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The development of a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) constituting a part of nuclear power-and-process station and intended for large-scale hydrogen production is now in progress in the Russian Federation. One of the key objectives in development of the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor is the computational justification of the accepted design.

The article gives the procedure for the computational analysis of thermal and physical characteristics of the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. The procedure is based on the use of the state-of-the-art codes for personal computer (PC).

The objective of thermal and physical analysis of the reactor as a whole and of the core in particular was achieved in three stages. The idea of the first stage is to justify the neutron physical characteristics of the block-type core during burn-up with the use of the MCU-HTR code based on the Monte Carlo method. The second and the third stages are intended to study the coolant flow and the temperature condition of the reactor and the core in 3D with the required degree of detailing using the FlowVision and the ANSYS codes.

For the purpose of carrying out the analytical studies the computational models of the reactor flow path and the fuel assembly column were developed.

As per the results of the computational modeling the design of the support columns and the neutron physical characteristics of the fuel assembly were optimized. This results in the reduction of the total hydraulic resistance of the reactor and decrease of the maximum temperature of the fuel elements.

The dependency of the maximum fuel temperature on the value of the power peaking factors determined by the arrangement of the absorber rods and of the compacts of burnable absorber in the fuel assembly is demonstrated.

An isolated system, which possesses a discrete set of microscopic states, is considered. The system performs spontaneous random transitions between the microstates. Kinetic equations for the probabilities of the system staying in various microstates are formulated. A general dimensionless expression for entropy of such a system, which depends on the probability distribution, is considered. Two problems are stated: 1) to study the effect of possible unequal probabilities of different microstates, in particular, when the system is in its internal equilibrium, on the system entropy value, and 2) to study the kinetics of microstate probability distribution and entropy evolution of the system in nonequilibrium states. The kinetics for the rates of transitions between the microstates is assumed to be first-order. Two variants of the effects of possible nonequiprobability of the microstates are considered: i) the microstates form two subgroups the probabilities of which are similar within each subgroup but differ between the subgroups, and ii) the microstate probabilities vary arbitrarily around the point at which they are all equal. It is found that, under a fixed total number of microstates, the deviations of entropy from the value corresponding to the equiprobable microstate distribution are extremely small. The latter is a rigorous substantiation of the known hypothesis about the equiprobability of microstates under the thermodynamic equilibrium. On the other hand, based on several characteristic examples, it is shown that the structure of random transitions between the microstates exerts a considerable effect on the rate and mode of the establishment of the system internal equilibrium, on entropy time dependence and expression of the entropy production rate. Under definite schemes of these transitions, there are possibilities of fast and slow components in the transients and of the existence of transients in the form of damped oscillations. The condition of universality and stability of equilibrium microstate distribution is that for any pair of microstates, a sequence of transitions should exist, which provides the passage from one microstate to next, and, consequently, any microstate traps should be absent.

The paper is devoted to the study of wave and relaxation effects during the pulsed outflow of a gas mixture with a high content of solid particles from a cylindrical channel during its initial partial filling. The problem is formulated in a two-speed two-temperature formulation and was solved numerically by the hybrid large-particle method of the second order of approximation. The numerical algorithm is implemented in the form of parallel computing using basic Free Pascal language tools. The applicability and accuracy of the method for wave flows of concentrated gas-particles mixtures is confirmed by comparison with test asymptotically accurate solutions. The calculation error on a grid of low detail in the characteristic flow zones of a two-phase medium was 10^-6 . . . 10^-5.

Based on the wave diagram, the analysis of the physical pattern of the outflow of a gas suspension partially filling a cylindrical channel is performed. It is established that, depending on the degree of initial filling of the channel, various outflow modes are formed. The first mode is implemented with a small degree of loading of the high-pressure chamber, at which the left boundary of the gas-particles mixture crosses the outlet section before the arrival of the rarefaction wave reflected from the bottom of the channel. At the same time, the maximum value of the mass flow rate of the mixture is achieved. Other modes are formed in cases of a larger initial filling of the channel, when the rarefaction waves reflected from the bottom of the channel interact with the gas suspension layer and reduce the intensity of its outflow.

The influence of relaxation properties with changing particle size on the dynamics of a limited layer of a gas-dispersed medium is studied. Comparison of the outflow of a limited gas suspension layer with different particle sizes shows that for small particles (the Stokes number is less than 0.001), an anomalous phenomenon of the simultaneous existence of shock wave structures in the supersonic and subsonic flow of gas and suspension is observed. With an increase in the size of dispersed inclusions, the compaction jumps in the region of the two-phase mixture are smoothed out, and for particles (the Stokes number is greater than 0.1), they practically disappear. At the same time, the shock-wave configuration of the supersonic gas flow at the outlet of the channel is preserved, and the positions and boundaries of the energy-carrying volumes of the gas suspension are close when the particle sizes change.

We present an inhomogeneous two-dimensional network model of two-phase flow in porous media. The edges of the network are assumed to be capillary tubes of different radii. We propose a new algorithm for handling phase fluxes at the nodes of this network model. We perform two test problems and show that the two-phase flow in this inhomogeneous network model demonstrates properties that are analogous to those of real porous media: capillary imbibition, dependence of capillary pressure on saturation and effect of capillary forces in two-phase displacement. The two test problems are: the counter-current imbibition and the twophase displacement in a periodically inhomogeneous porous medium. In the former problem, we implement a network consisting of two regions: a region of low-permeability with thin capillaries surrounded by a region of high-permeability with thick capillaries, initially saturated with wetting and nonwetting incompressible fluids, respectively. Capillary equilibrium is established due to counter-current imbibition by a region. We examine the dependence: of saturation of the wetting fluid with respect to time in the regions, and of capillary pressure on the current saturation. We have obtained a qualitative agreement with the known experimental and theoretical results, which will further allow us to use this network model to verify homogenized models of capillary nonequilibrium. In the latter problem, we consider the two-phase displacement, where the network is initially saturated with nonwetting fluid. Then wetting fluid is injected through a boundary at a constant rate. We analyze the saturation with respect to the axis which is along the applied pressure gradient for various moments in time with various values of coefficients of surface tension. The results show that for lower values of coefficient of surface tension, the wetting fluid prefers to invade through the thicker tubes, and in the case of higher values, through thinner tubes.

