Quantitative analysis of microstructure evolution, stress partitioning and thermodynamics in the dynamic transformation of Fe-14Ni alloy

Li, L.*; Miyamoto, Goro*; Zhang, Y.*; Li, M.*; Morooka, Satoshi; Oikawa, Katsunari*; Tomota, Yo*; Furuhara, Tadashi*

Journal of Materials Science & Technology, 184, p.221 - 234, 2024/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmst.2023.10.037

Experimental investigation on local flow structures of upward cap-bubbly flows in a vertical large-size square channel

Sun, Haomin; Kunugi, Tomoaki*; Yokomine, Takehiko*; Shen, X.*; Hibiki, Takashi*

Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 154, p.111171_1 - 111171_24, 2024/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2024.111171

Atomic interactions at the interface between iron or iron fluoride, and sodium by the first-principles calculation

Namie, Masanari; Saito, Junichi

Computational Materials Science, 239, p.112963_1 - 112963_7, 2024/04

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2024.112963

Deterministic sampling method using simplex ensemble and scaling method for efficient and robust uncertainty quantification

Endo, Tomohiro*; Maruyama, Shuhei; Yamamoto, Akio*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 61(3), p.363 - 374, 2024/03

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2231931

Uncertainty quantification (UQ) of the neutron multiplication factor is important to investigate the appropriate safety margin for a target system. Although the random sampling method is a practical and useful UQ method, a large computational cost is required to reduce the statistical error of the estimated uncertainty. Furthermore, if an input variable follows a normal distribution with a large standard deviation, the perturbed input variable by the random sampling method may become a physically inappropriate or negative value. To address these issues for the efficient and robust UQ, a modified deterministic sampling method using the simplex ensemble and the scaling method is proposed. The features of the proposed method are summarized as follows: The sample size is (r+2), where r corresponds to the effective rank of the covariance matrix between the input variables; depending on a situation of target UQ, the amounts of perturbations for the input parameters can be arbitrarily given by the scaling factor method; the scaling factor can be updated to avoid physically inappropriate in the perturbed input variables. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through the UQ of the neutron multiplication factor due to fuel manufacturing uncertainties for a typical PWR pin-cell burnup calculation.

Evaluation of temporal changes in fracture transmissivity in an excavation damaged zone after backfilling a gallery excavated in mudstone

Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Ishii, Eiichi

Environmental Earth Sciences, 83(3), p.98_1 - 98_15, 2024/02

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-023-11416-x

The long-term geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste relies on predictions of future changes in a disposal facility's hydro-mechanical characteristics to assess potential leakage through fractures in the excavation damaged zone (EDZ) after backfilling the facility. This study evaluated the transmissivity of EDZ fractures using in situ hydraulic tests around the area of a full-scale, experimental, engineered barrier system in the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory, Hokkaido, Japan. After their installation, the buffer blocks swelled, altering the stresses within the EDZ fractures. The effects of these changing stresses on the fractures' transmissivity were assessed over a period of 4 years. The transmissivity continuously decreased in this period to about 41% of its value measured prior to the swelling. Using the Barton-Bandis normal-stress-dependent fracture-closure model, the decrease in transmissivity is quantitatively attributed to closure of the EDZ fractures, which was caused by the swelling pressure increasing up to 0.88 MPa. Evidence of fracture closure came from seismic tomography surveying, which revealed a slight increase in seismic velocity in the study area with increasing swelling pressure. The results show that EDZ fractures were closed by swelling of the full-scale buffer material. They also demonstrate the applicability of the Barton-Bandis model to preliminary estimation of the long-term transmissivity of EDZ fractures in facilities for the geological disposal of radioactive waste.

Double-differential cross sections for charged particle emissions from particle impinging on Al at 230 MeV/u

Furuta, Toshimasa*; Uozumi, Yusuke*; Yamaguchi, Yuji; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Koba, Yusuke*; Velicheva, E.*; Kalinnikov, V.*; Tsamalaidze, Z.*; Evtoukhovitch, P.*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 61(2), p.230 - 236, 2024/02

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2294192

Charged particle production from particle fragmentation reactions was investigated experimentally by measurement of 230-MeV/u particles bombarding an aluminum target. Double differential cross sections were measured for each ejectile of p, d, t, He, and He at laboratory angles between 15 and 60 deg. The results of analyzed data found the following common characteristics: (1) spectra of proton- and neutron-emission are similar in high energy region at forward angle, (2) triton-to-He ratio of -breakup yield is 1:2, which is similar to lower incident energy experiment, and (3) the shape of broad peak formed by He and particles could be explained by the process with collision between induced particle and target nucleus.

