7 research outputs found
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HIGH TEMPERATURE THERMAL AND STRUCTURAL MATERIAL PROPERTIES FOR METALS USED IN LWR VESSELS
Because of the impact that melt relocation and vessel failure may have on subsequent progression and associated consequences of a Light Water Reactor (LWR) accident, it is important to accurately predict heating and relocation of materials within the reactor vessel, heat transfer to and from the reactor vessel, and the potential for failure of the vessel and structures within it. Accurate predictions of such phenomena require high temperature thermal and structural properties. However, a review of vessel and structural steel material properties used in severe accident analysis codes reveals that the required high temperature material properties are extrapolated with little, if any, data above 1000 K. To reduce uncertainties in predictions relying upon extrapolated high temperature data, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) obtained high data for two metals used in LWR vessels: SA 533 Grade B, Class 1 (SA533B1) low alloy steel, which is used to fabricate most US LWR reactor vessels; and Type 304 Stainless Steel SS304, which is used in LWR vessel piping, penetration tubes, and internal structures. This paper summarizes the new data, and compares it to existing data
Characterization of elastic scattering near a Feshbach resonance in rubidium 87
The s-wave scattering length for elastic collisions between 87Rb atoms in the
state |f,m_f>=|1,1> is measured in the vicinity of a Feshbach resonance near
1007 G. Experimentally, the scattering length is determined from the mean-field
driven expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a homogeneous magnetic field.
The scattering length is measured as a function of the magnetic field and
agrees with the theoretical expectation. The position and the width of the
resonance are determined to be 1007.40 G and 0.20 G, respectively.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures minor revisions: added Ref.6, included error bar
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Ultrasonic Thermometry for In-Pile Temperature Detection
The Idaho National Laboratory has recently initiated a new effort to evaluate the viability of using ultrasonic thermometry technology as an improved sensor for detecting temperature during irradiation testing. Ultrasonic thermometers (UTs) work on the principle that the speed at which sound travels through a material (acoustic velocity) is dependant on the temperature of the material. By introducing an acoustic pulse to the sensor and measuring the time delay of echoes, temperature may be derived. UTs have several advantages over other sensor types. UTs can be made very small, as the sensor consists only of a small diameter rod which may or may not require a sheath. Measurements may be made near the melting point of the sensor material, as no electrical insulation is required; and shunting effects are avoided. Most attractive, however, is the ability to introduce acoustic discontinuities to the sensor, as this enables temperature measurements at several points along the sensor length (allowing temperature profiling with a single sensor). A typical multi-sensor UT system, with key components identified, is shown in Figure 1. As indicated in this figure, a narrow ultrasonic pulse is generated in a magnetostrictive rod by an excitation coil. The ultrasonic pulse propagates to the sensor wire, where a fraction of the pulse energy is reflected at each discontinuity (notches or diameter change). Each reflected pulse is received by the excitation coil, transformed into an electrical signal, amplified and evaluated in a start/stop counter system. The time interval between two adjacent echoes is evaluated and compared to a calibration curve to give the average temperature in the corresponding sensor segment. When a number of notches are available on the wire sensor, the various measurements give access to a temperature profile along the probe. UTs have been used successfully for several applications; however, several problems have limited the success of these sensors. For example, signal processing can be very complicated, as multiple echoes may overlap. Contact between the sensor and solid materials can cause extraneous echoes. If a sheath is required, contact bonding at high temperatures may cause extraneous echoes or attenuation of primary echoes. The most successful materials used in previous studies, tungsten and rhenium, are unattractive for nuclear applications due to material transmutation. Clearly, in order for ultrasonic thermometers to be viable for an in-pile sensor, these issues must be resolved through the use of modern signal processing and materials technologies. As part of the INL feasibility study, all of the issues associated with UT use and proposed resolution options will be identified and evaluated. Once most promising options are proven, it is planned to produce one or more prototype ultrasonic temperature sensors for evaluation. Ultimately, a full test should include a long term installation in a high temperature test assembly installed in a high neutron flux environment, such as that found in the Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Test Reactor
NEET In-Pile Ultrasonic Sensor Enablement-FY-2013
Ultrasonic technologies offer the potential to me