Power reactor oriented thermal-hydraulic research, from the safety viewpoint, has been dominated over the past thirty years by accident considerations. The postulated loss of coolant accident, and severe accident concerns, have been the focus of world-wide research programs whose cost is undoubtedly measured in excess of a billion dollars. Various actual accidents, notably Three Mile Island and...

In karst systems, hydraulic conduits called solution pipes (or wormholes) are formed as a result of the dissolution of limestone rocks by the water surcharged with CO2. The solution pipes are the end result of a positive feedback between spatial variations in porosity in the rock matrix and the local dissolution rate. Here, we investigate numerically the effect of rock stratification on the sol...

The reliability of a water distribution network (WDN) is a function of several time-invariant and time-dependent factors affecting its components and connectivity, most important of which have been shown to be the network's topology, its operating pressure, the type of key components (such as the diameter, length, material and age of water pipes) and the network's historical performance (such a...

In this paper, we present a methodology for the retrofit of water utilization systems using mathematical optimization. The problem consists of determining the best re-piping and the capacity of a new treatment unit (if any) to be introduced to generate the best retrofit. Instead of reducing water consumption, or maximizing savings, we resort to analyze the problem using a more comprehensive vie...

In high-chromium ferrite heat-resistant steel pipe welds, which are often used in ultra-supercritical pressure boilers Japan, a large number of Type IV creep voids occur the region deep beneath outer surface and then develop into cracks. When crack is detected, main piping power plant judged to have zero remaining life. Since damage areas material there no non-destructive evaluation (NDE) metho...

As backfill systems become a more common method for managing tailings and enhancing ore recovery, safe efficient methods handling the are adding value mine owners. At Kirkland Lake Gold Fosterville (Victoria, Australia), automated diverter valves were installed at distribution switching points to direct paste intended stopes. The operated remotely from control room, removing human element trans...