Sharif Digital Repository

Reservoir permeability is an important parameter that its reliable prediction is necessary for reservoir performance assessment and management. Although many empirical formulas are derived regarding permeability and porosity in sandstone reservoirs, these correlations cannot be accurately depicted in carbonate reservoir for the wells that are not cored and for which there are no welltest data. Therefore, having a framework for estimation of these parameters in reservoirs with neither coring samples nor welltest data is crucial. Rock properties are characterized by using different well logs. However, there is no specific petrophysical log for estimating rock permeability; thus, new methods... 

Three distinct methods, namely, the spectral density, the multifractal random walk approach, and the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis are utilized to study the properties of four distinct types of well logs from three oil and gas fields, namely, the natural gamma ray emission, neutron porosity, bulk density, and the sonic transient time logs. Such well logs have never been analyzed by the methods that we utilize in the present study. The results indicate that the well logs exhibit multifractal characteristics, and the estimated Hurst exponents by the three methods are close to each other. Using multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis and the shuffled and surrogated data, we... 

The present paper consists of two separate sections. In the first section, the neutron noise source is reconstructed using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) in a typical VVER-1000 reactor core. In the first stage of this section, the neutron noise calculations are performed based on Galerkin Finite Element Method (GFEM). To this end, two types of noise sources including absorber of variable strength and vibrating absorber are considered. As the results of noise calculations, the neutron noise is obtained in the location of detectors. In the second stage, the multilayer perception neural network is developed for reconstruction of the noise source. Complex neutron noises (real and imaginary... 

The stochastic behavior of a point reactor is modeled with a system of Ito stochastic differential equations. This new approach does not require computing the square root of a matrix which is a great computational advantage. Moreover, the derivation procedure clearly demonstrates the mathematical approximations involved in the final formulation. Three numerical benchmarks show the accuracy of this model in predicting the mean and variance of the neutron and precursor population in a point reactor  

An embedded time interval data acquisition system (DAS) is developed for zero power reactor (ZPR) noise experiments. The system is capable of measuring the correlation or probability distribution of a random process. The design is totally implemented on a single Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The architecture is tested on different FPGA platforms with different speed grades and hardware resources. Generic experimental values for time resolution and inter-event dead time of the system are 2.22 ns and 6.67 ns respectively. The DAS can record around 48-bit × 790 kS/s utilizing its built-in fast memory. The system can measure very long time intervals due to its 48-bit timing structure... 

In present study, the neutron noise source is reconstructed using three different unfolding techniques in a typical VVER-1000 reactor core. In first stage, the neutron noise calculation based on Galerkin finite element method (GFEM) is performed; in which the neutron noise in two energy group due to the noise sources of type absorber of variable strength and vibrating absorber is calculated. The neutron noise due to inadvertent loading of a fuel assembly in an improper position (ILFAIP), as a new defined noise source in the neutron noise studies, is calculated as well. In the second stage, the inversion, zoning and scanning methods are applied for reconstruction of the noise source of type... 

A new flow model of high performance light water reactor (HPLWR) is discussed in the present study. HPLWR involves a negative density reactivity coefficient with high time delay. This factor decreases the stability of such reactors when transient and abnormal accidents happen. A new design for enhancing safety and efficiency in such reactors is presented. In the new design, the fluid passing through the moderator channels and the assembly gaps (known as a moderator) flows in channels detached from coolants. It is possible to control the moderator mass flux. Increasing or decreasing the moderator mass flux will modify the moderation capacity, which results in a change in the reactor power.... 

The analysis of core composition changes is complicated by the fact that the time and spatial variation in isotopic composition depend on the neutron flux distribution and vice versa. Fortunately, changes in core composition occur relatively slowly and hence the burnup analysis can be performed by dividing the burnup period into some burnup spans and assuming that the averaged flux and cross sections are constant during each step. The burnup span sensitivity analysis attempts to find that how much the burnup spans could be increased without any significant deviation in results. This goal has been achieved by developing a new MCNP-ORIGEN linkage program named as MOBC (MCNP-ORIGEN Burnup... 

Various methods for solving the forward/adjoint equation in hexagonal and rectangular geometries are known in the literatures. In this paper, the solution of multigroup forward/adjoint equation using Finite Element Method (FEM) for hexagonal and rectangular reactor cores is reported. The spatial discretization of equations is based on Galerkin FEM (GFEM) using unstructured triangle elements. Calculations are performed for both linear and quadratic approximations of the shape function; based on which results are compared. Using power iteration method for the forward and adjoint calculations, the forward and adjoint fluxes with the corresponding eigenvalues are obtained. The results are then... 

In pebble bed reactors, the core is filled with thousands of graphite and fuel pebbles. Fuel pebbles in these reactors consist of TRISO particles, which are embedded in a graphite matrix stochastically. The reactor core is also stochastically filled with pebbles. These two stochastic geometries comprise the so-called double heterogeneous nature of this type of reactor. In this paper, a pebble bed reactor, the HTR-10, is used to demonstrate a treatment of this double heterogeneity using the MCNP5 Monte Carlo code and MATLAB programming. In this technique, TRISO particles are modeled in a pebble using the expanded FILL and LATTICE features of MCNP5. MATLAB is used to generate random numbers... 

