V.F. González-Albuixech

Inversion symmetric vs. asymmetric excitations and the low-temperature universal properties of Ar:N2 and Ar:N2:CO glasses

The bias energies of various two-level systems (TLSs) and their strengths of interactions with the strain are calculated for Ar:N2 glass. Unlike the case in KBr:CN, a distinct class of TLSs having weak interaction with the strain and untypically small bias energies is not found. The addition of CO molecules introduces CO flips which form such a class of weakly interacting TLSs, albeit at much lower coupling than that at which they are typically observed in solids. We conclude that because of the absence of a distinct class of weakly interacting TLSs, Ar:N2 is a non-universal glass, the first such system in three dimensions and in ambient pressure. Our results further suggest that Ar:N2:CO may show universal properties, but at temperatures lower than , much smaller than the typical temperature associated with universality, because of the untypical softness of this system. Our results thus shed light on two long-standing questions regarding the low-temperature properties of glasses: the necessary and sufficient conditions for quantitative universality of phonon attenuation, and what dictates the energy scale of ≈ 3 K below which universality is typically observed.The bias energies of various two-level systems (TLSs) and their strengths of interactions with the strain are calculated for Ar:N2 glass. Unlike the case in KBr:CN, a distinct class of TLSs having weak interaction with the strain and untypically small bias energies is not found. The addition of CO molecules introduces CO flips which form such a class of weakly interacting TLSs, albeit at much lower coupling than are typically observed in solids. We conclude that because of the absence of a distinct class of weakly interacting TLSs, Ar:N2 is a non-universal glass, the first such system in three dimensions and in ambient pressure. Our results further suggest that Ar:N2:CO may show universal properties, but at temperatures lower than ≈ 0.1 K, much smaller than typical temperature ≈ 3 K associated with universality, because of the untypical softness of this system. Our results thus shed light on two long standing questions regarding low temperature properties of glasses: the necessary and sufficient conditions for quantitative universality of phonon attenuation, and what dictates the energy scale of ≈ 3 K below which universality it typically observed.

Probabilistic Pressurized Thermal Shocks Analysis for a Reactor Pressure Vessel by Considering Plume Effect

The inner surface of a reactor pressure vessel (RPV) is assumed to be subjected to pressurized thermal shocks (PTSs) caused by the downstream of emergency cooling water. The downstream is not homogeneous but typically in a plume shape coming from the inlet nozzles.In this paper, both deterministic and probabilistic methods are used to assess the integrity of a model RPV subjected to PTS. The FAVOR code is used to calculate the probabilities for crack initiation and failure of the RPV considering crack distributions based on cracks observed in the Shoreham and PVRUF RPVs.The study shows that peak KI of the cracks inside the plume increases about 33% compared with that outside. The conditional probability inside the plume is more than eight orders of magnitude higher than outside the plume. In order to be conservative, it is necessary to consider the plume effect in the integrity assessment.Copyright