Engineering Commons^™

Discrete Ordinates Ct Organ Dose Simulator (Doctors), Edward T. Norris

Doctoral Dissertations

"Computed tomography (CT) has become pervasive in medical diagnostics as improved imaging techniques and processing algorithms provide higher quality information to doctors. However, the exponentially increasing usage of CT has raised concerns regarding long term low-dose radiological risks.

Currently, the dose to patients is computed using Monte Carlo methods and experimental tests. In other areas of radiation transport, deterministic codes have been shown to be much faster than Monte Carlo codes.

Currently, no deterministic methodology exists to automatically generate a spatially distributed dose profile from a CT voxel phantom. This work proposes a new code, Discrete Ordinate CT Organ Dose …

Evaluating Of Scale-Up Methodologies Of Gas-Solid Spouted Beds For Coating Triso Nuclear Fuel Particles Using Advanced Measurement Techniques, Neven Y. Ali

Doctoral Dissertations

"The work focuses on implementing for the first time advanced non-invasive measurement techniques to evaluate the scale-up methodology of gas-solid spouted beds for hydrodynamics similarity that has been reported in the literature based on matching dimensionless groups and the new mechanistic scale up methodology that has been developed in our laboratory based on matching the radial profile of gas holdup since the gas dynamics dictate the hydrodynamics of the gas-solid spouted beds. These techniques are gamma-ray computed tomography (CT) to measure the cross-sectional distribution of the phases' holdups and their radial profiles along the bed height and radioactive particle tracking …

Proactive Strategies In Personal Dose Monitoring, Prevention And Mitigation, Manish Kumar Sharma

Doctoral Dissertations

"At certain threshold, nuclear radiation (like x-rays and gamma-rays) may adversely impact the health of living tissues. The exposure to these radiations in nuclear facilities is measured by devices called dosimeters. The devices are generally worn on the torso and are monitored by health physics division to report the radiation dose received by the personnel. However, this approach is not proactive--since the dosimeters reflect the dose that has already been absorbed in the body of the wearer.

This work presents a scheme to proactively avoid large dose acquisition at radiation-prone facilities. The work was divided into three major segments: (i) …

Thorium-Based Mixed Oxide Fuel In A Pressurized Water Reactor: A Feasibility Analysis With Mcnp, Lucas Powelson Tucker

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation investigates techniques for spent fuel monitoring, and assesses the feasibility of using a thorium-based mixed oxide fuel in a conventional pressurized water reactor for plutonium disposition. Both non-paralyzing and paralyzing dead-time calculations were performed for the Portable Spectroscopic Fast Neutron Probe (N-Probe), which can be used for spent fuel interrogation. Also, a Canberra ³He neutron detector's dead-time was estimated using a combination of subcritical assembly measurements and MCNP simulations. Next, a multitude of fission products were identified as candidates for burnup and spent fuel analysis of irradiated mixed oxide fuel. The best isotopes for these applications were …

Study Of Heat Transfer Phenomenon During Natural Convection, Muhammad Yousaf

Doctoral Dissertations

"The purpose of the present study was to numerically investigate the effects of the roughness elements on the heat transfer during natural convection. A computational algorithm was developed based on the Lattice Boltzmann method to conduct numerical study in two-dimensional rectangular cavities and Rayleigh-Bénard cell. A single relaxation time Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook model of Lattice Boltzmann method was used to solve the coupled momentum and energy equations in two-dimensional lattices. Computational model was validated against previous benchmark solutions, and a good agreement was found to exist. A Newtonian fluid of Prandtl (Pr) number 1.0 was considered for this numerical study. The range …

Active - Passive Spent Fuel Interrogation Using Neutrons And Photons, Tayfun Akyurek

Doctoral Dissertations

“This dissertation consists of three main parts. The first part is devoted to the comprehensive dead-time calculations with different detectors and conditions using different dead-time models as well as computer simulations. The minimum time that must separate two detectable events is called the counting system’s dead-time. If events take place during the system’s dead-time, they will not be recorded and will be lost. Such lost information is very important in many applications including high-intensity spectroscopy and nuclear spent fuel interrogations. The second part, a multitude of fission products identified as candidates have been scrutinized for their suitability of burnup analysis …

Characterization Of Bending Fatigue Mini-Specimens For Nuclear Materials, Ahmed Suliman R. Haidyrah

