With the ever advancing state of computer systems, it is imperative to maintain the most up-to-date and reliable safety evaluation data for nuclear power systems. Commonplace now is the practice of updating old accident simulation results with more advanced models and codes using today's faster computer systems. Though it may be quite an undertaking, the benefits of using a more advanced model and code can be significant especially if the result of the new analysis provides increased safety margin for any plant component or system. A series of parametric and sensitivity studies for the Loss of Normal Feedwater Anticipated Transient without Scram (LONF ATWS) for Southern Company's Vogtle Electric Generating Plant (VEGP) Units 1&2 located near Waynesboro, GA was performed using the best-estimate thermal-hydraulics transient analysis code RETRAN-02w. This thesis includes comparison to the results of a generic plant study published by Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1974 using an earlier code, LOFTRAN, as well as Vogtle-specific analysis. The comparative analysis exposes and seeks to explain differences between the two codes whereas the Vogtle analysis utilizes data from the Vogtle FSAR to generate plant-specific data. The purpose of this study is to validate and update the previous analysis and gather more information about the plant actions taken in response to a LONF ATWS. As a result, now there is a new and updated evaluation of the LONF ATWS for both a generic 4-loop Westinghouse plant and VEGP using a more advanced code. Beyond the reference case analysis, a series of sensitivity and parametric studies have been performed to show how well each type of plant is designed for handling an ATWS situation. These studies cover a wide range of operating conditions to demonstrate the dependability of the model. It was found that both the generic 4-loop Westinghouse PWR system and VEGP can successfully mitigate a LONF ATWS throughout the core's operating cycle.

Water pollution is a major concern in vast countries such as India and other developing nations. Several methods of water purification have been practiced since many decades, Semiconductor photocatalysis is a promising technique, for photodegradation of various hazardous chemicals that are encountered in waste waters. The great significance of this technique is that, it can degrade (detoxify) various complex organic chemicals, which has not been addressed by several other methods of purification. This unique advantage made this field of research to attract many investigators particularly in latter eighties and after. This thesis incorporates the studies on the various semiconductor photocatalysts that have been employed for the detoxification purposes. The fundamental principles involved in the photoelectrochemistry, reactions at the interface (solid - liquid or solid - gas) and photocatalytic reactions on fine particles are briefed. General nature and size quantization in semiconductor particles, photocatalytically active semiconductors, TiCh and ABO3 systems, chemical systems and modifications for solar energy conversions are brought out in the introduction chapter besides giving brief description about photocatalytic mineralization of water pollutants with mechanism involved, formation of reactive species and the factors influencing photomineralization reactions. Scope of the present work is given at the end of the first chapter. Second chapter deals with the materials used for the preparation of photocatalyst, preparative techniques, methods of analysis, instruments employed for the photodegradation experiments and a brief description of material characterization methods such as X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential thermal analysis, optical absorption spectro photometry, Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and gas chromatograph - mass spectroscopy (GC - MS). Various preparative routes such as wet chemical and hydrothermal methods for obtaining TiO2 (both rutile and anatase forms), BaTiOs and SrTiO3 fine particles and the chemical analysis of their constituents have been described in brief. Third chapter presents the results of materials characterization. T1O2 (rutile and anatase), BaTiO3 and SrTiO3 have been characterized separately using various techniques. Different routes of obtaining the photocatalyst fine particles, heat treatment at various temperature ranges, experimental procedures and the results of characterization are brought out in this chapter. Fourth and fifth chapters present the details of degradation studies carried out on the photomineralization of chlorophenol, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde. Studies include photodegradation of the pollutants with different catalysts varying experimental conditions to check the effects of change in concentration of pollutants, oxidizer, pH, surface hydroxylation, etc. The most favorable conditions for the complete mineralization of the pollutants have been studied. In case of TiO2, anatase form has shown greater photoactivity when compared to rutile and complete mineralization of chlorophenols has been achieved at low pollutant concentrations, neutral pH, with H2O2 and UV illumination. Retarding effects of surface hydroxylation and the formation of peroxotitanium species during photodegradation have been presented. TCE and HCHO degradation with BaTiO3/SrTiO3 has been studied. Photocatalyst heat-treated at 1100°G-1300°C is found to be highly active in combination with H2O2 as electron scavenger. HCHO is not getting degraded to its completeness in aqueous conditions owing to the strong competition in surface adsorption posed by H2O molecules. Vapour-solid phase reaction however gave good results in the detoxification of HCHO via disproportionation. Summary and conclusions are given at the end of the thesis.

