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Current Research
Projects
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The
University of South Carolina Nuclear Engineering Program has a number of
laboratories performing research related nuclear fuels and structural materials,
thermal hydraulics, and advanced modeling and simulation. Additional
laboratories are planned as part of the recently awarded Center of
Economic Excellence in Nuclear Science and Engineering. |
The Nuclear Materials Laboratory is equipped and licensed for working with
uranium ad thorium based fuels with radiological hoods and inert
atmosphere gloveboxes also used for working with pyrophoric
materials. Metallographic and sample preparation tools are used for
preparing materials for analysis in USC microscopy ad microanalysis
instruments or for analysis at partner institutions.
High temperature, controlled atmosphere furnaces are used for
advanced fuel fabrication and testing. Induction heated furnaces are
used to 3000 K and a longer duration tube furnace is used to
temperatures up to 1900 K. A custom-built, fluidized-bed, chemical
vapor deposition (CVD) system is used for coating of fuel kernels
including advanced TRISO fuels with ZrC. Other instruments used for
nuclear fuels characterization include particle size, porosimetry,
density, and surface area analysis. Thermogravimetric and differential
scanning calorimetry instruments are also employed in these studies at
temperatures up to 2250 K. |
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High performance
computing facilities (HPCG)
are used to analyze and model nuclear reactors, advanced fuel cycles,
and advanced nuclear fuels and materials. Modeling and simulation codes
and tools are employed for
neutronic,
thermal hydraulic, computational fluid dynamics (CFD),
thermochemical,
safety and risk, shielding, and finite element analyses. Sample code
packages include MCNP5, SCALE6.1, SCALE6.0, ERANOS2.1, FACT-SAGE6.1,
VISION, Relap/SCDAPSIM(MOD4.0), FRAPCON/FRAPTRAN, TRACE,
MELCOR, SNAP, COBRA,
ABAQUS,
Comsol
Multiphysics,
etc. |
| Thermal hydraulic test loops and laboratories are dedicated to
studies of enhanced heat transfer, fluid flow, pressure drop and other
phenomena associated with nuclear fuel rods and assemblies. A stereo
vision (3D) micro PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) technique and micro-PLIF
(Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence) are used to examine the impact of
nanofluids on the development and performance of thermal and
hydrodynamic boundary layers and to allow for a visual investigation of
the flow field and the impact of shear-thinning. |
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© University of South Carolina Board of Trustees
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