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Safety and Security Science

(LuxY1-x)3Al5O12:Pr (x = 0.25, 0.50, 0.75) crystals have been grown by the Czochralski method and their scintillation properties have been examined. Compared to the well-respected LuAG:Pr scintillator, which has so extensively been studied in the recent years, the new mixed LuYAG:Pr crystals display markedly higher light yields, regardless of the value of x. In particular, (Lu0.75Y0.25)3Al5O12:0.2%Pr characterized by a yield of 33000 ph/MeV, an energy resolution of 4.4% (at 662 keV), and a density of 6.2 g/cm3, seems to be an ideal candidate to supercede Lu3Al5O12:0.2%Pr (19000 ph/MeV, 4.6%, 6.7 g/cm3) in various applications. The observed enhancement of light output following the partial substitution of lutetium by yttrium is most probably related to some specific differences in distributions of shallow traps in particular materials.

We present a systematic study of the effect of variation of the zinc oxide (ZnO) and copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) layer thickness on the absorption characteristics of CIGS solar cells using a simulation program based on finite element method (FEM). We show that the absorption in the CIGS layer does not decrease monotonically with its layer thickness due to interference effects. Ergo, high precision is required in the CIGS production process, especially when using ultra-thin absorber layers, to accurately realize the required thickness of the ZnO, cadmium sulfide (CdS) and CIGS layer. We show that patterning the ZnO window layer can strongly suppress these interference effects allowing a higher tolerance in the production process.

Lattice Boltzmann simulations were carried out to investigate the noise mitigation mechanisms of a 3-D printed porous trailing-edge insert, elucidating the link between noise reduction and material permeability. The porous insert is based on a unit cell resembling a lattice of diamond atoms. It replaces the last 20 % chord of a NACA 0018 at zero angle-of-attack. A partially blocked insert is considered by adding a solid partition between 84 % and 96 % of the aerofoil chord. The regular porous insert achieves a substantial noise reduction at low frequencies, although a slight noise increase is found at high frequencies. The partially blocked porous insert exhibits a lower noise reduction level, but the noise emission at mid-to-high frequency is slightly affected. The segment of the porous insert near the tip plays a dominant role in promoting noise mitigation, whereas the solid-porous junction contributes, in addition to the rough surface, towards the high-frequency excess noise. The current study demonstrates the existence of an entrance length associated with the porous material geometry, which is linked to the pressure release process that is responsible for promoting noise mitigation. This process is characterised by the aerodynamic interaction between pressure fluctuations across the porous medium, which is found at locations where the porous insert thickness is less than twice the entrance length. Present results also suggest that the noise attenuation level is related to both the chordwise extent of the porous insert and the streamwise turbulent length scale. The porous inserts also cause a slight drag increase compared to their solid counterpart.

A dielectric barrier discharge actuator (DBD) is considered and studied as a stall recovery device. The DBD is installed on the nose of a NACA0015 airfoil with chord × span 300 × 930 mm. The geometry of the exposed electrode has periodic triangular tips purposely designed for the case under study. Wind tunnel tests have been carried out over a range of airspeeds up to 35 m/s with a Reynolds number of 700 k. The flow morphology has been characterized by means of the particle image velocimetry technique, obtaining velocity fields and pressure coefficients. By exploring different planes along the model span, the three-dimensional effect of the DBD has been reconstructed, identifying the flow region mainly sensitive to the plasma actuation. Finally, the actuator effectiveness has been quantified accounting for the power consumption data, leading to defining further design improvements in view of a better efficiency.

The design of a molten salt reactor is largely based on CFD simulations. Phase change plays an important role in the safety of the reactor, but numerical modelling of phase change is particularly challenging. Therefore, the knowledge of the margin of error of CFD simulations involving phase change is very important. Relevant experimental validation data is lacking. For this reason, a numerical benchmark designed after the freeze valve is proposed. The benchmark consists of five stages, where with each step more complexity is added. The step-wise addition of complexity allows for pinpointing potential sources of discrepancy. Results were obtained with three different codes: STAR-CCM+, OpenFOAM, and DGFlows. The results were found to be largely consistent between the codes, however the addition of conjugate heat transfer introduced some discrepancies. These results indicate that careful consideration is needed when coupling conjugate heat transfer solvers with solid–liquid phase change models. ; RST/Reactor Physics and Nuclear Materials

A method for comparing the levelized cost of energy (LCoE) of different superconducting drive trains is introduced. The properties of a 10-MW MgB2 superconducting direct-drive generator and the cost break down of the nacelle components are presented and scaled up to a turbine with a rotor diameter of up to 280 m. The partial load efficiency of the generator is evaluated for a constant cooling power of 0, 50, and 100 kW, and the annual energy production is used to determine the impact on the LCoE.