Search results for "Nuclear energy"
showing 10 items of 614 documents
Rewetting of a hot vertical surface by liquid sprays
2005
Hot surfaces rewetting interests several technological fields. A very important application is in nuclear reactors technology, where it governs the cooling of overheated fuel elements during hypothesized loss of coolant accidents (LOCAs). This phenomenon is also important in many normal processes and accidental situations taking place in conventional processes. For example when the integrity of metallic containers, filled by toxic or dangerous substances, is endangered by a hypothetical fire. The rewetting consists in the re-establishment of coolant in contact with metallic surfaces become dried due to high temperature. To this end cold liquid is injected on these surfaces via sprays or other …
Time-resolved velocity measurements in a magnetic micromixer
2015
Abstract Mixing efficiency is lower in passive micromixers due to viscous forces and substantial research effort is focused on designing high performance micromixers. Active micromixers make use of external forces to enhance mixing efficiency. Among these, magnetic forces are popular because they are non-contact and therefore the micromixer design can be kept simple. Laser-based diagnostic tools have great potential in providing multi-parameter information in microfluidics research on mixing. MicroPIV experiments are performed to investigate the transient flow field in a magnetic micromixer undergoing labyrinthine instability. Velocity and interface front information is extracted from a seq…
Enhancement of heat exchanger thermal hydraulic performance using aluminum foam
2018
Abstract This paper deals with an experimental study of a turbulent forced convection in a rectangular channel partly fitted with aluminum metallic foam blocks. Experiments were carried out on samples having a constant porosity of 93.8%, different grades of 5, 20 and 40 PPI, and three different height ratios of 0.6, 0.8 and 1. The blocks were arranged in a baffle like configuration. A constant heat flux of 2 W/cm2 was applied on the bottom wall of the test section, while air velocity was varied from 1 to 5 m·s−1. Temperatures of the wall along the flow direction as well as those of the inlet and outlet sections have been measured. Additionally, pressure drop measurements across the aluminum…
Assessment of a mattress with phase change materials using a thermal and perception test
2017
Abstract Mattresses composed by phase change materials (PCMs) may improve the thermoregulation of the human body. The aim of the study was to analyse the thermoregulatory efficiency of a PCMs and a conventional mattresses via the evaluation of the skin temperature, thermal comfort and thermal perception. Twenty participants lay on a PCMs and a conventional mattress for 20 min in each mattress on the same day. Skin temperature of the back of the participants and temperature of the sheet of the mattresses were measured before and immediately after lying on each mattress. Thermal comfort and thermal perception were also reported during the last minute of the lying test. The PCMs mattress resul…
Multiplicative cases from additive cases: Extension of Kolmogorov–Feller equation to parametric Poisson white noise processes
2007
Abstract In this paper the response of nonlinear systems driven by parametric Poissonian white noise is examined. As is well known, the response sample function or the response statistics of a system driven by external white noise processes is completely defined. Starting from the system driven by external white noise processes, when an invertible nonlinear transformation is applied, the transformed system in the new state variable is driven by a parametric type excitation. So this latter artificial system may be used as a tool to find out the proper solution to solve systems driven by parametric white noises. In fact, solving this new system, being the nonlinear transformation invertible, …
The Potential of a Separated Electric Compound Spark-Ignition Engine for Hybrid Vehicle Application
2022
Abstract In-cylinder expansion of internal combustion engines based on Diesel or Otto cycles cannot be completely brought down to ambient pressure, causing a 20% theoretical energy loss. Several systems have been implemented to recover and use this energy such as turbocharging, turbomechanical and turbo-electrical compounding, or the implementation of Miller cycles. In all these cases however, the amount of energy recovered is limited allowing the engine to reach an overall efficiency incremental improvement between 4% and 9%. Implementing an adequately designed expander–generator unit could efficiently recover the unexpanded exhaust gas energy and improve efficiency. In this work, the appl…
Comparison of the structure of the plasma-facing surface and tritium accumulation in beryllium tiles from JET ILW campaigns 2011-2012 and 2013-2014
2019
In this study, beryllium tiles from Joint European Torus (JET) vacuum vessel wall were analysed and compared regarding their position in the vacuum vessel and differences in the exploitation conditions during two campaigns of ITER-Like-Wall (ILW) in 2011-2012 (ILW1) and 2013-2014 (ILW2) Tritium content in beryllium samples were assessed. Two methods were used to measure tritium content in the samples - dissolution under controlled conditions and tritium thermal desorption. Prior to desorption and dissolution experiments, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy were used to study structure and chemical composition of plasma-facing-surfaces of the beryllium sampl…
Thermo-mechanical analysis of irradiation swelling and design optimization of the IFMIF target assembly with bayonet backplate
2017
Abstract The availability of a high flux neutron source for testing candidate materials under irradiation conditions, which will be typically encountered in future fusion power reactors (ITER, DEMO, FPR), is a fundamental step towards the development of fusion energy. To this purpose, the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) represents the reference option to provide the fusion community with a DEMO-relevant neutron source capable of irradiating samples at a damage rate of up to 20 dpa/fpy (in steel) in a volume of 0.5 l. In the framework of the engineering design activities of IFMIF, ENEA is committed in the design of the lithium target assembly (TA) with removable (…
Coupled theoretical and experimental studies for the radiation hardening of silica-based optical fibers
2014
International audience; We applied theoretical and experimental spectroscopy tools to ad hoc silica-based "canonical" samples to characterize the influence of several dopants and of some drawing process parameters on their radiation sensitivities. We present in this paper, the recent advances and results occurring from our coupled approach. On the experimental side, we studied the doping influence on the response of optical fibers and showed that changing the drawing parameters has a negligible influence on the fiber response in the case of specialty fibers. We focus mainly on the ${rm SiE}^prime$ defect that is observed through Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) measurements in all cano…
A non-linear stochastic approach of ligaments and tendons fractional-order hereditariness
2020
Abstract In this study the non-linear hereditariness of knee tendons and ligaments is framed in the context of stochastic mechanics. Without losing the possibility of generalization, this work was focused on knee Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) and the tendons used in its surgical reconstruction. The proposed constitutive equations of fibrous tissues involves three material parameters for the creep tests and three material parameters for relaxation tests. One-to-one relations among material parameters estimated in creep and relaxations were established and reported in the paper. Data scattering, observed with a novel experimental protocol used to characterize the mechanics of the tissue, w…