of thermal aging data as a limit to the zero dose rate.

Summary report in FY2022 of subsidy program for "the Project of Decommissioning and Contaminated Water Management (Development of Analysis and Estimation Technology for Characterization of Fuel Debris (Development of Technologies for Enhanced Analysis Accuracy, Thermal behavior Estimation, and Simplified Analysis of Fuel Debris)" started in FY2011

Koyama, Shinichi; Ikeuchi, Hirotomo; Mitsugi, Takeshi; Maeda, Koji; Sasaki, Shinji; Onishi, Takashi; Tsai, T.-H.; Takano, Masahide; Fukaya, Hiroyuki; Nakamura, Satoshi; et al.

Hairo, Osensui, Shorisui Taisaku Jigyo Jimukyoku Homu Peji (Internet), 216 Pages, 2023/11

https://en.dccc-program.jp/wp-content/uploads/20231117_JAEA.pdf

In FY 2021 and 2022, JAEA perfomed the subsidy program for "the Project of Decommissioning and Contaminated Water Management (Development of Analysis and Estimation Technology for Characterization of Fuel Debris (Development of Technologies for Enhanced Analysis Accuracy, Thermal Bahavior Estimation, and Simplified Analysis of Fuel Debris)" started in FY 2021. This presentation material summarized the results of the project, which will be available shortly on the website of Management Office for the Project of Decommissioning, Contaminated Water and Treated Water Management.

Development of a numerical simulation method for air cooling of fuel debris by JUPITER

Yamashita, Susumu; Uesawa, Shinichiro; Ono, Ayako; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Mechanical Engineering Journal (Internet), 10(4), p.22-00485_1 - 22-00485_25, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1299/mej.22-00485

A detailed evaluation for air cooling of fuel debris in actual reactors will be essential in fuel debris retrieval under dry conditions. To understand the heat transfer in and around fuel debris, which is assumed as a porous medium in the primary containment vessel (PCV) mechanistically, we newly applied the porous medium model to the multiphase and multicomponent computational fluid dynamics code named JUPITER (JAEA Utility Program for Interdisciplinary Thermal-hydraulics Engineering and Research). We applied the Darcy-Brinkman model as for the porous medium model. This model has high compatibility with JUPITER because it can treat both a pure fluid and a porous medium phase simultaneously in the same manner as the one-fluid model in multiphase flow simulation. We addressed the case of natural convection with a high-velocity flow standing out nonlinear effects by implementing the Forchheimer model, including the term of the square of the velocity as a nonlinear effect to the momentum transport equation of JUPITER. We performed some simple verification and validation simulations, such as the natural convection simulation in a square cavity and the natural convective heat transfer experiment with the porous medium, to confirm the validity of the implemented model. We confirmed that the result of JUPITER agreed well with these simulations and experiments. In addition, as an application of the updated JUPITER, we performed the preliminary simulation of air cooling of fuel debris in the condition of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station unit 2 including the actual core materials. As a result, JUPITER calculated the temperature and velocity field stably in and around the fuel debris inside the PCV. Therefore, JUPITER has the potential to estimate the detailed and accurate thermal-hydraulics behaviors of fuel debris.

Development of numerical simulation method of natural convection around heated porous medium by using JUPITER

Uesawa, Shinichiro; Yamashita, Susumu; Shibata, Mitsuhiko; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Proceedings of 30th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE30) (Internet), 9 Pages, 2023/05

For contaminated water management in decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Stations, reduction in water injection, intermittent injection water and air cooling are considered. However, since there are uncertainties of fuel debris in the PCV, it is necessary to examine and evaluate optimal cooling methods according to the distribution state of the fuel debris and the progress of the fuel debris retrieval work in advance. We have developed a method for estimating the thermal behavior in the air cooling, including the influence of the position, heat generation and the porosity of fuel debris. Since a large-scale thermal-hydraulics analysis of natural convection is necessary for the method, JUPITER developed independently by JAEA is used. It is however difficult to perform the large-scale thermal-hydraulics analysis with JUPITER by modeling the internal structure of the debris which may consist of a porous medium. Therefore, it is possible to analyze the heat transfer of the porous medium by adding porous models to JUPITER. In this study, we report the validation of JUPITER applied the porous model and discuss which heat transfer models are most effective in porous models such as series, parallel and geometric mean models. To obtain validation data of JUPITER for the natural convective heat transfer analysis around the porous medium, we performed the heat transfer and the flow visualization experiments of the natural convection in the experimental system including the porous medium. In the comparison between the experiment and the numerical analysis with each model, the numerical result with the geometric mean model was the closest of the models to the experimental results. However, the numerical results of the temperature and the velocity were overestimated for those experimental results. In particular, the temperature near the interface between the porous medium and air was more overestimated.