Doctoral Dissertations

"New materials with superior radiation and corrosion resistance are needed to improve the economy and performance of current nuclear reactors as well as future nuclear reactors. Measurement of mechanical properties of the material of equipment is required to estimate its safe operating life. Studying fatigue of irradiated specimens is challenging due to space limitation in research reactors (e.g. ATR). The mini-specimen bending fatigue (Krouse-type) of nuclear materials was used to study fatigue properties and compare the obtained results with that of reference data of full size specimen. These Krouse-type were made of austenitic SS304, SS316, HT9 ferritic martensitic steel, and …

Iterative Ct Reconstruction From Few Projections For The Nondestructive Post Irradiation Examination Of Nuclear Fuel Assemblies, Muhammad Imran Khan Abir

Doctoral Dissertations

The core components (e.g. fuel assemblies, spacer grids, control rods) of the nuclear reactors encounter harsh environment due to high temperature, physical stress, and a tremendous level of radiation. The integrity of these elements is crucial for safe operation of the nuclear power plants. The Post Irradiation Examination (PIE) can reveal information about the integrity of the elements during normal operations and off‐normal events. Computed tomography (CT) is a tool for evaluating the structural integrity of elements non-destructively. CT requires many projections to be acquired from different view angles after which a mathematical algorithm is adopted for reconstruction. Obtaining many …

Impact Of Thorium Based Molten Salt Reactor On The Closure Of The Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Safwan Qasim Mohammad Jaradat

Doctoral Dissertations

"Molten salt reactor (MSR) is one of six reactors selected by the Generation IV International Forum (GIF). The liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) is a MSR concept based on thorium fuel cycle. LFTR uses liquid fluoride salts as a nuclear fuel. It uses ²³²Th and ²³³U as the fertile and fissile materials, respectively. Fluoride salt of these nuclides is dissolved in a mixed carrier salt of lithium and beryllium (FLiBe). The objective of this research was to complete feasibility studies of a small commercial thermal LFTR. The focus was on neutronic calculations in order to prescribe core design …

Development Of A Flat-Panel X-Ray Source, Edwin Joseph Grant

Doctoral Dissertations

"A novel flat-panel transmission type X-ray source was developed for both medical and industrial use. Depending on the geometry of the given situation, the flat-panel X-ray source could be used in tomography, radiography or tomosynthesis. Furthermore, the unit could be used as a portable X-ray scanner or an integral part of an existing detection system. The design incorporates a field emission cathode made of ultra-nanocrystalline diamonds (UNCD) doped with nitrogen. These field emitters show good electron output at low power and can be deposited over large areas as is the case with carbon nanotube "forest" (CNT) cathodes. This work presents …

Local Liquid Velocity Measurement Of Trickle Bed Reactor Using Digitial Industrial X-Ray Radiography, Khairul Anuar Mohd Salleh

Doctoral Dissertations

"Trickle Bed Reactors (TBRs) are fixed beds of particles in which both liquid and gas flow concurrently downward. They are widely used to produce not only fuels but also lubrication products. The measurement and the knowledge of local liquid velocities (VLL) in TBRs is less which is essential for advancing the understanding of its hydrodynamics and for validation computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Therefore, this work focused on developing a new, non-invasive, statistically reliable technique that can be used to measure local liquid velocity (V_LL) in two-dimensions (2-D). This is performed by combining Digital Industrial X-ray Radiography (DIR) and …

Thermal-Fluid Modeling Of The Missouri S&T Reactor, Susan Maria Sipaun

Doctoral Dissertations

"Thermal-fluid modeling of the Missouri University of Science and Technology Reactor (MSTR) was carried out using a computational fluid dynamics code (CFD), STAR-CCM+. First, a three-dimensional parallel-plate model was developed, and the cosine-shaped heat flux was applied to the MSTR core. Simulation results for fluid flow under natural convection condition show coolant temperature and velocity as a function of core power. A characteristic equation for the parallel-plate model was obtained based on Forchheimer's flow equation. The inertial resistance tensor and viscous resistance tensor were found to be 281005 kg/m^4 and 7121.6 kg/m^3 respectively. The MSTR core was then defined as …

Development Of A Nitrogen Incorporated Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Film Based Field Emitter Array For A Flat Panel X-Ray Source, Chrystian Mauricio Posada

