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The effect of Am241 on UK plutonium recycle options in thorium-plutonium fuelled LWRs – Part I: PWRs
No full textUK plutonium is expected to be managed using uranium-plutonium (U-Pu) mixed oxide (MOX) fuels in Light Water Reactors (LWRs). However, studies have shown that thorium-plutonium (Th-Pu) may be preferential. Research has mostly focussed on recycle of reactor grade Pu with limited minor actinide (MA) content. This study will determine if large quantities of americium (Am) in UK Pu may be restrictive to recycle schemes by determining the effect this has on reactivity feedback coefficients, fissile loading and incineration potential. Addition of Am is shown to result in predictable trends in reactivity feedback coefficients and spatial separation of Am and Pu is found to offer potential advantages over uniformly loaded fuel in terms of maximising fissile loading and incineration. Separation may also offer benefits in terms of targeting Am destruction, particularly if multiple recycle schemes are pursued, as this would maximise the fissile loading requirements while keeping reactivity feedback coefficients negative
Folding the Carpenter's Tape: Boundary Layer Effects
No full textThe "carpenter's measuring tape"is a thin spring-steel strip, preformed to a curved cross section of radius R, which is straight when being used for measuring. Under bending moments, it forms a localized hinge, in which the transverse curvature is suppressed, and the longitudinal radius r is approximately equal to R. Rimrott made a simple strain energy analysis of the hinge region for isotropic material, which predicted that r = R. Both experimental observations and finite element computations show that ζ = r/R > 1, where the value of ζ exceeds unity by up to 15%, depending on whether the tape is bent in "equal-sense"or "opposite-sense"curvature; ζ varies linearly with Poisson's ratio in both cases. We make a minor change to Rimrott's analysis by introducing a boundary layer, in order better to satisfy the physical conditions at the free edges; this successfully accounts for the observed behavior of the tape
Performance Evaluation of Conductor on Round Core Cables Used in High Capacity Superconducting Transformers
No full textConductor on Round Core (CORC) cables with scalability, flexibility, strong mechanical strength and high current density are of large potential for different power applications. In this paper, CORC Cables are proposed to be the secondary winding for high capacity superconducting transformer. In order to evaluate the working performance of CORC cable in HTS (high temperature superconductor) transformer, firstly, fundamental parameters of short CORC samples including self-field critical current and room temperature resistance were measured by experiments. Then, to represent the real working condition, both rated current tests and overcurrent tests were carried out to the CORC cable, respectively. In rated current test, magnetization and transport AC loss were discussed by both experimental and numerical method. It is found that AC loss of the CORC cable with double layers is much smaller than that of the CORC cable with single layer. In overcurrent tests, when the maximum value of current is 3588 A, 3.44 times of Ic, resistance of CORC is 0.12 mΩ. The recovery time is used to evaluate the recovery-under-load capability, the peak-to-peak value of voltage becomes stable after 6 cycles. Conclusions obtained in this paper can verify the feasibility of this technique and also provide useful information for future design of HTS transformers
Effect of blade row interaction on rotor film cooling
No full textThe mechanisms of blade row interaction affecting rotor film cooling are identified to make recommendations for the design of film cooling in the real, unsteady turbine environment. Present design practice makes the simplifying assumption of steady boundary conditions despite intrinsic unsteadiness due to blade row interaction; we argue that if film cooling responds nonlinearly to unsteadiness, the time-averaged performance will then be in error. Nonlinear behavior is confirmed using experimental measurements of flat-plate cylindrical film cooling holes, mainstream unsteadiness causing a reduction in film effectiveness of up to 31% at constant time-averaged boundary condition. Unsteady computations are used to identify the blade row interaction mechanisms in a high-pressure turbine rotor: a “negative jet” associated with the upstream vane wake, and frozen and propagating vane potential field interactions. A quasi-steady model is used to predict unsteady excursions in momentum flux ratio of rotor cooling holes, with fluctuations of at least ±30% observed for all hole locations. Computations with modified upstream vanes are used to vary the relative strength of wake and potential field interactions. In general, both mechanisms contribute to rotor film cooling unsteadiness. It is recommended that the designer should choose a cooling configuration that behaves linearly over the expected unsteady excursions in momentum flux ratio as predicted by a quasi-steady hole model
Comprehensive Decision Support System for the Management of Asphalt Pavements
No full textTransportation authorities evaluate the condition of roadway pavements based on the existence of various defects and apply maintenance strategies, if needed, to secure the safety of roads. There is a lack, though, of an integrated system that would address the defect types to be detected, the attributes needed to be measured for evaluating the severity of a defect, the defect causes, the treatment of these causes to avoid future appearance of the same defects, and the available repair strategies corresponding to each combination of defects. Consequently, transportation departments manage pavements based on partial information and strategies. Presented herein is a comprehensive decision support system (DSS), contributing to the identification and connection of all elements needed for the management of roadway asphalt pavements. The system has been developed synthesizing information from 56 different transportation departments. The output consists of a decision tree and an open-access webpage, while it has been tested on a real-life urban network. The proposed system can have a significant impact on practitioners, who will have a common language for pavement evaluation and maintenance, and roadway users, whose comfort and safety will be enhanced due to improved pavement condition