This study was based on the uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of a generic 10 MW Materials Test Reactor (MTR). In this study an uncertainty and sensitivity analysis methodology called code scaling applicability and uncertainty (CSAU) was implemented. Although this methodology follows 14 steps, only the following were carried out: scenario specification, nuclear power plant (NPP) selection, phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT), selection of frozen code, provision of code documentation, determination of code applicability, determination of code and experiment accuracy, NPP sensitivity analysis calculations, combination of biases and uncertainties, and total uncertainty to calculate specific scenario in a specific NPP. The thermal hydraulic code Flownex®1 was used to model only the reactor core to investigate the effects of the input parameters on the selected output parameters of the hot channel in the core. These output parameters were mass flow rate, temperature of the coolant, outlet pressure, centreline temperature of the fuel and surface temperature of the cladding. The PIRT process was used in conjunction with the sensitivity analysis results in order to select the relevant input parameters that significantly influenced the selected output parameters. The input parameters that have the largest effect on the selected output parameters were found to be the coolant flow channel width between the plates in the hot channel, the width of the fuel plates itself in the hot channel, the heat generation in the fuel plate of the hot channel, the global mass flow rate, the global coolant inlet temperature, the coolant flow channel width between the plates in the cold channel, and the width of the fuel plates in the cold channel. The uncertainty of input parameters was then propagated in Flownex using the Monte Carlo based uncertainty analysis function. From these results, the corresponding probability density function (PDF) of each selected output parameter was constructed. These functions were found to follow a normal distribution. / MIng (Nuclear Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Accurate determination of the pressure losses at the bit is very important for drilling practices in petroleum industry. In the literature, there are several studies on determination of the pressure losses. Major focus is concentrated on single phase drilling fluids, which is far from accurate estimation of pressure losses for multiphase fluids, i.e., fluids including a liquid and a gas phase, at the bit. Some of these models are valid for multiphase fluids, however, they are either valid for very high gas flow rates, or developed using very strong assumptions. This study presents a mathematical model for calculating bit hydraulics for gasified drilling fluids. The theory, which is valid for both sonic (critical) and subsonic (sub-critical) regimes, is based on the solution of the general energy equation for compressible fluid flow. The model is sensitive to changes in internal energy, temperature and compressibility. In addition, the model uses &ldquo / mixture sound velocity&rdquo / approach. A computer program is developed based on the proposed mathematical model. The program calculates pressure drop through a nozzle in subsonic flow region, and suggest flow rate if the calculated pressure drop values is in the sonic flow pressure ranges. The program has been run at reasonable field data. The results of the models have been compared with the results of existing models in the literature. The results show that the pressure losses through the bit can be estimated with a variation less than 9%. Also, it has been observed that bottom hole pressure, velocity of the liquid phase and nozzle size have a strong influence on bit pressure drop.

