A neural network approach for determining spatial and geometry dependent Green's functions for thermal stress approximation in power plant header components

The trend in power generation to operate plant with a greater frequency of on/partial/off load conditions creates several concerns for the long term structural integrity of many high temperature components. The Green's function method has been used for many years to estimate the thermal stresses in components such as steam headers by attempting to solve the un-coupled thermal stress problem for a unit temperature step. Once a Green's function for a unit temperature step has been determined, realistic or actual component temperature profiles can be discretised and the time dependent stress profile reconstructed using Duhamel's theorem. Stress fluctuations can therefore be estimated and damage due to fatigue mechanisms can be quantified. A potential difficulty with this method is that Green's function approximations are determined for a single analysis point in a structure. This is because Green's functions are approximated by fitting a trial function to the results of finite element (FE) simulations. While a user can make some judgement on which point in a structure will give the “worst case” (or life limiting) conditions, it is foreseeable that points of interest will be dependent on the specific analysis conditions, such as the stub penetration geometry and the loading condition considered. The neural network approach described in this paper provides a means where transient thermal stress models of complex components (here taken to be steam headers) can be generated relatively quickly and used pro-actively to assess and modify plant operation. A range of header geometries have been considered to make the network applicable over an industry relevant envelope. Coefficients of determination (R2) are typically above 0.92 when reconstructed (from neural network results) unit temperature step stress profiles are compared against “true” FEA results. Mean errors in the stress profiles are, for the majority of cases, less than 10%. Suggestions are also made on possible future improvements to the method through the use of additional constraints on the reconstructed stress profiles

The development of a novel technique for small ring specimen tensile testing

The wide scale use of small specimens in routine testing programs could significantly reduce material resource requirements (factors of 10 are easily achievable). This is a major benefit to situations where there is not enough material to manufacture conventional, full-size specimens, such as first-stage gas turbine blade roots. However, limitations exist due to concerns over size effects, manufacturing difficulties, uncertainties related to the application of representative loading conditions and complex interpretation procedures of non-standard data. Due to these limitations, small specimen testing techniques have been mostly applied in ranking exercises and to determine approximate or simple material parameters such as Young’s modulus, minimum creep strain rate and fracture toughness. The small ring method is a novel, high sensitivity small specimen technique for creep testing that has been extended in the present work to the determination of tensile material properties. The main advantages of the small ring specimen are that it is self-aligning and has a large equivalent gauge length in comparison to other small specimens, resulting in much higher testing sensitivity. In the present work, this specimen type mimics conventional, full-size, monotonic testing, allowing for observations of elastic and plastic material response to be made. Wrought aluminium alloy 7175-T7153 small rings were tested at room temperature at 5 different loading (displacement) rates and the results compared to conventional, full-size, monotonic specimen equivalents. Finite element analysis was conducted in order to evaluate the equivalent gauge section and equivalent gauge length in the small ring specimen (which varied between circa 0.35–1.4 mm2 and 25–45 mm, respectively) to facilitate these comparisons. An analytical solution has also been derived in order to validate the finite element analysis

The development of a novel small ring specimen tensile testing technique

The use of small specimens in routine testing would reduce resource requirements, however, limitations exist due to concerns over size effects, manufacturing difficulties, uncertainties related to the application of representative loading conditions, and complex interpretation procedures of non-standard data. Due to these limitations, small specimen testing techniques have been mostly applied for ranking exercises and to determine approximate or simple material parameters such as Young’s modulus, creep minimum strain rate and fracture toughness. The small ring method is a novel, high sensitivity small specimen technique for creep testing and has been extended in the present work for the determination of tensile material properties. Wrought aluminium alloy 7175-T7153 was tested at room temperature at 5 different loading rates. Finite element analysis was completed to evaluate the equivalent gauge section and equivalent gauge length in order to compare uniaxial tensile testing results and small ring specimen tensile testing results. An analytical solution has also been derived in order to validate the finite element analysis. It was discovered that the finite element analysis model was suitable, validated by both experimental results and analytical solution as well as that small ring specimens can be used to acquire same stress/strain data as uniaxial specimens