In the present study, the neutron noise, i.e. The stationary fluctuation of the neutron flux around its mean value, is calculated in 2-group forward and adjoint diffusion theory for both hexagonal and rectangular reactor cores. To this end, the static neutron calculation is performed at the first stage. The spatial discretization of equations is based on linear approximation of Galerkin Finite Element Method (GFEM) using unstructured triangle elements. Using power iteration method, forward and adjoint fluxes with the corresponding eigenvalues are obtained. The results are then benchmarked against the valid results for BIBLIS-2D and IAEA-2D benchmark problems and DONJON computer code. The... 

In the present study the neutronic analysis of fuel assembly cluster of the HPLWR is discussed. Neutronic calculations are performed using WIMS-D4 and CITATION codes. Thermal-hydraulic code containing the properties and specifications of the fuel assembly of HPLWR is utilized. The calculated axial power in each selected control volume is used in the thermal-hydraulic code to get the properties of the fluid and fuel needed for further neutronic analysis. The process of coupling continues until convergence is achieved. Finally, the obtained neutronic results including axial power distribution, neutron flux, and power peaking factors are discussed in the present article  

During the past decade, the CANDLE burnup strategy has been proposed as an innovative fuel cycle and reactor design for complete utilization of uranium resources. In this strategy the shapes of neutron flux, nuclide densities and power density distribution remain constant but the burning region moves in axial direction. The feasibility of this strategy has been demonstrated widely by using the diffusion technique in conjunction with nuclide transmutation equations. On the other hand since the Monte Carlo method provides the exact solution to the neutron transport, the Monte Carlo technique is becoming more widely used in routine burnup calculations. The main objective of this work is startup... 

In the calculation of the optimum loading pattern for a nuclear reactor, several parameters, including the multiplication factor maximization, the raising of the desired safety threshold during the cycle length and the flattening of the radial power peaking factor should be taken into account. Our evaluation of numerous probable arrangements within the VVER-1000 reactor core (approx. 6 × 10 14 cases) indicated that a direct search of the optimum loading pattern is not feasible. Hence, in this study, the weighting factor method and some constraints on the arrangement of the fuel assemblies were applied so that the above cases were reduced to only 244 possible arrangements. Then, using a... 

In this work, the 3D proton dose profile is calculated in a homogenous water phantom using a Monte Carlo application developed with the Geant4 toolkit. The effect of the ridge filter material (for SOBP widths of 6, 9 and 12 cm) on the homogeneity of the dose distribution, secondary neutron production and beam efficiency are investigated in a single ring wobbling irradiation system. The energy spectrum of secondary neutrons per primary proton at various locations around the phantom surface is calculated. The simulation revealed that most of the produced neutrons are released at slight angles which enable them to reach the patient and consequently to be hazardous. Also, the homogeneity of the... 

An improvement to the Direct Discrete Method (DDM), also known as the Cell Method, has been discussed. The improvement is based on a duality theorem between the primal and dual complexes. Also, the analog counterpart of the Integral operator has been derived in this paper. The multi-group neutron diffusion is then derived, directly in a discrete algebraic form, according to this procedure. A numerical example has shown that this method would yield a high order of convergence (approximately 4.6) if its parameters are adjusted suitably. Finally, the method is applied to the 2D IAEA benchmark problem, and has shown to yield accurate solutions with a reasonably low number of unknowns  

Residual stresses, created in a steel beam by elastic-plastic bending, are predicted using an approximate analysis and the finite element method. The predictions are compared to experimental measurements obtained from the application of incremental centre hole drilling, deep hole drilling and neutron diffraction methods. Finite element simulations of the incremental centre hole drilling and deep hole drilling methods applied to the predicted residual stresses permitted an assessment of their ability to reconstruct the stresses. An analytical reconstruction analysis using an Airy stress function together with boundary and equilibrium conditions is developed and applied to the predictions and... 

Reservoir permeability is an important parameter that its reliable prediction is necessary for reservoir performance assessment and management. Although many empirical formulas are derived regarding permeability and porosity in sandstone reservoirs, these correlations cannot be accurately depicted in carbonate reservoir for the wells that are not cored and for which there are no welltest data. Therefore, having a framework for estimation of these parameters in reservoirs with neither coring samples nor welltest data is crucial. Rock properties are characterized by using different well logs. However, there is no specific petrophysical log for estimating rock permeability; thus, new methods... 

The particlehole continuum in the Dirac sea of graphene has a unique window underneath, which in principle leaves room for bound state formation in the triplet particlehole channel (Baskaran and Jafari 2002 Phys. Rev. Lett. 89 016402). In this work, we construct appropriate triplet particlehole operators and, using a repulsive Hubbard-type effective interaction, we employ equations of motion to derive approximate eigenvalue equations for such triplet operators. While the secular equation for the spin density fluctuations gives rise to an equation which is second order in the strength of the short range interaction, the explicit construction of the triplet operators obtained here shows that,... 

In this paper, evaluation of the kinetic parameters (effective delayed neutron fraction and prompt neutron lifetime) in PWRs, using static cell and core calculation codes, is reported. A new software has been developed to link the WIMS, BORGES and CITATION codes in Visual C# computer programming language. Using the WIMS cell calculation code, multigroup microscopic cross-sections and number densities of different materials can be generated in a binary file. By the use of BORGES code, these binary-form cross-sections and number densities are converted to a format readable by the CITATION core calculation code, by which the kinetic parameters can be finally obtained. This software is used for...