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Mathematics & Computation
Division members promote the advancement of mathematical and computational methods for solving problems arising in all disciplines encompassed by the Society. They place particular emphasis on numerical techniques for efficient computer applications to aid in the dissemination, integration, and proper use of computer codes, including preparation of computational benchmark and development of standards for computing practices, and to encourage the development on new computer codes and broaden their use.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Proving DRACO will deliver
The United States is now closer than it has been in over five decades to launching the first nuclear thermal rocket into space, thanks to DRACO—the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Orbit.
Xingang Zhao, Koroush Shirvan, Yingwei Wu, Mujid S. Kazimi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 196 | Number 3 | December 2016 | Pages 553-567
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT16-45
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
With the objective of providing long-term energy supply via actinide breeding and burning, the next-generation boiling water reactor (BWR) design, the Hitachi’s resource-renewable BWR (RBWR), has been proposed. Unlike a traditional square lattice BWR fuel bundle, the RBWR bundles are shorter with hexagonal tight lattice arrangement and heterogeneous axial fuel zoning. The RBWR’s different core geometry combined with the higher power-to-flow ratio and void fraction necessitates the reexamination of the standard BWR thermal-hydraulic models.
For the prediction of dryout, the previously derived best-estimate empirical correlation showed significant scatter when compared to experimental data within its calibration database. In this work, the correlation is further calibrated and improved by supplementing tight bundle data with relevant critical power data for tubes and annuli to better quantify the effects of various parameters and by incorporating subchannel-level results to account for intra-assembly flow mixing. Another approach using the mechanistic three-field model is also investigated, and the minimum critical power ratio of the RBWR design is evaluated.
For the prediction of void fraction, measurements and the three-field model in annular flow regime reveal that the common drift flux approaches tend to overestimate the void fraction at small hydraulic diameters. The void fraction dependence on hydraulic diameter below 10 mm requires further experimentation and high-fidelity mechanistic simulations.