Pressure drop across miniature-scale flow disturbances, including abrupt flow area changes, is an important source of error and confusion in the literature. Such pressure drops are frequently encountered in experiments, where they are often estimated using methods and correlations that have been developed based on experimental data obtained in conventional systems. However, physical arguments as well as the relatively few available experimental observations indicate that such pressure drops in microchannel systems are likely to be different than what is known about similar phenomena in conventional flow systems. Experimental data dealing with pressure drop associated with two-phase flow across abrupt flow area changes in microchannels are scarce, however, and the available data are insufficient for the development of reliable predictive methods. In this investigation, experiments were conducted using a test section consisting of two capillaries, one with 0.84 mm, and the other with 1.6 mm inner diameters. A multitude of pressure transducer ports were installed along the two capillaries, and allowed for the measurement of the pressure gradients over the entire test section. The test section allowed for the measurement of frictional pressure gradients in the two straight channels, as well as pressure drops caused by the flow area expansion and contraction depending on the flow direction, for single-phase as well as two-phase flows. These measurements were performed over a wide range of parameters, using air as the gaseous phase, and room-temperature water as the liquid phase. The single-phase flow data were compared with existing conventional correlations, and with predictions of CFD simulations using the Fluent computer code.

[Truncated abstract] The hydrodynamic forces on a marine pipeline and the local scour around it are the most serious and important issues in designing and maintaining pipelines. This thesis explores the vortex shedding phenomena for the flow over smooth surface and rough surface isolated cylinders. This thesis also explores the two-dimensional and three-dimensional scour process beneath offshore pipelines numerically. A series of numerical models are proposed in this dissertation for the prediction of flow characteristics and the time development of local scour around pipelines. All the models presented in this thesis are deliberately developed based on novel lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), because in recent years it has been considered as a serious alternative to standard computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as it is ideally suited to massively parallel computations. The lattice Boltzmann method is described in details to reveal how it recovers the Navier- Stokes equations. Various grid refinement schemes available in literature are discussed and a slightly modified new scheme is proposed to remove oscillatory solutions at high velocity change regime. The proposed scheme is then validated against bench mark tests for low Reynolds number flow. A turbulent model based on LBM is developed in order to predict the vortex shedding flow around an isolated square smooth surface cylinder. The various local and global flow parameters and structure of vortices are validated against experimental and numerical data available in literature. The model is then extended to investigate the vortex shedding flow over an isolated rough surface cylinder as it has an engineering significance in the design process of pipelines. The model is employed to investigate the influence of pipe roughness on various local and global parameters of flow. ... Significant part of this thesis is aimed at modelling flow and local scour around pipelines employing LBM and cellular automata (CA) methods. The erosion mechanism of the CA method available in literature for sand particles is improved by defining the threshold of sediment entrainment on bed in a similar manner to that employed in the traditional scour models. The predicted scour profiles for various incoming flow conditions are found to compare well with the experimental results reported in the literature. The existence of lee wake erosion due to continuous generation of vortex shedding in the lee of the pipelines is revealed. The time development of the maximum scour depth below the pipe is also found to be in good agreement with the experimental measurements reported in literature Finally, a three-dimensional flow and scour model is developed in order to explore the scour process beneath pipelines. It is revealed that the three-dimensionality effects are more pronounced near the span shoulder. On the other hand, there exists a two-dimensional scour regime in the vicinity of the middle section of the suspended pipe. It is found that the propagation speed of the scour hole in the sapnwise direction remains almost constant at all stages of scour process.

