This is a report of a verification study of the multiphysics simulation framework MOOSE which was preformed at the company Seaborg Technologies. In the process of designing molten salt reactors there is a special need of making credible multiphysics simulations since the fuel is in motion. In this study the incompressible version of Navier-Stokes equations of finite volumes available in the Navier-Stokes module of the MOOSE framework is verified by modelling and simulations of fluid flow and heat transfer in two different systems with available benchmarks. The first system, a thin buoyancy driven molten sodium hydroxide test loop which is verified by a similar model made with the high fidelity CFD software STAR-CCM+ as benchmark. The second system, forced convection of air through a straight pipe with heated walls which is verified by comparisons with an analytical solution. The resulting velocity profiles from simulations of the first system corresponds well with the benchmark but certain conclusions can not be drawn from it since the the transient simulations stops to converge before reaching equilibrium. The results from simulations of the second system corresponds well with the analytical solution and no convergence issues arise. The conclusion from the results is that the incompressible version of Navier-Stokes equations of finite volumes available in the Navier-Stokes module of the MOOSE framework has potential to be used in multiphysics simulations of molten salt reactors but seemingly not in cases of buoyancy driven flows in thin geometries. Two proposals for further work is recommended. The first is that this implementation is applied in a context with forced fluid flow or a context with thicker fluid domain. The second proposal is that the other available abilities of MOOSE such as finite element method and/or the compressible version of the Navier-Stokes equations should be tested.

Thermal energy storage (TES) in a concentrating solar power (CSP) plant allows for continuous operation even during times when solar radiation is not available, thus providing a reliable output to the grid. Energy can be stored either as sensible heat or latent heat, of which latent heat storage is advantageous due to its high volumetric energy density and the high Rankine cycle efficiency owing to the isothermal operation of latent thermal energy storage (LTES) system. Storing heat in the form of latent heat of fusion of a phase change material (PCM), in addition to sensible heat, significantly increases the energy density, thus potentially reducing the storage size and cost. However, a major technical barrier to the use of latent thermal energy of PCM is the high thermal resistance to energy transfer due to the intrinsically low thermal conductivity of PCMs, which is a particularly acute constraint during the energy discharge. Secondly, for integration of TES in CSP plants, it is imperative that the cyclic exergetic efficiency be high, among other requirements, to ensure that the energy extracted from the system is at the maximum possible temperature to achieve higher cycle conversion efficiency in the power block. The first objective is addressed through computational modeling and simulation to quantify the effectiveness of two different approaches to reduce the thermal resistance of PCM in a LTES, viz. (a) developing innovative, inexpensive and passive heat transfer devices that efficiently transfer large amount of energy between the PCM and heat transfer fluid (HTF) and (b) increase the heat transfer area of interaction between the HTF and PCM by incorporating the PCM mixture in small capsules using suitable encapsulation techniques.   The second portion of the research focuses on numerical modeling of large scale latent thermal storage systems integrated to a CSP plant with the aforementioned enhancement techniques and cascaded with more than one PCM to maximize the exergetic efficiency. Based on systematic parametric analysis on the various performance metrics of the two types of LTES, feasible operating regimes and design parameters are identified to meet the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative requirements including storage cost < $15/kWht and exergetic efficiency > 95%, for a minimum storage capacity of 14 h, in order to reduce subsidy-free levelized cost of electricity (LCE) of CSP plants from 21¢/kWh (2010 baseline) to 6¢/kWh, to be on par with the LCE associated with fossil fuel plants. / Ph. D.

No description available.

