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DETAILED STUDY OF THE TRANSIENT ROD PNEUMATIC SYSTEM ON THE ANNULAR CORE RESEARCH REACTOR A Thesis Presented to The Academic Faculty by Brandon M. Fehr In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering in the School of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering and Medical Physics Program, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology May 2016 COPYRIGHT © 2016 BY BRANDON M. FEHR iv DETAILED STUDY OF THE TRANSIENT ROD PNEUMATIC SYSTEM ON THE ANNULAR CORE RESEARCH REACTOR Approved by: Dr. Farzad Rahnema, Advisor Mr. Michael Black School of Nuclear and Radiological R&D S&E Mechanical Engineering Engineering Sandia National Laboratories Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Tristan Utschig School of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Bojan Petrovic School of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Date Approved: April 11, 2016 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to give the utmost appreciation to my colleagues at Sandia National Laboratories for their support, with special thanks to Michael Black, James Arnold, and Paul Helmick for their technical guidance. I would also like to thank Dulce Barrera and Elliott Pelfrey for their encouragement and support, and Bennett Lee for his help with proofreading and formatting. Special thanks to Dr. Farzad Rahnema for his guidance and contract support, as well as, Dr. Bojan Petrovic and Dr. Tris Utschig for serving on my committee. Lastly, I would like to thank my parents for their support and encouragement during the whole journey. This research was funded by Weapons Science & Technology (WS&T), Readiness in Technical Base and Facilities (RTBF). This document is approved for Unclassified Unlimited Release (UUR) with SAND#: SAND2016-2828T. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES… ........................................................................................ ix LIST OF FIGURES.. .......................................................................................... x NOMENCLATURE. ...................................................................................... xiii SUMMARY………... .................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND INFORMATION ................................................ 2 ACRRF Overview ............................................................................................................. 2 Transient Rod Assembly Overview ................................................................................. 4 Transient Rod Pneumatic System ................................................................................... 4 TR Mechanical Linkages ................................................................................................ 5 Transient Rod Drive System ........................................................................................... 5 Previous Work ................................................................................................................. 10 Clovis and Operations ................................................................................................... 10 Trinh and DePriest ........................................................................................................ 11 CHAPTER 3: EXPERIMENTAL PRESSURE DATA ........................................ 12 Purpose............................................................................................................................. 12 Gathering of Data ........................................................................................................... 12 v Pressure Transducers .................................................................................................... 12 Processing of Data ........................................................................................................... 14 Raw Data ....................................................................................................................... 14 Filtering Method ........................................................................................................... 15 Force Balance................................................................................................................ 17 Displacement Algorithm ............................................................................................... 18 Results ........................................................................................................................... 22 Discussion......................................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER 4: ANALYTICAL DERIVATION OF FLOW IN TR PNEUMATIC SYSTEM ..........................................................................30 Problem Statement.......................................................................................................... 30 Problem Definition .......................................................................................................... 30 Accumulator to Valve ................................................................................................... 30 Valve to Cylinder .......................................................................................................... 31 Solenoid Valve .............................................................................................................. 32 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 33 Analytical Derivations .................................................................................................. 33 Calculation Algorithm .................................................................................................. 33 Transient Rod Timing ................................................................................................... 33 Results and Findings ....................................................................................................... 36 Pressure Distributions ................................................................................................... 37 Displacement Profiles ................................................................................................... 42 Rod Hold-Up Anomaly ................................................................................................. 44 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 48 CHAPTER 5: RAZORBACK RESULTS ........................................................... 49 vi Purpose............................................................................................................................. 49 Background ..................................................................................................................... 49 Brief Overview of Razorback ....................................................................................... 49 Reactivity Control Systems........................................................................................... 49 Reactivity Feedback ...................................................................................................... 50 Transient Rod Motion ................................................................................................... 51 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 51 Transient Rod Motion ................................................................................................... 51 Five Pulse Case Study ................................................................................................... 52 Pressure Comparison .................................................................................................... 52 Results .............................................................................................................................. 54 Five Pulse Case Study ................................................................................................... 54 Pressure Variation ......................................................................................................... 59 Discussion......................................................................................................................... 63 CHAPTER 6: DUST CAP FAILURE ANALYSIS .............................................. 65 Purpose............................................................................................................................. 65 Background ..................................................................................................................... 65 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 66 Failure Methods ............................................................................................................ 66 Loading Force ............................................................................................................... 72 Analytical Solution ......................................................................................................