Sharif Digital Repository

Regarding the geometric structural characteristics of innovative dual cooled annular fuel and the possibility of heat split and flow distribution among the internal and external channels, the development of new computational tools is essential for estimating safety margins and accurate assessment of its thermal-hydraulic performance. The SADAF code (Subchannel Analysis Dual cooled Annular Fuel) by COBRA-EN code is developed for this purpose. In the SADAF code, using COBRA-EN code for subchannel analysis in internal and external subchannels, a program has been developed to compute new variables that need to be considered in the thermal-hydraulic assessment. Also, fuel heat transfer... 

In this paper, a unique and applicable method was developed for calculation of efficiency (and mass and heat transfer coefficients) of randomly-packed distillation columns. This method has potential advantages; e.g., unlike all the available methods, it can calculate efficiency without using any empirical mass transfer and hydraulic correlations, and without the need to estimate the operational and hydraulic parameters of an operating column. It, therefore, will be free of errors and limitations of such empirical items and can be used for efficiency calculation of any random packing including new ones. Along with an analysis of the proposed method, the paper also presents a thorough analysis... 

Developing general methods that rely on column data for the efficiency estimation of operating (existing) distillation columns has been overlooked in the literature. Most of the available methods are based on empirical mass transfer and hydraulic relations correlated to laboratory data. Therefore, these methods may not be sufficiently accurate when applied to industrial columns. In this paper, an applicable and accurate method was developed for the efficiency estimation of distillation columns filled with trays. This method can calculate efficiency as well as mass and heat transfer coefficients without using any empirical mass transfer or hydraulic correlations and without the need to... 

An accurate estimation of aquifer hydraulic parameters is required for groundwater modeling and proper management of vital groundwater resources. In situ measurements of aquifer hydraulic parameters are expensive and difficult. Traditionally, these parameters have been estimated by graphical methods that are approximate and time-consuming. As a result, nonlinear programming (NLP) techniques have been used extensively to estimate them. Despite the outperformance of NLP approaches over graphical methods, they tend to converge to local minima and typically suffer from a convergence problem. In this study, Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) methods are used to identify... 

Most of the methods developed for efficiency estimation of distillation columns were based on the empirical mass transfer and hydraulic relations correlated to laboratory data. Therefore, these methods cannot estimate efficiency of industrial columns with sufficient accuracy. In this paper, a new and applicable method was developed for calculation of efficiency (and mass and heat transfer coefficients) of distillation columns containing structured packings. This method has potential advantages; e.g., it can calculate efficiency without using any empirical mass transfer and hydraulic correlations and models, and without the need to estimate the operational and hydraulic parameters of column.... 

Analysis of thermal-hydraulics fluctuations in pressurized water reactors (e.g., local and global temperature or density fluctuations, as well as primary and charging pumps fluctuations) has various applications in calculation or measurement of the core dynamical parameters (temperature or density reactivity coefficients) in addition to thermal-hydraulics surveillance and diagnostics. In this paper, the thermal-hydraulics fluctuations in PWRs are investigated. At first, the single-phase thermal-hydraulics noise equations (in the frequency domain) are originally derived, without any simplifying assumptions. The fluctuations of all the coolant parameters, as well as the radial distribution of... 

This paper deals with the application of Fast Fourier Transform Base Method (FFTBM) with signal mirroring (FFTBM-SM) to assess accuracy of MELCOR code. This provides deeper insights into how the accuracy of MELCOR code in predictions of thermal-hydraulic parameters varies during transients. The case studied was modeling of Station Black-Out (SBO) accident in PSB-VVER integral test facility by MELCOR code. The accuracy of this thermal-hydraulic modeling was previously quantified using original FFTBM in a few number of time-intervals, based on phenomenological windows of SBO accident. Accuracy indices calculated by original FFTBM in a series of time-intervals unreasonably fluctuate when the... 

The large heterogeneity in soil surface conditions makes it impracticable to obtain reliable estimates of soil hydraulic parameters for areas larger than few squared kilometers. However, identifying these parameters on a global scale is essential for many hydrological and climatic applications. In this study, a new approach named Drainage from Drydown (DfD) is proposed to estimate the coefficients of drainage using soil moisture observations. DfD firstly selects multiple drydown events when surface runoff and evapotranspiration rates are negligible compared to the drainage rate. Secondly, by inverting the soil water balance equation, the drainage coefficients are obtained. Synthetic... 

As a non-invasive method, photographic imaging techniques offer some interesting potentials for characterization of soil moisture content in unsaturated porous media, enabling mapping at very fine resolutions in both space and time. Although less explored, the wealth of soil moisture data provided by photographic imaging is also appealing for the estimation of unsaturated soil hydraulic parameters through inverse modeling. However, imaging data have some unique characteristics, including high susceptibility to noise, which can negatively affect the parameter estimation process. In this study a sequential data assimilation approach is developed to simultaneously update soil moisture content...