Introduce of friction model into fuel pin bundle deformation analysis code "BAMBOO"

Uwaba, Tomoyuki; Ito, Masahiro*; Ishitani, Ikuo*

JAEA-Technology 2023-006, 36 Pages, 2023/05

JAEA-Technology-2023-006.pdf:3.45MB

The BAMBOO code developed by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency is a computer code to analyze fuel pin bundle deformation in a fast reactor wire-spaced type fuel pin bundle subassembly. In this study we developed an analysis model to consider friction at the contact points between adjacent fuel pins, and at these between outermost fuel pins and a duct that are due to bundle-duct interaction. This model deals with friction forces at contact points in the contact and separation analysis of the code, and employs a convergent calculation where contact forces are gradually determined to avoid numerical instability when the friction occurs. Analyses of BAMBOO with the model showed very slight effects on the onset of contact between outer most pins and a duct, and on directions of pin displacements, within the range of practical friction coefficients.

Investigation of high-temperature chemical interaction of calcium silicate insulation and cesium hydroxide

Rizaal, M.; Nakajima, Kunihisa; Saito, Takumi*; Osaka, Masahiko; Okamoto, Koji*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(9), p.1062 - 1073, 2020/09

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2020.1755733

The interaction of cesium hydroxide and a calcium silicate insulation material was experimentally investigated at high temperature conditions. A thermogravimetry equipped with differential thermal analysis was used to analyze thermal events in the samples of mixed calcium silicate and cesium hydroxide under Ar-5%H and Ar-4%H-20%H0 with maximum temperature of 1100C. Prior being mixed with cesium hydroxide, a part of calcium silicate was pretreated at high temperature to evaluate the effect of possible structural changes of this material due to a preceding thermal history and also the sake of thermodynamic evaluation to those available ones. Based upon the initial condition (preliminary heat treatment) of calcium silicate, it was found that if the original material consisted of xonotlite (CaSi0(0H)), the endothermic reaction with cesium hydroxide occurred over the temperature range 575-730C meanwhile if the crystal phase of original material was changed to wollastonite (CaSi0), the interaction occurred over temperature range 700-1100C. Furthermore, the X-ray diffraction analyses have indicated on both type of pretreated calsils that regardless of Ar-5%H and Ar-4%H-20%H0 atmosphere, cesium aluminum silicate, CsAlSi0 was formed with aluminum in the samples as an impurity or adduct.

Maintaining formation of multiple robotic wheelchairs for smooth communication

Suzuki, Ryota*; Kobayashi, Yoshinori*; Kuno, Yoshinori*; Yamada, Taichi; Yamazaki, Keiichi*; Yamazaki, Akiko*

International Journal on Artificial Intelligence Tools, 25(5), p.1640005_1 - 1640005_19, 2016/10

https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218213016400054

To meet the demands of an aging society, research on intelligent/robotic wheelchairs have been receiving a lot of attention. In elderly care facilities, care workers are required to communicate with the elderly in order to maintain both their mental and physical health. While this is regarded as important, having a conversation with someone on a wheelchair while pushing it from behind in a traditional setting would interfere with their smooth and natural conversation. So we are developing a robotic wheelchair system which allows companions and wheelchair users to move in a natural formation. This paper reports on an investigation to learn the patterns of human behavior when the wheelchair users and their companions communicate while walking together. The ethnographic observation reveals a natural formation of positioning for both companions and wheelchair users. Based on this investigation, we propose a multiple robotic wheelchair system which can maintain desirable formations for communication between wheelchairs.

High temperature interaction between zircaloy-4 and stainless steel type 304

Nagase, Fumihisa; Otomo, Takashi; Uetsuka, Hiroshi

JAERI-Research 2001-009, 21 Pages, 2001/03

JAERI-Research-2001-009.pdf:2.93MB

no abstracts in English

High temperature interaction between zircaloy-4 and inconel-718

Uetsuka, Hiroshi; Nagase, Fumihisa;

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 246(2-3), p.180 - 188, 1997/00

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3115(97)00104-9

no abstracts in English

Basic study on seismic response of soil-structure interaction system using equivalent linear three-dimensional fem analysis of reactor building

Ichihara, Yoshitaka*; Nakamura, Naohiro*; Nabeshima, Kunihiko*; Choi, B.; Nishida, Akemi

no journal, , 

This study aims to evaluate the applicability of the equivalent linear analysis method for reinforced concrete, which uses frequency-independent hysteretic damping, to the seismic design of reactor building of the nuclear power plant. To achieve this, we performed three-dimensional FEM analyses of the soil-structure interaction system, focusing on the nonlinear and equivalent linear seismic behavior of a reactor building under an ideal soil condition. From these results, the method of equivalent analysis showed generally good correspondence with the method of the nonlinear analysis, confirming the effectiveness. Moreover, the method tended to lower the structural stiffness compared to the nonlinear analysis model. Therefore, in the evaluation of the maximum shear strain, we consider that the results were more likely to be higher than the results of nonlinear analysis. In this presentation, we describe the effectiveness and problems of the equivalent linear analysis method using three-dimensional FEM analysis of the soil-structure interaction system.