A novel process for low-temperature (LT) epitaxial growth of silicon carbide (SiC) by replacing the growth precursor propane with chloro-methane was recently developed at Mississippi State University. However, only limited information was available about the defects and impurity incorporation in the various types of epitaxial layers produced by this new method like blanket epitaxial layers, selectively grown epitaxial mesas, and highly doped epitaxial layers, prior to their comprehensive characterization in this work. Molten potassium hydroxide (KOH) etching, mechanical polishing and a variety of other characterizing techniques were used to delineate and identify the defects both in the epilayer and substrates. Under optimum growth conditions, the concentration of defects in the epitaxial layers was found to be less than that in the substrate, which established the good quality of the LT growth process. Defect concentrations, on selectively grown epitaxial layers, strongly depended on the crystallographic orientation of the mesa sidewall. The addition of HCl to the growth process, aimed at increasing the growth rate, caused a significant concentration of triangular defects (TDs) to be formed in the epitaxial layers. The TDs were traced down to the substrate by a combination of repeated polishing and molten KOH etching steps. The TDs were found not to originate from any substrate defects. Their origin was traced to polycrystalline silicon islands which form on the surface during growth and subsequently get evaporated away, which had made it impossible to detect them and suspect their influence on the TD generation prior to this work. The TDs were found to include single or multiple stacking faults bound by partial dislocations and, in some cases, inclusions of other SiC polytypes. Gradual degradation of the epitaxial morphology was found in heavily aluminum doped p+ layers, with an increase in the level of doping, followed by much steeper degradation when approaching the solubility limit of Al in 4H-SiC. Precipitates were the dominating defect at the highest levels of doping and were observed beyond a doping of 3.5x1020 cm-3. A dislocation generation model for heavily doped epitaxial layers was developed accounting for the stress in the lattice caused by Al doping.

Increasing storage for energy is one of the most important challenges today to overcome in order to enable higher penetration of renewable energy in the existing energy systems. Thermal storage is one category of energy storage that has been successfully demonstrated in a number of engineering projects and is showing promising potential in the future. However, a technology cannot be widespread if it is not economically feasible and sustainable in the long run. Bottom up cost analysis can be used to assess economic viability of a technology. For newer technologies, the top-down cost calculation is not always possible due to the limited amount of data. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the best practices in performing bottom up cost calculation and to propose a methodology with the purpose of enabling it to be implemented over thermal energy storage bottom up economic evaluations. To achieve this, two proven applications, molten salt storage for concentrated solar power and ice thermal storage for building cooling, were examined as the basis of the bottom up state of the art calculation models. It was found that in the ice storage case, the models were often done in a hybrid bottom up-top down approach which limits a fully detailed cost analysis. Instead these are referred as case studies instead because of the few elements needed in their calculation. The constructed specialized models and case studies are then compared against other external sources to validate the proposed economic analysis procedure. The numerical results showed some discrepancies when compared to external resources. A compilation of a general bottom up cost model with detailed step by step model to perform a bottom up calculation for thermal storages is finally proposed in this work. / Att förbättra möjligheterna att lagra energi är en av dagens viktigaste utmaningar för att kunna öka andelen förnybar energi i vårt energisystem. Termisk energilagring eller värmelagring är en typ av energilagring som använts framgångsrikt i flera områden och visar hög potential i ett flertal ytterligare teknologier. En teknologi kan dock inte få en omfattande påverkan om den inte är ekonomiskt hållbar. En bottom-up kostnadsanalys kan användas för att uppskatta genomförbarheten för teknologin. För nya teknologier är en top-down kostnadsanalys inte alltid möjlig, vilket är beroende på den begränsade tillgången till data. Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka de vanligaste tillvägagångssätten i att utföra en bottom-up kostnadsanalys och föreslå en metodologi som har ändamålet att användas i bottom-up kostnadsanalyser för värmelagringstekniker. För att uppnå detta har två beprövade tekniker, smält saltlagring i koncentrerad solkraft och islagring för kylning av byggnader, undersökts som modeller för moderna bottom-up kostnadsanalyser. Efter undersökning fann man att i islagringsteknologi genomförs kostnadsanalysen vanligen i ett hybrid bottom up-top down upplägg, vilket begränsar möjligheten att rekonstruera en fullt detaljerad bottom-up kostnadsanalys. Dessa kommer istället att refereras som fallstudier eftersom endast ett fåtal objekt behövdes i en kostnadsberäkning. Specialiserade kostnadsmodeller som konstruerats och fallstudier jämförs med externa källor för att bekräfta den föreslagna analysproceduren för kostnadsberäkningar. Jämförelsen med externa källor visade viss spridning i numeriska resultat. En sammanställning av en generell bottom-up kostnadsmodell med detaljerad steg för steg-beskrivning för att genomföra en bottom-up kostnadsanalys är dessutom föreslagen i detta arbete.

