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The paper presents the results of three-dimensional numerical simulation of thermal-hydraulic processes in the Intermediate Heat Exchanger of the advanced Sodium-Cooled Fast-Neutron (BN) Reactor considering a developed methodological approach.

The Intermediate Heat Exchanger (IHX) is located in the reactor vessel and intended to transfer heat from the primary sodium circulating on the shell side to the secondary sodium circulating on the tube side. In case of an integral layout of the primary equipment in the BN reactor, upstream the IHX inlet windows there is a temperature stratification of the coolant due to incomplete mixing of different temperature flows at the core outlet. Inside the IHX, in the area of the input and output windows, a complex longitudinal and transverse flow of the coolant also takes place resulting in an uneven distribution of the coolant flow rate on the tube side and, as a consequence, in an uneven temperature distribution and heat transfer efficiency along the height and radius of the tube bundle.

In order to confirm the thermal-hydraulic parameters of the IHX of the advanced BN reactor applied in the design, a methodological approach for three-dimensional numerical simulation of the heat exchanger located in the reactor vessel was developed, taking into account the three-dimensional sodium flow pattern at the IHX inlet and inside the IHX, as well as justifying the recommendations for simplifying the geometry of the computational model of the IHX.

Numerical simulation of thermal-hydraulic processes in the IHX of the advanced BN reactor was carried out using the FlowVision software package with the standard $k-\varepsilon$ turbulence model and the LMS turbulent heat transfer model.

To increase the representativeness of numerical simulation of the IHX tube bundle, verification calculations of singletube and multi-tube sodium-sodium heat exchangers were performed with the geometric characteristics corresponding to the IHX design.

To determine the input boundary conditions in the IHX model, an additional three-dimensional calculation was performed taking into account the uneven flow pattern in the upper mixing chamber of the reactor.

The IHX computational model was optimized by simplifying spacer belts and selecting a sector model.

As a result of numerical simulation of the IHX, the distributions of the primary sodium velocity and primary and secondary sodium temperature were obtained. Satisfactory agreement of the calculation results with the design data on integral parameters confirmed the adopted design thermal-hydraulic characteristics of the IHX of the advanced BN reactor.

This article presents the results of an analytical and computer study of the chaotic evolution of a regular velocity field generated by a large-scale harmonic forcing. The authors obtained an analytical solution for the flow stream function and its derivative quantities (velocity, vorticity, kinetic energy, enstrophy and palinstrophy). Numerical modeling of the flow evolution was carried out using the OpenFOAM software package based on incompressible model, as well as two inhouse implementations of CABARET and McCormack methods employing nearly incompressible formulation. Calculations were carried out on a sequence of nested meshes with 64², 128², 256², 512², 1024² cells for two characteristic (asymptotic) Reynolds numbers characterizing laminar and turbulent evolution of the flow, respectively. Simulations show that blow-up of the analytical solution takes place in both cases. The energy characteristics of the flow are discussed relying upon the energy curves as well as the dissipation rates. For the fine mesh, this quantity turns out to be several orders of magnitude less than its hydrodynamic (viscous) counterpart. Destruction of the regular flow structure is observed for any of the numerical methods, including at the late stages of laminar evolution, when numerically obtained distributions are close to analytics. It can be assumed that the prerequisite for the development of instability is the error accumulated during the calculation process. This error leads to unevenness in the distribution of vorticity and, as a consequence, to the variance vortex intensity and finally leads to chaotization of the flow. To study the processes of vorticity production, we used two integral vorticity-based quantities — integral enstrophy ($\zeta$) and palinstrophy $(P)$. The formulation of the problem with periodic boundary conditions allows us to establish a simple connection between these quantities. In addition, $\zeta$ can act as a measure of the eddy resolution of the numerical method, and palinstrophy determines the degree of production of small-scale vorticity.

The paper simulates a mixture of gases in a multi-stage micro-pump and evaluates its effectiveness at separating the components of the mixture. A device in the form of a long channel with a series of transverse plates is considered. A temperature difference between the sides of the plates induces a radiometric gas flow within the device, and the differences in masses of the gases lead to differences in flow velocities and to the separation of the mixture. Modeling is based on the numerical solution of the Boltzmann kinetic equation, for which a splitting scheme is used, i. e., the advection equation and the relaxation problem are solved separately in alternation. The calculation of the collision integral is performed using the conservative projection method. This method ensures the strict fulfillment of the laws of conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, as well as the important asymptotic property of the equality of the integral of the Maxwell function to zero. Explicit first-order and second-order TVD-schemes are used to solve the advection equation. The calculations were performed for a neon-argon mixture using a model of solid spheres with real molecular diameters and masses. Software has been developed to allow calculations on personal computers and cluster systems. The use of parallelization leads to faster computation and constant time per iteration for devices of different sizes, enabling the modeling of large particle systems. It was found that the value of mixture separation, i. e. the ratio of densities at the ends of the device linearly depends on the number of cascades in the device, which makes it possible to estimate separation for multicascade systems, computer modeling of which is impossible. Flows and distributions of gas inside the device during its operation were analyzed. It was demonstrated that devices of this kind with a sufficiently large number of plates are suitable for the separation of gas mixtures, given that they have no moving parts and are quite simple in manufacture and less subject to wear.