Joint clarification of contaminant plume and hydraulic transmissivity via a geostatistical approach using hydraulic head and contaminant concentration data

Takai, Shizuka; Shimada, Taro; Takeda, Seiji; Koike, Katsuaki*

Mathematical Geosciences, 56(2), p.333 - 360, 2024/02

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11004-023-10084-8

To enable proper remediation of accidental groundwater contamination, the contaminant plume evolution needs to be accurately estimated. In the estimation, uncertainties in both the contaminant source and hydrogeological structure should be considered, especially the temporal release history and hydraulic transmissivity. Although the release history can be estimated using geostatistical approaches, previous studies use the deterministic hydraulic property field. Geostatistical approaches can also effectively estimate an unknown heterogeneous transmissivity field via the joint data use, such as a combination of hydraulic head and tracer data. However, tracer tests implemented over a contaminated area necessarily disturb the in situ condition of the contamination. Conversely, measurements of the transient concentration data over an area are possible and can preserve the conditions. Accordingly, this study develops a geostatistical method for the joint clarification of contaminant plume and transmissivity distributions using both head and contaminant concentration data. The applicability and effectiveness of the proposed method are demonstrated through two numerical experiments assuming a two-dimensional heterogenous confined aquifer. The use of contaminant concentration data is key to accurate estimation of the transmissivity. The accuracy of the proposed method using both head and concentration data was verified achieving a high linear correlation coefficient of 0.97 between the true and estimated concentrations for both experiments, which was 0.67 or more than the results using only the head data. Furthermore, the uncertainty of the contaminant plume evolution was successfully evaluated by considering the uncertainties of both the initial plume and the transmissivity distributions, based on their conditional realizations.

The Contribution of Cr and Ni to hydrogen absorption energy in Fe-Cr-Ni austenitic systems; A First-principles study

Moriyama, Junichiro*; Takakuwa, Osamu*; Yamaguchi, Masatake; Ogawa, Yuhei*; Tsuzaki, Kaneaki*

Computational Materials Science, 232, p.112650_1 - 112650_11, 2024/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2023.112650

The present study focuses on a novel hydrogen-improved strength-ductility balance in some practical Fe-Cr-Ni-based austenitic alloys, which directly depends on the solute hydrogen content. The hydrogen absorption energy of the Fe-Cr-Ni model alloys with the face-centered cubic structure was examined using first-principles calculations to verify the contribution of Cr and Ni substitutions from Fe to the hydrogen solubility in the alloys. The Cr substitution substantially reduced the hydrogen absorption energy compared to the Ni substitution, whereby the increased Cr/Ni ratio exerts higher hydrogen solubility. The propensity in the calculations coincided with the experimental results obtained previously in the practical alloys with various Cr / Ni ratios.

Uncertainty reduction of sodium void reactivity using data from a sodium shielding experiment

Maruyama, Shuhei; Endo, Tomohiro*; Yamamoto, Akio*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 61(1), p.31 - 43, 2024/01

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2244512

This study investigated the feasibility of reducing the uncertainty associated with fast-reactor-core design by sharing an experimental database between different fields (e.g., reactor physics and radiation shielding) using data assimilation techniques. As the first step in this study, we focused on the ORNL sodium shielding experiment and investigated the possibility of using the experimental data to reduce the uncertainty in sodium void reactivity (SVR), which is the most important safety parameter for sodium-cooled fast reactors. A sensitivity analysis based on the Generalized Perturbation Theory was performed for the sodium shielding experiment. Using the sensitivity coefficients evaluated here and those of the sodium void reactivity previously evaluated by the JAEA, we showed that sodium shielding experimental data can contribute to the uncertainty reduction of SVR by adopting the cross-section adjustment method. Based on this study, the uncertainty reduction effect is expected to be significant, especially for SVR dominated by neutron-leakage phenomena. Although new reactor physics experimental data on SVR may be difficult to obtain, the results of this study suggest that data from sodium shielding experiments can partially substitute for this role. This study demonstrated the value of the mutual use of integral experimental data in fast reactor designs.

Principal preferred orientation evaluation of steel materials using time-of-flight neutron diffraction

Xu, P. G.; Zhang, S.-Y.*; Harjo, S.; Vogel, S. C.*; Tomota, Yo*

Quantum Beam Science (Internet), 8(1), p.7_1 - 7_13, 2024/01

https://doi.org/10.3390/qubs8010007