Doctoral Dissertations

"As an alternative to conventional X-ray sources, a flat panel transmission X-ray source is being developed. A field emitter array (FEA) prototype to be incorporated as cold cathode in this flat panel X-ray source was fabricated for this work. Using the Particle-in-Cell code OOPIC Pro, an initial FEA was designed through simulations. Based on the simulation results, a FEA prototype was fabricated using conventional microfabrication techniques. Planar nitrogen-incorporated ultrananocrystalline diamond (N-UNCD) films were used as field emitters. This N-UNCD based FEA prototype was composed of 9 pixels distributed in a 3x3 array, with a pixel size of 225x225 µm, and …

Synthesis Of Radioactive And Nonradioactive Nanostructures Through Radiolytic And Wet Chemistry, Jessika Viviana Rojas Marin

Doctoral Dissertations

"In this work the synthesis of non radioactive and radioactive nanoparticles (NPs) through radiolytic and wet chemistry was studied. Non radioactive NPs of rhenium, iridium, and rhodium were synthesized from aqueous solutions containing the metal salt precursors by gamma irradiation. The solutions were irradiated to generate reducing species that led to the nucleation and growth of the nanoparticles. Amorphous rhenium oxide nanoparticles with average sizes ranging from 10 nm to 55 nm were obtained. Metallic iridium and rhodium nanoparticles were produced in polyvinyl-pyrrolidone (PVP) having narrow particle size distributions and average particle sizes from 2 nm to 6 nm. The …

Design, Development And Characterization Of A Novel Neutron And X-Ray Combined Computed Tomography System, Vaibhav Sinha

Doctoral Dissertations

"Visualizing the three dimensional structure of objects (e.g. nuclear fuel, nuclear materials, explosives and bio materials) and phenomena (e.g. particle tracking) can be very important in nondestructive testing applications. Computed tomography systems are indispensable tools for these types of applications because they provide a versatile non-destructive technique for analysis. A novel neutron and X-ray combined computed tomography (NXCT) system has been designed and developed at the Missouri University of Science & Technology. The neutron and X-ray combined computed tomography system holds much promise for non-destructive material detection and analysis where multiple materials having similar atomic number and differing thermal cross …

Dead Time And Count Loss Determination For Radiation Detection Systems In High Count Rate Applications, Amol Patil

Doctoral Dissertations

"This research is focused on dead time and the subsequent count loss estimation in radiation detection systems. The dead time is the minimum amount of time required between two events to permit detection of those events individually by a radiation detection system. If events occur during the system dead time, they are lost. Such lost information can be important in many applications including high-precision spectroscopy, positron emission tomography (PET), and the scanning of spent nuclear fuel. Understanding of the behavior of radiation detection systems is important; thus this work included a comprehensive review of dead time and pulse pile-up models …

Mixed Convection In Laminar/Turbulent Separated Backward-Facing Step Flows, Jen-Tai Lin

Doctoral Dissertations

"Mixed convective heat transfer results for two-dimensional laminar/turbulent flow in a duct with a backward-facing step are reported. The two walls forming the duct are maintained at uniform but different temperatures. The straight wall is maintained at the inlet air temperature, while the downstream section of the stepped wall is heated to a higher temperature. This study focuses on a backward-facing step geometry with an expansion ratio of two. The present laminar study examines a wide range of inlet flow and wall temperature conditions to cover the domain from buoyancy-assisting mixed convective flow, pure forced convective flow, buoyancy-opposing mixed convective …

Numerical Simulation Of Mixing Processes In Two-Dimensional Channel Flows, Milan Karel Straka

Doctoral Dissertations

"Recently, considerable interest has arisen in the numerical simulation of laminar and turbulent transport phenomena. More knowledge in this field is needed to improve predictions of heat and mass transfer processes in a variety of technical fields.

In this work a new computationally efficient transport model is developed. It consists of partially parabolized time-dependent equations of motion, continuity, and concentration of nonconservative species. Pertinent equations are solved numerically for both laminar and turbulent flow.

Results of calculations of laminar flow in the entry region of a parallel-plate channel agree well with the work of other authors. For turbulent flows, the …

An Alternate High Pressure Injection System For Pressurized-Water Reactors, Gary Edward Mueller

Doctoral Dissertations

"To evaluate the In-Core Injection System (ICIS) performance during a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) due to a major rupture in the primary system of a pressurized water reactor (PWR), tests were conducted using the thermal-hydraulic computer code RELAP4/MOD5.