The objective of this study is to determine the best formations for the joint movement of a group of small robots in an aquatic environment. Estimation of drag of the flow is a traditional and well-known area of research, but it is not always valid to extend the conclusions made for a single robot to a group of similar devices due to the physical effects that appear during joint movement, such as a wave shadow. For these reasons, it is necessary to study the hydrodynamic characteristics of certain robot formations as a stable structure. The hydrodynamic parameters of systems with two main types of propulsion were studied: locomotive (fishtails) and propellers. Formations similar in structure to schools of fish were mainly considered, and then their applicability for robots of different types was assessed. The relationship between the speed of movement of the group and the drag of each of its participants was also studied. Mathematical modeling of the flow around a group of robots was performed using the finite volume method using two software packages (FlowVision and OpenFoam). Robots with a screw propeller interfere with each other when packed into tight formations, and for the locomotive case, being in the disturbance zone, on the contrary, is preferable. Also, with poorly streamlined bodies, flows separating from the surface can turn into narrow turbulent jets that greatly interfere with the rear robots. It has been established that wake effect reduces energy costs only at low speeds of movement — about 5 cm/s; at high speeds, movement in columns becomes difficult for the rear robots. No large difference in frontal resistance was found between a single robot and a group for a fish-like tail. The studies made it possible to develop and substantiate recommendations for optimizing robot designs for group movement.

A two-dimensional system of excitable cells, describing by the FitzHugh-Nagumo model, has been used for a theoretical investigation of an action potential propagation (AP) in vascular plant tissues. It is shown that growth of electrical conductivity between cells increases the AP generation threshold and its propagation velocity in the homogeneous system, which has been formed by equal elements. The plant symplast has been
described by the heterogeneous system, including elements with low electrical conductivity, which simulate parenchyma cells, and elements with high electrical conductivity, which simulate sieve elements. Analysis of this system shows that the threshold of the AP generation is similar with this threshold in the homogeneous system
with low electrical conductivity; the velocity of the AP propagation is faster than one in this system.

Molecular dynamics simulation using the embedded-atom method is applied to study the structural evolution of the particle diameter of 40 Å during the quenching process. Was carried comparative analysis of the structural reconstruction for the particle and the bulk models. Was a reduction in temperature of the beginning and end of the transformation of the particle. In formation of a percolation cluster from interpenetrating and contacting icosahedrons, for model of the particle, it is involved for 10 percent of atoms more, than for model of a bulk.

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of rigid water model TIP4P-EW at ambient conditions were carried out. Delaunay’s simplexes were considered as structural elements of liquid water. Topological criterion which allows to identify the water microstructure in snapshot of MD cell was used to allocate its dense part. Geometrical analysis of water Delaunay’s simplexes indicates their strong flatness in comparison with a regular tetrahedron that is fundamentally different from the results for dense part of simple liquids. The statistics of TIP4P-EW water clusters was investigated depending on their cardinality and connectivity. It is similar to the statistics for simple liquids and the structure of this dense part is also a fractal surface consisting of the free edges of the Delaunay’s simplexes.

In this paper we consider various models of hydraulic hysteresis in invasive mercury porosimetry. For simulating the hydraulic hysteresis is used isotropic site percolation on three-dimensional square lattices with $(1,\,\pi)$-neighborhood. The relationship between the percolation model parameters and invasive porosimetry data is studied phenomenologically. The implementation of the percolation model is based on libraries SPSL and SECP, released under license GNU GPL-3 using the free programming language R.

The paper discusses the possibility of modeling the strength anisotropy of layered elastic medium using a scalar damage parameter. Thermodynamically consistent constitutive equations are formulated. Using SIMULIA / Abaqus we numerically simulated the stretching and compression of the samples. The results of calculation using the proposed model are compared with the known experimental data from the literature and the predictions of traditional models.

In this work, we propose a method of the numerical solution of the magnetostatic problem for domains with boundaries containing corners. With the help of this numerical method, the magnetic systems of rectangular configuration were simulated with high accuracy. In particular, the calculations of some modifications of the magnetic system SP-40 used in the NIS JINR experimental installation, are presented. The basic feature of such a magnet is a rectangular aperture, hence, the area in which the boundary-value problem is solved, has a smooth border everywhere, except for a finite number of angular points in the vicinity of which the border is formed by crossing two smooth curves. In such cases the solution to the problem or derivatives of the solution can have a special feature. A behavior of the magnetic field in the vicinity of an angular point is investigated, and the configuration of the magnet was chosen numerically. The width of the area of homogeneity of the magnetic field increased from 0.5 m up to 1.0 m, i. e. twice.