Adiabatic evolution of a coupled-qubit Hamiltonian

We present a general method for studying coupled qubits driven by adiabatically changing external parameters. Extended calculations are provided for a two-bit Hamiltonian whose eigenstates can be used as logical states for a quantum CNOT gate. From a numerical analysis of the stationary Schroedinger equation we find a set of parameters suitable for representing CNOT, while from a time-dependent study the conditions for adiabatic evolution are determined. Specializing to a concrete physical system involving SQUIDs, we determine reasonable parameters for experimental purposes. The dissipation for SQUIDs is discussed by fitting experimental data. The low dissipation obtained supports the idea that adiabatic operations could be performed on a time scale shorter than the decoherence time.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, to be pub.in Phys Rev

Low Q^2 Jet Production at HERA and Virtual Photon Structure

The transition between photoproduction and deep-inelastic scattering is investigated in jet production at the HERA ep collider, using data collected by the H1 experiment. Measurements of the differential inclusive jet cross-sections dsigep/dEt* and dsigmep/deta*, where Et* and eta* are the transverse energy and the pseudorapidity of the jets in the virtual photon-proton centre of mass frame, are presented for 0 < Q2 < 49 GeV2 and 0.3 < y < 0.6. The interpretation of the results in terms of the structure of the virtual photon is discussed. The data are best described by QCD calculations which include a partonic structure of the virtual photon that evolves with Q2.Comment: 20 pages, 5 Figure

Hadron Production in Diffractive Deep-Inelastic Scattering

Characteristics of hadron production in diffractive deep-inelastic positron-proton scattering are studied using data collected in 1994 by the H1 experiment at HERA. The following distributions are measured in the centre-of-mass frame of the photon dissociation system: the hadronic energy flow, the Feynman-x (x_F) variable for charged particles, the squared transverse momentum of charged particles (p_T^{*2}), and the mean p_T^{*2} as a function of x_F. These distributions are compared with results in the gamma^* p centre-of-mass frame from inclusive deep-inelastic scattering in the fixed-target experiment EMC, and also with the predictions of several Monte Carlo calculations. The data are consistent with a picture in which the partonic structure of the diffractive exchange is dominated at low Q^2 by hard gluons.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.

Measurement of D* Meson Cross Sections at HERA and Determination of the Gluon Density in the Proton using NLO QCD

With the H1 detector at the ep collider HERA, D* meson production cross sections have been measured in deep inelastic scattering with four-momentum transfers Q^2>2 GeV2 and in photoproduction at energies around W(gamma p)~ 88 GeV and 194 GeV. Next-to-Leading Order QCD calculations are found to describe the differential cross sections within theoretical and experimental uncertainties. Using these calculations, the NLO gluon momentum distribution in the proton, x_g g(x_g), has been extracted in the momentum fraction range 7.5x10^{-4}< x_g <4x10^{-2} at average scales mu^2 =25 to 50 GeV2. The gluon momentum fraction x_g has been obtained from the measured kinematics of the scattered electron and the D* meson in the final state. The results compare well with the gluon distribution obtained from the analysis of scaling violations of the proton structure function F_2.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Nucl. Phys.

A Search for Selectrons and Squarks at HERA

Data from electron-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 300 GeV are used for a search for selectrons and squarks within the framework of the minimal supersymmetric model. The decays of selectrons and squarks into the lightest supersymmetric particle lead to final states with an electron and hadrons accompanied by large missing energy and transverse momentum. No signal is found and new bounds on the existence of these particles are derived. At 95% confidence level the excluded region extends to 65 GeV for selectron and squark masses, and to 40 GeV for the mass of the lightest supersymmetric particle.Comment: 13 pages, latex, 6 Figure

Measurement of Leading Proton and Neutron Production in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA

Deep--inelastic scattering events with a leading baryon have been detected by the H1 experiment at HERA using a forward proton spectrometer and a forward neutron calorimeter. Semi--inclusive cross sections have been measured in the kinematic region 2 <= Q^2 <= 50 GeV^2, 6.10^-5 <= x <= 6.10^-3 and baryon p_T <= MeV, for events with a final state proton with energy 580 <= E' <= 740 GeV, or a neutron with energy E' >= 160 GeV. The measurements are used to test production models and factorization hypotheses. A Regge model of leading baryon production which consists of pion, pomeron and secondary reggeon exchanges gives an acceptable description of both semi-inclusive cross sections in the region 0.7 <= E'/E_p <= 0.9, where E_p is the proton beam energy. The leading neutron data are used to estimate for the first time the structure function of the pion at small Bjorken--x.Comment: 30 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Eur. Phys.