ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2026
Nuclear Technology
April 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
IAEA looks at nuclear techniques for crop resilience
The International Atomic Energy Agency has launched a five-year coordinated research project (CRP) to strengthen plant health preparedness using nuclear and related technologies.
Wheat blast, potato late blight, potato bacterial wilt, and cassava witches broom disease can spread quickly across large areas of land, leading to severe yield losses in key crops for food security. Global trade and climate change have increased the likelihood of rapid, transboundary spread.
Alfred W. Reed, Herbert Meister, Daniel J. Sasmor
Nuclear Technology | Volume 78 | Number 1 | July 1987 | Pages 54-61
Technical Paper | Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT87-A34008
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
One of the elements used to compute the dryout heat flux of a debris bed is the capillary pressure/saturation curve. This relationship describes the pressure difference between liquid and vapor phases in a porous bed as a function of saturation. It is used in the calculation of the liquid and vapor pressure drops in the debris and in the calculation of channel depth. The first complete correlation of capillary pressure/saturation data was reported in 1941 by Leverett. Leverett demonstrated that the data for unconsolidated sand in the 45- to 180-µm range could be non-dimensionalized using the liquid surface tension, bed permeability, and void fraction. At the time, the primary interest was in geologic materials and further work on unconsolidated particulate was limited. The presented measurements of capillary pressure are designed to check the range of validity of the Leverett correlation. For beds with narrow particle size distributions, the Leverett correlation is found to be adequate. For beds composed of broad size distributions, the capillary pressure curve changed significantly.