Nuclear Power Plants

This book covers various topics, from thermal-hydraulic analysis to the safety analysis of nuclear power plant. It does not focus only on current power plant issues. Instead, it aims to address the challenging ideas that can be implemented in and used for the development of future nuclear power plants. This book will take the readers into the world of innovative research and development of future plants. Find your interests inside this book

Introduction to Permanent Plug and Abandonment of Wells

This open access book offers a timely guide to challenges and current practices to permanently plug and abandon hydrocarbon wells. With a focus on offshore North Sea, it analyzes the process of plug and abandonment of hydrocarbon wells through the establishment of permanent well barriers. It provides the reader with extensive knowledge on the type of barriers, their functioning and verification. It then discusses plug and abandonment methodologies, analyzing different types of permanent plugging materials. Last, it describes some tests for verifying the integrity and functionality of installed permanent barriers. The book offers a comprehensive reference guide to well plugging and abandonment (P&A) and well integrity testing. The book also presents new technologies that have been proposed to be used in plugging and abandoning of wells, which might be game-changing technologies, but they are still in laboratory or testing level. Given its scope, it addresses students and researchers in both academia and industry. It also provides information for engineers who work in petroleum industry and should be familiarized with P&A of hydrocarbon wells to reduce the time of P&A by considering it during well planning and construction

Index to 1986 NASA Tech Briefs, volume 11, numbers 1-4

Short announcements of new technology derived from the R&D activities of NASA are presented. These briefs emphasize information considered likely to be transferrable across industrial, regional, or disciplinary lines and are issued to encourage commercial application. This index for 1986 Tech Briefs contains abstracts and four indexes: subject, personal author, originating center, and Tech Brief Number. The following areas are covered: electronic components and circuits, electronic systems, physical sciences, materials, life sciences, mechanics, machinery, fabrication technology, and mathematics and information sciences

Analytical investigation of the dynamics of tethered constellations in Earth orbit, phase 2

This final report covers nine years of research on future tether applications and on the actual flights of the Small Expendable Deployment System (SEDS). Topics covered include: (1) a description of numerical codes used to simulate the orbital and attitude dynamics of tethered systems during station keeping and deployment maneuvers; (2) a comparison of various tethered system simulators; (3) dynamics analysis, conceptual design, potential applications and propagation of disturbances and isolation from noise of a variable gravity/microgravity laboratory tethered to the Space Station; (4) stability of a tethered space centrifuge; (5) various proposed two-dimensional tethered structures for low Earth orbit for use as planar array antennas; (6) tethered high gain antennas; (7) numerical calculation of the electromagnetic wave field on the Earth's surface on an electrodynamically tethered satellite; (8) reentry of tethered capsules; (9) deployment dynamics of SEDS-1; (10) analysis of SEDS-1 flight data; and (11) dynamics and control of SEDS-2

Measurement of Web Stresses During Roll Winding�

This work actually began in 1985 while in the position of Manager of Winding Development at Beloit R&D where I recognized the need to develop a means of accurately measuring the fundamental roll structure variables of stress and strain during winding for production quality control, as well as the possible closed-loop control of the entire winding process. The need for such a measurement became even more apparent when I developed a consistent means of evaluating the resolution of roll structure measurements that were based on different quantities such as hardness, tension and density. The resolution evaluation was based on the number of measurements required to discern a known change in roll structure to a specified statistical confidence. The outcome of an extensive series of tests showed that all current methods were unreliable, but the density analyzer faired better than most and had the additional advantage that it was inherently capable of automated online measurements.Mechanical Engineerin

Desenvolupament, caracterització, i modelització de nous materials polimèrics destinats a l'envasat actiu alimentari

