Nuclear Engineering Commons^™

Fuel Burnup Simulation And Analysis Of The Missouri S&T Reactor, Joshua Hinkle Rhodes

Masters Theses

"The purpose of this work is to simulate the fuel burnup of the Missouri S&T Reactor. This work was accomplished using the Monte Carlo software MCNP. The primary core configurations of MSTR were modeled and the power history was used to determine the input parameters for the burnup simulation. These simulations were run to determine the burnup for each fuel element used in the core of MSTR.

With these simulations, the new predicted isotopic compositions were added into the model. New core configurations were determined, and the burnup corrected model was used to predict the excess reactivity and control rod …

Modulated Photothermal Radiometry: Detector Sensitivity Study And Experimental Setup, Jessica Nicole Seals

Masters Theses

"This thesis outlines the development of a system used for determining the surface thermal diffusivity of both non-irradiated and irradiated materials. The motivation for this work is to establish a modulated photothermal radiometry (PTR) system on the campus of Missouri University of Science and Technology. One of the main efforts described in this thesis is the design and construction of the physical apparatus. Along the way, it was necessary to perform a detailed sensitivity analysis of the system to determine whether the expected signal emitted from the sample falls within the bounds of detectivity for the HgCdTe (MCT) detector used …

Customized Multi-Group Cross Section Generation With Njoy For Discrete Ordinates Computed Tomography And Radiography Simulation, Steven Michael Wagstaff

Masters Theses

"The purpose of this work was to explore the creation of photoatomic multi-group cross section libraries to be used with a software package DOCTORS (Discrete Ordinates Computed TOmography and Radiography Simulator). This software solves the linear Boltzmann equation using the discrete ordinates method [1]. To create these libraries, NJOY2016 was used, creating both fine and broad energy multi-group cross section files. The cross section's accuracy was tested against an equivalent Monte Carlo simulation using MCNP6.

Two simulation geometries were used. The first, a cylindrical water phantom with a single source projection placed in front, simulating an X-ray radiography. The second …

An Investigation Into The Effects Of Ion Tracks On Α-Quartz, Bryant Alan Kanies

Masters Theses

"The passage of a swift heavy ion through a material can cause columnar, amorphous nano-structures known as ion tracks. Swift heavy ions are present in a number of applications ranging from nuclear reactors to nuclear waste storage and onboard spacecraft. The study of ion tracks has been ongoing since the late 1950s and has led to several technological advancements. In fact, ion beams have been used to enhance material properties and aid in the production of electrical components. Ion beams, and their resultant ion tracks, can therefore be seen as a method to purposefully alter material properties such as thermal …

Development And Monte Carlo Validation Of A Finite Element Reactor Analysis Framework, Wayne J. Brewster

Masters Theses

"This study presents the development and Monte Carlo validation of a continuous Galerkin finite element reactor analysis framework. In its current state, the framework acts as an interface between the mesh preparation software GMSH and the sparse linear solvers in MATLAB, for the discretization and approximation of 1-D, 2-D, and 3-D linear partial differential equations. Validity of the framework is assessed from the following two benchmarking activities: the 2-D IAEA PWR benchmark; and the 2-D Missouri Science and Technology Reactor benchmark proposed within this study. The 2-D IAEA PWR multi-group diffusion benchmark is conducted with the following discretization schemes: linear, …