The construction of fish passes has been a longstanding measure to improve river ecosystem status by ensuring the passability of weirs, dams and other in- channel structures for migratory fish. Many fish passes have a low biological effectiveness because of unsuitable hydrodynamic conditions hindering fish to rapidly detect the pass entrance. There has been a need for techniques to quantify the hydrodynamics surrounding fish pass entrances in order to identify those passes that require enhancement and to improve the design of new passes. This PhD thesis presents the development of a methodology for the rapid, spatially continuous quantification of near-pass hydrodynamics in the field. The methodology involves moving-vessel Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements in order to quantify the 3-dimensional water velocity distribution around fish pass entrances. The approach presented in this thesis is novel because it integrates a set of techniques to make ADCP data robust against errors associated with the environmental conditions near engineered in-channel structures. These techniques provide solutions to (i) ADCP compass errors from magnetic interference, (ii) bias in water velocity data caused by spatial flow heterogeneity, (iii) the accurate ADCP positioning in locales with constrained line of sight to navigation satellites, and (iv) the accurate and cost-effective sensor deployment following pre-defined sampling strategies. The effectiveness and transferability of the methodology were evaluated at three fish pass sites covering conditions of low, medium and high discharge. The methodology outputs enabled a detailed quantitative characterisation of the fish pass attraction flow and its interaction with other hydrodynamic features. The outputs are suitable to formulate novel indicators of hydrodynamic fish pass attractiveness and they revealed the need to refine traditional fish pass design guidelines.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:09:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 1675.pdf: 3472865 bytes, checksum: cdd740eb5820a30c37b4efc5f281f779 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-01-30 / Several factors have been demanding from the building enterprises to search for better quality in their gerencial organization, methods and construtive techniques have been used, like the cost reductions for their permanency in the market, trough the rationalize of their process and the legal aspects of the Consumer Defense Code, among others. For that a building execute the requisits related to the aspects of performance from their functions during their utilization, is necessary during their life, to use a pre-determinated plan of maintenance, that must be seen as another stage of the constructions process, as well as the conception stage, project and building execution. The construction building patology study, is a fundamental instrument to be possible to identify and to understand the falilure incident on performance during the utilization of the buildings components.The present production tryed to show the performance requirements in two medium to high standard entrerprise buildings, that has norms and procedure of quality control. Information were utilized from the project stage until the execution and post-occupancy stage of the enterprise, with purpose to localize possibles pathologies in fase of utilization, and track them with their history of projects or with sistem and construtive procedure. Based on information obtained in this study, the results were realized with the purpose of systemaze the information to elaborate the grafics and other tools to enable a better comprehension of problems detected.Through the results obtained, together with the project studied and construtives methods adopted trought the building enterprise, were realized the Identification and the caracterization of the main pathology . The objective of this production is to provide information to searches in this pathologies in the Hydraulics and Sanitary buildings Systems and buildings enterprises to aim to aid on control and syatematizing the necessaries maintenance, to prevent the same problems in future buildings executed by the enterprises and the executer of theses systems. / Diversos fatores têm exigido das empresas construtoras a busca por melhorias de qualidade em sua organização gerencial, métodos e técnicas construtivas adotadas, tais como a redução de custos para sua permanência no mercado, através da racionalização dos seus processos, e os aspectos legais do Código de Defesa do Consumidor, entre outros. Para que uma edificação cumpra os requisitos relativos aos aspectos de desempenho de suas funções durante sua utilização, é preciso que, durante sua vida útil, seja utilizado um plano de manutenção pré-determinado, que deve ser encarado como uma outra etapa do processo de construção, além das etapas de concepção, projeto e execução do empreendimento. O estudo das patologias da construção civil é a ferramenta fundamental para que sejam possíveis a identificação e compreensão das incidências de falhas de desempenho durante a utilização dos componentes da edificação. O presente trabalho buscou avaliar os requisitos de desempenho em dois edifícios residenciais em altura de médio a alto padrão, de empresa construtora que possui normas e procedimentos de controle da qualidade. Foram utilizadas informações desde a fase de projeto até a execução e pós-ocupação do empreendimento, a fim de mapear as possíveis patologias na fase de utilização e