The results for the overall plant system show that the maximum core average fuel cladding temperature reached during an intermediate size cold-leg break in a Combustion Engineering PWR with ICIS is equal to the initial operating temperature of 335°c (636°F). The maximum core average fuel cladding temperature reached during a large size cold-leg break with ICIS is 478°c (893°F). This temperature is approximately …

Effect Of Photoneutrons On Transients Of Beryllium Reflected Reactors, Safdar Ahmad Ali

Doctoral Dissertations

"An analytical model is developed to account for the photoneutron sources present in a beryllium reflector. The time-dependent, two- dimensional and three energy-group diffusion equations are written with an additional photoneutron source term. Then an approximate flux composed of two spatial shapes chosen beforehand, each having an unknown time coefficient, is inserted into time-dependent multigroup equations and the weighted residual criterion is applied. This yielded multimode kinetics equations with generalized definitions for conventional matrix parameters: generation time, reactivity, delayed neutron and delayed photoneutron fraction matrices.

Two transients are analyzed for the University of Missouri Research Reactor: simulation of rod drop …

A Monte Carlo Calculation Of Neutron Reflection From Various Curved Surfaces, Charles Jack Kalter

Doctoral Dissertations

"Plane parallel neutron beams normally incident upon the curved surface of a solid reflector are studied with the Monte Carlo method. The geometries studied are cylindrical, parabolic, and hemispherical. It is shown that when the curved surface is cylindrical, a small "focusing effect" occurs in the reflected neutron beam. Parabolic and hemispherical surfaces do not show "focusing". A study of the factors which determine the spatial dependence of the reflected flux shows that the probability of emergence of a neutron, traveling a fixed distance from a point inside the reflector, depends upon the curvature of the surface. It is only …

Low-Energy Electron Transport By The Method Of Discrete Ordinates, David E. Bartine

Doctoral Dissertations

"The one-dimensional discrete ordinates code ANISN has been adapted to simulate the transport of low-energy (on the order of a few MeV) electrons. Two different calculational techniques have been utilized for the treatment of electron-electron collisions that result in a small energy transfer. One method treats such collisions by a continuous slowing-down approximation, while the other method treats these collisions by the use of a very approximate cross section. Calculated results obtained with ANISN are compared with experimental data for the transmitted energy and angular distributions for 1-, 2.5-, 4-, and 8- MeV electrons normally incident on aluminum slabs of …

Higher Space Mode Analysis Of A Large Cylindrical Pulsed H₂O System, Harold David Hollis

Doctoral Dissertations

"By utilizing a geometrically centered pulsed source internal to a large (B²_g) ≈ 0.002) cylindrical H₂O system, the neutron flux was measured as a function of position and time. A least square fit of the data yielded the fundamental and five higher decay constants and amplitudes of the thermal neutron flux. Symmetrical and enhanced neutron densities were obtained as a result of the internal source. Long waiting times were unnecessary and data acquisition was accelerated.

The decay constants were found to be independent of position, pulse width, counting time and rates, method of normalization, or waiting time. …

Investigation By Neutron Diffraction Utilizing White Neutron Radiation, Arlen Ray Schade

Doctoral Dissertations

"The most probable reactor core neutron velocity was determined by analysis of data obtained from single crystals of copper and lithium fluoride. Derivation of the relationship between the maximum in experimental count rate and the most probable velocity, an error analysis of the method, and the computer routine are given for the method used to obtain the most probable velocity. The most probable velocity was used to index the maxwellian distributions from polycrystalline materials. Investigations were done with white neutron radiation of various silicon steel samples of different preferred orientation. A method is described by which the preferred orientation of …

A Study Of The Supercooling Behavior Of High Purity Liquid Bismuth, B. L. Bramfitt

Doctoral Dissertations

"This investigation involves a study of the supercooling behavior of pure bismuth as affected by the melting atmosphere, the amount of superheat, and the intentional addition of metallic and non-metallic foreign materials to the melt. It was found that the amount of oxide on the melt surface is a controlling factor in the degree of supercooling obtainable in bismuth. In the presence of a thick bismuth oxide surface layer the amount of superheat below a 15°C drastically decreases the amount of supercooling due to the retention of nuclei in the surface film that promote nucleation upon cooling of the melt. …