Graphene–Rubber Layered Functional Composites for Seismic Isolation of Structures
No full textHerein, novel graphene-reinforced elastomeric isolators (GREI) are proposed. Elastomeric isolators (EIs) are special devices used for seismic isolation of structures. They are made of alternate layers of steel and rubber (steel-reinforced EI [SREI]), and they position between the structure and its foundations to decouple them. The heavy weight and complex manufacturing process of SREI drives costs up, and this restricts their use to strategic buildings such as hospitals and civic centers. In recent years, alternative materials have been proposed to replace the steel sheets of SREI, e.g., glass or carbon fiber-reinforced EIs (FREIs). However, their mechanical behavior requires further investigation before being implemented in existing and new structures safely. As a promising alternative, GREI is proposed here to overcome the heavy weight and long manufacturing process of SREI and the mechanical limitation of FREI to seismic excitations
Numerical optimisation of mechanical ring reinforcement for bulk high-Temperature superconductors
No full textThe finite element method has been used extensively in recent years to solve various problems related to applied superconductivity and provides a useful tool for analysing and predicting experimental results. Based on a recently-developed modelling framework, implemented in the finite element software package COMSOL Multiphysics, investigations on the minimum ring reinforcement required to prevent mechanical failure in bulk high-Temperature superconducting magnets have been carried out. Assuming homogeneous Jc (B,T) across the bulk sample irrespective of its dimensions, the maximum magnetic stresses experienced, and the minimum ring thickness required to prevent the hoop and radial stresses from exceeding the tensile strength of the bulk superconductor have been determined for varying values of the Young's modulus, radius, height and temperature of a representative single-grain Ag-containing Gd-Ba-Cu-O bulk sample. This comprehensive analysis details the influence each of these key parameters has on the magnetic stress and hence their impact on the necessary ring thickness to prevent mechanical failure in any given system, i.e., for any combination of material properties and sample dimensions
Exploring Automatic Diagnosis of COVID-19 from Crowdsourced Respiratory Sound Data
No full textAudio signals generated by the human body (e.g., sighs, breathing, heart, digestion, vibration sounds) have routinely been used by clinicians as indicators to diagnose disease or assess disease progression. Until recently, such signals were usually collected through manual auscultation at scheduled visits. Research has now started to use digital technology to gather bodily sounds (e.g., from digital stethoscopes) for cardiovascular or respiratory examination, which could then be used for automatic analysis. Some initial work shows promise in detecting diagnostic signals of COVID-19 from voice and coughs. In this paper we describe our data analysis over a large-scale crowdsourced dataset of respiratory sounds collected to aid diagnosis of COVID-19. We use coughs and breathing to understand how discernible COVID-19 sounds are from those in asthma or healthy controls. Our results show that even a simple binary machine learning classifier is able to classify correctly healthy and COVID-19 sounds. We also show how we distinguish a user who tested positive for COVID-19 and has a cough from a healthy user with a cough, and users who tested positive for COVID-19 and have a cough from users with asthma and a cough. Our models achieve an AUC of above 80% across all tasks. These results are preliminary and only scratch the surface of the potential of this type of data and audio-based machine learning. This work opens the door to further investigation of how automatically analysed respiratory patterns could be used as pre-screening signals to aid COVID-19 diagnosis
Thermoelectric graphene photodetectors with sub-nanosecond response times at terahertz frequencies
No full text© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH. Ultrafast and sensitive (noise equivalent power <1 nW Hz-1/2) light-detection in the terahertz (THz) frequency range (0.1-10 THz) and at room-temperature is key for applications such as time-resolved THz spectroscopy of gases, complex molecules and cold samples, imaging, metrology, ultra-high-speed data communications, coherent control of quantum systems, quantum optics and for capturing snapshots of ultrafast dynamics, in materials and devices, at the nanoscale. Here, we report room-temperature THz nano-receivers exploiting antenna-coupled graphene field effect transistors integrated with lithographically-patterned high-bandwidth (∼100 GHz) chips, operating with a combination of high speed (hundreds ps response time) and high sensitivity (noise equivalent power ≤120 pW Hz-1/2) at 3.4 THz. Remarkably, this is achieved with various antenna and transistor architectures (single-gate, dual-gate), whose operation frequency can be extended over the whole 0.1-10 THz range, thus paving the way for the design of ultrafast graphene arrays in the far infrared, opening concrete perspective for targeting the aforementioned applications
A cost-benefit analysis of the COVID-19 disease
No full textThe British government has been debating how to escape from the lockdown without provoking a resurgence of the COVID-19 disease. There is a growing recognition of the damage the lockdown has caused to economic and social life. This paper presents a simple cost-benefit analysis inspired by optimal control theory and incorporating the SIR model of disease propagation. It also reports simulations informed by the theoretical discussion. The optimal path for government intervention is computed under a variety of conditions. These include a cap on the permitted level of infection to avoid overload of the health system, and the introduction of a test and trace system. We quantify the benefits of early intervention to control the disease. We also examine how the government's valuation of life influences the optimal path. A 10-week lockdown is only optimal if the value of life for COVID-19 victims exceeds £10m. The study is based on a standard but simple epidemiological model, and should therefore be regarded as presenting a methodological framework rather than giving policy prescriptions