The study of the structural characteristics of composites and nanostructures is of fundamental importance in materials science. Theoretical and numerical modeling and simulation of the mechanical properties of nanostructures is the main tool that allows for complex studies that are difficult to conduct only experimentally. One example of nanostructures considered in this work are carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which have good thermal and electrical properties, as well as low density and high Young’s modulus, making them the most suitable reinforcement element for composites, for potential applications in aerospace, automotive, metallurgical and biomedical industries. In this review, we reviewed the modeling methods, mechanical properties, and applications of CNT-reinforced metal matrix composites. Some modeling methods applicable in the study of composites with polymer and metal matrices are also considered. Methods such as the gradient descent method, the Monte Carlo method, methods of molecular statics and molecular dynamics are considered. Molecular dynamics simulations have been shown to be excellent for creating various composite material systems and studying the properties of metal matrix composites reinforced with carbon nanomaterials under various conditions. This paper briefly presents the most commonly used potentials that describe the interactions of composite modeling systems. The correct choice of interaction potentials between parts of composites directly affects the description of the phenomenon being studied. The dependence of the mechanical properties of composites on the volume fraction of the diameter, orientation, and number of CNTs is detailed and discussed. It has been shown that the volume fraction of carbon nanotubes has a significant effect on the tensile strength and Young’s modulus. The CNT diameter has a greater impact on the tensile strength than on the elastic modulus. An example of works is also given in which the effect of CNT length on the mechanical properties of composites is studied. In conclusion, we offer perspectives on the direction of development of molecular dynamics modeling in relation to metal matrix composites reinforced with carbon nanomaterials.

The efficiency of mobile robotic systems (MRS) that monitor the traffic situation, urban infrastructure, consequences of emergency situations, etc., directly depends on the quality of vision systems, which are the most important part of MRS. In turn, the accuracy of image processing in vision systems depends to a great extent on the accuracy of spatial orientation of the video camera placed on the MRS. However, when video cameras are placed on the MRS, the level of errors of their spatial orientation increases sharply, caused by wind and seismic vibrations, movement of the MRS over rough terrain, etc. In this connection, the paper considers a general solution to the problem of stochastic estimation of spatial orientation parameters of video cameras in conditions of both random mast vibrations and arbitrary character of MRS movement. Since the methods of solving this problem on the basis of satellite measurements at high intensity of natural and artificial radio interference (the methods of formation of which are constantly being improved) are not able to provide the required accuracy of the solution, the proposed approach is based on the use of autonomous means of measurement — inertial and non-inertial. But when using them, the problem of building and stochastic estimation of the general model of video camera motion arises, the complexity of which is determined by arbitrary motion of the video camera, random mast oscillations, measurement disturbances, etc. The problem of stochastic estimation of the general model of video camera motion arises. Due to the unsolved nature of this problem, the paper considers the synthesis of both the video camera motion model in the most general case and the stochastic estimation of its state parameters. The developed algorithm for joint estimation of the spatial orientation parameters of the video camera placed on the mast of the MRS is invariant to the nature of motion of the mast, the video camera, and the MRS itself, providing stability and the required accuracy of estimation under the most general assumptions about the nature of interference of the sensitive elements of the autonomous measuring complex used. The results of the numerical experiment allow us to conclude that the proposed approach can be practically applied to solve the problem of the current spatial orientation of MRS and video cameras placed on them using inexpensive autonomous measuring devices.

The difference scheme for numerical solution of a time-dependant system of two Schrödinger equations with the operator of a spin-orbit interaction for a two-component spinor wave function is offered on the basis of a split method for a time-dependant Schrödinger equations. The computer simulation of the external neutrons’ wave functions evolution with different values of the full moment projection upon internuclear axis and probabilities of their transfer are executed for head-on collisions of ¹⁸O and ⁵⁸Ni nuclei.

The possibility to simplify the integration of Langevin equation using the variation of correlation between augmentation was researched. The analytical expression for a set of numerical schemes is presented. It’s shown that asymptotic limits for squared velocity depend on step size. The region of convergence and the convergence orders were estimated. It turned out that the incorrect correlation between increments decrease the accuracy down to the level of first-order methods for schemes based on precise solution.

The paper describes the results of computer simulation of time-dependent temperature fields arising in polar dielectrics irradiated by focused electron bunches with average electron energy when analyzing with electron microscopy techniques. The mathematical model was based on solving several-dimensional nonstationary heat conduction equation with use of numerical finite element method. The approximation of thermal source was performed taking into account the estimation of initial electron distribution determined by Monte-Carlo simulation of electron trajectories. The simulation program was designed in Matlab. The geometrical modeling and calculation results demonstrated the main features of model sample heating by electron beam were presented at the given experimental parameters as well as source approximation.

We present a semiphenomenological model of the two molecular motors: kinesin and myosin V, which play a great role in intracellular transport. The temporal dynamics of changes in the characteristic geometric parameters and the elastic stresses generated during the movement of motors is studied. The rates of movement of kinesin and myosin V, and their dependence on the concentration of ATP are discussed.