A Numerical simulation method to evaluate heat transfer of fuel debris in air cooling by JUPITER, 2; Validation of porous model for natural convective heat transfer

Uesawa, Shinichiro; Yamashita, Susumu; Shibata, Mitsuhiko; Yoshida, Hiroyuki

Proceedings of 12th Japan-Korea Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS12) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2022/10

Dislocation-climbing bypass over dispersoids with different lattice misfit in creep deformation of FeCrAl oxide dispersion-strengthened alloys

Ukai, Shigeharu; Yamashita, Shinichiro

Journal of Materials Research and Technology, 16, p.891 - 898, 2022/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2021.11.123

The creep strain rate of FeCrAl oxide dispersion-strengthened alloys, as a promising accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) cladding of the light-water reactors, is accelerated in YAlO dispersoids by two to three orders of magnitude compared with YZrO dispersoid at 1273K and even occurs at an applied stress less than threshold stress for dislocation detachment. Two approaches were carried out to interpret new findings and to clarify their mechanism. By optimizing the relaxation of the dislocation line energy at the dispersoid interface, numerical analyses proved the accelerated dislocation-climbing in the YAlO dispersoids. The other is a more atomistic approach. The climbing force on the dislocation induced by the stress field around the dispersoid was analyzed in terms of the Peach-Koehler relationship. The accelerated creep strain rate in YAlO dispersoids is attributed to a larger climbing force induced by larger lattice misfit with less coherency in YAlO dispersoid.

Orientation dependence of yield strength in a new single crystal-like FeCrAl oxide dispersion strengthened alloy

Aghamiri, S. M. S.*; Sugawara, Naoya*; Ukai, Shigeharu; Ono, Naoko*; Sakamoto, Kan*; Yamashita, Shinichiro

Materials Characterization, 176, p.111043_1 - 111043_6, 2021/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2021.111043

Advanced oxidation-resistant FeCrAl ODS alloys were developed via the control of composition-processing conditions for the accident tolerant fuel (ATF) cladding. For the first time, a single-crystal like recrystallized FeCrAl ODS alloy was achieved with a unique crystallographic texture of 110-plane and 211-direction and a high number density of fine nanoscale oxide particles. Evaluation of yield strengths at different temperatures showed higher values in transverse (T) direction than longitudinal (L) direction. The crystal orientation dependence of the yield strength up to 800C was attributed to lower value of Schmid factor in transverse direction. Accordingly, the critical resolved shear stress of this practical class of advanced materials was calculated in various temperatures.

Microstructure and texture evolution and ring-tensile properties of recrystallized FeCrAl ODS cladding tubes

Aghamiri, S. M. S.*; Sowa, Takashi*; Ukai, Shigeharu*; Ono, Naoko*; Sakamoto, Kan*; Yamashita, Shinichiro

Materials Science & Engineering A, 771, p.138636_1 - 138636_12, 2020/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2019.138636

Oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) FeCrAl ferritic steels are being developed as potential accident tolerance fuel cladding materials for the light water reactors (LWRs) due to significant improvement in steam oxidation by alumina forming scale and good mechanical properties up to high temperatures. In this study, the microstructural characteristics and tensile properties of the two FeCrAl ODS cladding tubes with different extrusion temperatures of 1100C and 1150C were investigated during processing conditions. While the hot extruded sample showed micron sized elongated grains with strong -fiber in 110 texture, cold pilger rolling process change the microstructure to submicron/micron size grain structure along with texture evolution to both -fiber (110 texture) and -fiber ({111} texture) via crystalline rotations. Subsequently, final annealing resulted in evolution of microstructure to large grain recrystallized structure starting at recrystallization temperature of 810-850C. Two distinct texture development happened in recrystallized cladding tubes, i.e., only large elongated grains of (110) 211 texture following extrusion temperature of 1100C; and two texture components of (110) 211 and {111} 112 following higher extrusion temperature of 1150C. The different texture development and retarding of recrystallization progress in 1100C-extruded cladding tubes were attributed to higher distribution of oxide particles.

Overview of accident-tolerant fuel R&D program in Japan

Yamashita, Shinichiro; Ioka, Ikuo; Nemoto, Yoshiyuki; Kawanishi, Tomohiro; Kurata, Masaki; Kaji, Yoshiyuki; Fukahori, Tokio; Nozawa, Takashi*; Sato, Daiki*; Murakami, Nozomu*; et al.

Proceedings of International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference / Light Water Reactor Fuel Performance Conference (Global/Top Fuel 2019) (USB Flash Drive), p.206 - 216, 2019/09

After the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant, research and development (R&D) program for establishing technical basis of accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) started from 2015 in Japan. Since then, both experimental and analytical studies necessary for designing a new light water reactor (LWR) core with ATF candidate materials are being conducted within the Japanese ATF R&D Consortium for implementing ATF to the existing LWRs, accompanying with various technological developments required. Until now, we have accumulated experimental data of the candidate materials by out-of-pile tests, developed fuel evaluation codes to apply to the ATF candidate materials, and evaluated fuel behavior simulating operational and accidental conditions by the developed codes. In this paper, the R&D progresses of the ATF candidate materials considered in Japan are reviewed based on the information available such as proceedings of international conference and academic papers, providing an overview of ATF program in Japan.