Aquesta tesi tracta del desenvolupament, caracterització, i modelització de nous materials polimèrics destinats a l’envasat actiu alimentari amb capacitat per a exercir una efectiva acció antimicrobiana sobre el producte conservat. Aquests materials es componen fonamentalment de copolímers d’etilè i alcohol vinílic (EVOH) amb carvacrol, citral, o altres olis essencials, com a agents antimicrobians d’origen natural, que, bé en forma de pel·lícules autosostenibles, bé com a recobriments sobre altres polímers convencionals, com polipropilè (PP) o tereftalat de polietilè (PET), permeten l’alliberament dels seus ingredients actius vers l’aliment envasat quan la humitat ambiental generada per aquest és capaç de modificar-los substancialment les característiques barrera. Aquesta relació entre les propietats actives dels nous materials i les condicions ambientals a què es troben sotmesos ha estat estudiada al present treball mitjançant el mesurament dels coeficients de difusió i solubilitat dels esmentats agents a la seva matriu en funció de la temperatura i la humitat relativa. En paral·lel a aquests estudis, s’ha efectuat també una completa caracterització funcional dels nous materials, mitjançant la determinació de les seves principals propietats morfològiques, mecàniques, tèrmiques, òptiques, superficials, i barrera, per tal d’avaluar-ne la possible alteració o deteriorament per causa de les potencials interaccions fisicoquímiques entre els compostos incorporats i llurs matrius portadores. Amb aquests nous materials s’han construït envasos actius per a la conservació de peix fresc i de productes vegetals mínimament processats, dissenyats per a alliberar els anteriors agents antimicrobians a l’espai de cap en una concentració suficient com per a inhibir el creixement de microorganismes patògens o alterants dels aliments sobre la seva superfície. No obstant això, també s’evidencià al treball que l’activitat exercida per aquests envasos tan sols resultava efectiva durant els tres primers o darrers dies del seu emmagatzemament, en funció de l’emplaçament específic de la seva capa activa dins de l’estructura multicapa característica de les pel·lícules constituents. Per aquest motiu, la present tesi abordà seguidament el potencial millorament del seu rendiment antimicrobià a través de dos enfocaments o estratègies diferents. D’una banda, es desenvoluparen models matemàtics d’ambdós envasos, basats en el mètode dels elements finits (FEM), per tal d’esbrinar, a través de simulacions computacionals, els diversos paràmetres estructurals i / o condicions ambientals que regien en major mesura el seu funcionament, i trobar així, en darrer terme, els camins existents vers la seva optimització. D’una altra, s’introduïren dues noves modificacions químiques i / o estructurals a la matriu del material portador a fi d’augmentar la seva capacitat de retenció per l’agent actiu i controlar en major mesura el seu alliberament. Aquestes consistiren en la incorporació de nanopartícules de bentonita a la matriu polimèrica com a càrrega inorgànica, i en la seva substitució per altres copolímers d’etilè de diferent polaritat en forma de dispersions aquoses (làtex). La millora assolida en el rendiment antimicrobià de l’anterior polímer amb les esmentades modificacions químico-estructurals de la seva matriu s’avaluà de forma experimental amb nous mesuraments de les seves propietats actives i funcionals, si bé, en el cas concret de la incorporació de bentonita, es desenvolupà també un nou model matemàtic per tal d’estimar-la teòricament i poder comparar així els resultats obtinguts per mitjà d’ambdues metodologies.This dissertation deals with the development, characterization, and modelling of new polymeric materials intended for active food packaging applications capable of exerting effective antimicrobial action on the preserved product. These materials are essentially composed of ethylene – vinyl alcohol copolymers (EVOH) with carvacrol, citral or other essential oils functioning as natural antimicrobial agents, which allow the release of their active ingredients towards the packaged foodstuffs when the ambient humidity generated by them is able to substantially modify their barrier characteristics. They are either in the form of stand-alone films or as coatings over other conventional polymers, such as polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The relation between the active properties of the new materials and the ambient conditions to which they are subjected has been studied in the present work through the measurement of the diffusion and solubility coefficients of the mentioned agents, which were studied in their matrix as a function of the temperature and the relative humidity. In parallel to these studies, a complete functional characterization of the new materials has also been carried out through the determination of their main morphological, mechanical, thermal, optical, surface, and barrier properties in order to evaluate their possible alteration or deterioration due to the potential physicochemical interactions between the incorporated compounds and their carrier matrices. These new materials were employed in the construction of active packages for the preservation of fresh fish and minimally processed vegetables, designed to release the antimicrobial agents into the headspace in sufficient concentration so as to inhibit the growth of pathogens or food altering microorganisms on their surface. However, it also became evident that the activity exerted by these packages was only effective during the three first or last days of their storage, as a function of the specific location of the active layer within the multilayer structure characteristic of the constituent films. For this reason, the present dissertation subsequently addressed the potential improvement of their antimicrobial performance through two different approaches or strategies. On the one hand, mathematical models of both packages, based on the finite element method (FEM), were developed with the aim of revealing the diverse structural parameters and / or ambient conditions that mostly governed their behavior through computational simulations, and thus ultimately find the existing ways towards their optimization. On the other hand, two new chemical and / or structural modifications were introduced in the matrix of the carrier material with the aim of increasing its retention capacity for the active agent and of further controlling its release. This consisted of the incorporation of bentonite nanoparticles into the polymeric matrix as inorganic loading, and its substitution by other ethylene copolymers of different polarity in the form of aqueous dispersions (latex). The improvement attained in the antimicrobial performance of such a polymer, after these chemo-structural modifications of its matrix, was experimentally evaluated with new measurements of its active and functional properties. In the particular case of bentonite incorporation however, a new mathematical model was also developed in order to theoretically estimate it and thus compare the results found through both methodologies

The 15th Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium

Technological areas covered include: aerospace propulsion; aerodynamic devices; crew safety; space vehicle control; spacecraft deployment, positioning, and pointing; deployable antennas/reflectors; and large space structures. Devices for payload deployment, payload retention, and crew extravehicular activities on the space shuttle orbiter are also described

33rd Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium

The proceedings of the 33rd Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium are reported. JPL hosted the conference, which was held at the Pasadena Conference and Exhibition Center, Pasadena, California, on May 19-21, 1999. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space cosponsored the symposium. Technology areas covered include bearings and tribology; pointing, solar array and deployment mechanisms; orbiter/space station; and other mechanisms for spacecraft

Cumulative index to NASA Tech Briefs, 1986-1990, volumes 10-14

Tech Briefs are short announcements of new technology derived from the R&D activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. These briefs emphasize information considered likely to be transferrable across industrial, regional, or disciplinary lines and are issued to encourage commercial application. This cumulative index of Tech Briefs contains abstracts and four indexes (subject, personal author, originating center, and Tech Brief number) and covers the period 1986 to 1990. The abstract section is organized by the following subject categories: electronic components and circuits, electronic systems, physical sciences, materials, computer programs, life sciences, mechanics, machinery, fabrication technology, and mathematics and information sciences

Play Among Books

How does coding change the way we think about architecture? Miro Roman and his AI Alice_ch3n81 develop a playful scenario in which they propose coding as the new literacy of information. They convey knowledge in the form of a project model that links the fields of architecture and information through two interwoven narrative strands in an “infinite flow” of real books