月あるいは火星近傍における持続可能な宇宙空間利用のために、月面および火星表層を覆う複合酸化物から成るレゴリスを資源としたその場資源利用に関する技術の発展が不可欠である。本研究では、不揮発不燃性の溶融塩を反応媒体に用い、電気化学プロセシングにより、その場資源であるレゴリスに含まれる有用な元素の分離・回収・利用する技術を新たに提案した。また、溶融ハライド塩中での各種金属元素やイオン及びその酸化物等の物理化学特性を明らかにした。 / High temperature molten salt plays a key role in power generation systems such as solar cells, nuclear fission reactor, and nuclear fusion reactor on the moon and Mars. In this thesis, the physicochemical phenomena of metallic atoms, metallic ions, and its oxides in molten halides were investigated in order to obtain fundamental knowledges for electrochemical/materials science and to develop electrochemical processing in molten salt for in-situ resource utilization. The significant effects of melt structure, melt composition, and interfacial flow phenomena on the Si electrodeposition process was discussed. The corrosion behavior of major alloys and a unique steel in molten halides was also discussed. / 博士(工学) / Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University

In Hinblick auf den stetig steigenden Bedarf der chemischen Industrie an Grundstoffchemikalien und der teilweise unsicheren Versorgung mit Erdöl und Erdgas ist es notwendig alternative Rohstoffe und Verwertungspfade für die Bereitstellung von Basischemikalien zu finden. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war die Untersuchung der Hydrogenolyse von Lignin in niedermolekulare Produkte unter Verwendung geeigneter Salzschmelzen. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass Lignin in Zinkchlorid/Kaliumchloridschmelzen in niedermolekulare Produkte abgebaut werden kann. Hierbei erwiesen sich der Einsatz eines entsprechenden Eutektikums und einer Alternativschmelze mit niedrigem Schmelzpunkt als hilfreich. Durch den Einsatz verschiedener Apparaturen wurden Untersuchungen in statischer und dynamischer Atmosphäre durchgeführt. Es ergaben sich während der Untersuchung Abhängigkeiten der Hydrogenolyse von verschiedenen Reaktionsparametern. Optima der Umsetzung hinsichtlich der Reaktionsparameter Temperatur, Zeit und Ligninanteil in der Schmelze wurden herausgearbeitet. Die Ausbeute an gewünschten Flüssigprodukten wurde, im Untersuchungsbereich, an diesen Punkten maximiert. Gleichzeitig war die Rückstands- und Gasbildung eingeschränkt. Es konnten Erkenntnisse eines komplexen Systems der Abhängigkeiten der Ausbeuten an Reaktionsprodukten von den Parametern der Untersuchung gewonnen werden. Die Hydrogenolyse von Lignin führte zur Aromatisierung fester Residuen sowie zur Abreicherung von Sauerstofffunktionalitäten. Komplexe Reaktionsmechanismen bewirkten den Abbau von Methoxyl-, Carboxyl- und Hydroxylgruppen der Ligninstruktur. Carbeniumionmechanismen konnten als wichtige Reaktionen zur Spaltung von Ether Arylbindungen identifiziert werden. Die Freisetzung von Monomeren und die Polymerisation anderer Intermediäre sind durch Sekundärreaktionen denkbar. Die gebildeten Flüssigprodukte bestanden hauptsächlich aus Monoaromaten (v.a. Guajakole und Kresole) und wenigen Polyaromaten. Die Selektivität der Bildung einzelner Verbindungen war gering, d.h. die Flüssigprodukte sind eine heterogene Mischung mit geringen Konzentrationen der Einzelsubstanzen. Die Unterschiede in der Struktur der Ausgangslignine bildeten sich auch in der Zusammensetzung der Flüssigprodukte ab. / In view of the steadily increasing demand of the chemical industry to base chemicals and the partial uncertain supply of crude oil and gas, it is necessary to find alternative raw materials and conversion routes for the provision of basic chemicals. The aim of the present work was to investigate the hydrogenolysis of lignin in low molecular weight products using appropriate molten salt media. It could be demonstrated that lignin can be convert in low molecular weight products using zinc chloride/potassium chloride molten salt media. The use of an appropriate eutectic melt and of an alternative melt with low melting point proved helpful. By the use of different apparatus investigations in static and dynamic atmosphere could be carried out. During the investigation dependencies of the hydrogenolysis of various reaction parameters are submitted. Optima of the hydrogenolysis regarding to reaction temperature, time and lignin content at the melt could be identified. The yields were maximized at these points in the range of investigation. Concurrently formation of gases and residues were suppressed. Some evidence of a complex system of the dependencies of the yields of reaction products are obtained from the parameters of the investigation. Hydrogenolysis of lignin leads to aromatic solid residues and to a loss of oxygen containing structures. Structures containing methoxyl-, carboxyl- and hydroxyl groups are degraded by various complex reaction mechanisms. Mechanisms of the formation of carbonium ions were identified as important reactions of the cleavage of ether aryl bonds. Secondary reactions caused the liberation of monomers and polymerisation of some intermediaries. The resulting liquid products consist mainly of monoaromatics (guaiacols and cresols) and less of polyaromatics. The selectivity of the formation of single compounds was low, i.e. the liquid products constitute a heterogenous mixture with low concentrations of the single compounds. The structural differencies of the feedstock lignins also showed at the composition of the liquid products.