rastreá-las com base em seu histórico de projetos ou sistemas e procedimentos construtivos. Com os dados obtidos no estudo de caso foram realizadas as análises dos resultados, com o objetivo de sistematizar as informações para, então, elaborar os gráficos e outras ferramentas que possibilitem a melhor compreensão dos problemas detectados. Por meio dos resultados alcançados, juntamente com o estudo dos projetos e métodos construtivos adotados pela empresa construtora, foram realizadas a identificação e caracterização das principais patologias detectadas. O objetivo do trabalho é o de fornecer dados para os pesquisadores da área de patologias nos Sistema Prediais Hidráulicos e Sanitários e empresas construtoras, visando auxiliá-las no controle e sistematização das manutenções necessárias, de forma a prevenir os mesmos problemas em futuras obras realizadas pela empresa e projetistas desses sistemas.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:55:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:07:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

The construction of big electrical power dams on the São Francisco river channel have led to changes in its hydrological system and altered its discharge and sediment s transport behaviour, and then generating some environmental impacts and potencialized others. The accelerated bank erosion is considered one of the most harmful ones leading to application of various of alternatives in order to control it and consequently the channel sedimentation. This research was developed in order to monitor bank erosion process in the right margin of the Low San Francisco River, during January 2004 until February 2005, in four different sites located from Propriá to the river estuary, studying the possible causes and also the riprap efficiency in order to control the river bank erosion. The pegs methods was used to measure erosion rate and to describe it the profiling method was used in four different sites (A, B, C and D). Water Level Indicators in three of the studied sections was installed in order to study the subterranean waters flux on the river banks. The annual rates of bank erosion was 2,06 meter to site A, 4,06 meter to site B, 4,35 meter to site C and 10,03 meter to site D. They are lower numbers then was recorded in previous years, explained by the redesign of the bank morphology promoted by the occurenc of January 2004 flood, which promotes an apparent stabilization of the erosion process. The variation of erosion among the sites was related to the localization, soil texture, the bank height climate and hydrological features, also wind speed, monthly amplitude waves near the edge and the hydraulic flux from soil to the river. The behavior of riprap constructed in order to control the erosion is efficient in the most of locals they were implanted, although they could collapse in the future because of lack of studies related to the river morphological changes near them. These data can subsidy public decisions in order to minimize the environment negative impacts caused by unsustainable natural resources uses in the San Francisco River Basin. / A implantação de grandes projetos hidrelétricos na Bacia do Rio São Francisco tem provocado modificações no regime hídrico e alterado o comportamento de descarga e transporte da carga sólida do rio, e, assim, gerado impactos ambientais ou potencializado outros. A acelerada erosão marginal é considerada uma das mais graves alterações ambientais nesta bacia hidrográfica e tem levado à implementação de várias alternativas para o seu controle e do conseqüente assoreamento. Este estudo teve como objetivos monitorar as taxas de recuo da margem direita do rio São Francisco, no período de janeiro de 2004 a fevereiro de 2005, em quatro seções localizadas no trecho entre o município de Propriá e a foz do rio, estudar as causas do processo e verificar a eficiência dos enrocamentos implantados no controle da erosão no trecho em estudo. Para quantificação das taxas de erosão foi utilizado o Método das Estacas e para descrição do processo erosivo atuante na margem o Método das Perfilagens Sucessivas em quatro diferentes seções (A, B, C e D). As seções foram instrumentadas com Indicadores de Nível D água INAs, para o estudo da interação das águas superficiais e subterrâneas na interface dos taludes marginais. O recuo do topo do talude, nas seções estudadas foram de 2,06 m na seção A, 4,06 m na seção B, 4,35 m na seção C e 10,03 m na seção D. São números bem inferiores em relação aos anos anteriores, explicados pelo retaludamento promovido pelas cheias de janeiro de 2004, que temporariamente promoveram uma desaceleração do processo. A variação das taxas de erosão aconteceu em função da localização das seções, da composição granulométrica do material que compõe a face dos taludes, da altura dos barrancos, da pequena variação mensal da cota do nível d água, da ação dos ventos e conseqüente formação de ondas, da velocidade do fluxo próximo à margem e devido ao sentido do fluxo hidráulico nos taludes, do solo para o rio. Os enrocamentos têm evitado o avanço do processo erosivo na maioria dos pontos em que foram implantados. Porém, poderá haver um futuro colapso da estrutura, em conseqüência do solapamento de sua base devido ao impacto das ondas. Os dados obtidos servirão para subsidiar decisões voltadas para o planejamento e gestão ambiental da região que busquem minimizar os impactos ambientais negativos resultantes das políticas públicas de utilização dos recursos hídricos da Bacia do Rio São Francisco.