No / The effect of side stream channel height on flow stability in 30 degrees coextrusion geometries was investigated. The studies were conducted on a Dow LD150R low density polyethylene melt using a single extruder to feed a flow cell in which the delivered melt stream was split before, and rejoined after, a divider plate in a slit die. Wave type interfacial instability occurred at critical stream thickness ratios. Reducing the side stream channel height broadened the layer ratio operating range before the onset of interfacial instability, therefore improving process stability. Stress fields were quantified and used to validate principal stress differences of numerically modelled flow. Stress field features promoting interfacial instability in each of the die geometries were identified. Interfacial instability resulted when the stress gradient across the interface was asymmetric and accompanied by a non-monotonic decay in the stress along the interface from its inception.

Molten Salt Fast Reactors (MSFRs) have prominent advantages such as fuel breeding, nuclear waste transmutation, and inherent safety. They are the only liquid-fueled nuclear reactors currently receiving significant attention as fourth-generation advanced nuclear systems. To address the challenges of short operational lifetimes and proliferation issues during online fuel processing, the breed-and-burn (B&amp;B) MSFR is among the most promising advanced reactor types. In this study, a large-volume B&amp;B MSFR model without online actinide element treatment was simulated and analyzed using the Monte Carlo simulation software SERPENT, considering different power levels and sizes of the inactive core. The results demonstrate that, under otherwise identical conditions, the operational lifetime and conversion ratio of MSFRs increase with decreasing power levels and increasing the size of the inactive core. These findings provide a foundation and theoretical basis for achieving B&amp;B MSFRs without online actinide element treatment. / Smält saltsnabbreaktorer (MSFRs) har framträdande fördelar såsom bränsleförädling, transmutation av kärnavfall och inneboende säkerhet. De är de enda flytande drivna kärnreaktorerna som för närvarande får betydande uppmärksamhet som fjärde generationens avancerade kärnkraftverk. För att möta utmaningarna med korta driftstider och spridningsproblem vid online bränslebearbetning är rask-och-bränning (B&amp;B) MSFR bland de mest lovande avancerade reaktortyperna. I denna studie simulerades och analyserades en storskalig B&amp;B MSFR-modell utan behandling av aktinidelement online med hjälp av Monte Carlo simuleringsprogramvaran SERPENT, med hänsyn till olika effektnivåer och storlekar på den inaktiva kärnan. Resultaten visar att livslängden och konverteringsförhållandet för MSFRs ökar under annars identiska förhållanden i takt med att effektnivåerna minskar och storleken på den inaktiva kärnan ökar. Dessa resultat ger en grund och teoretisk grund för att uppnå B&amp;B MSFRs utan behandling av aktinidelement online.

No description available.