White Paper
ESDU Design Methods for
Nuclear Engineers
ESDU Design Methods
for Nuclear Engineers
INTRODUCTION CRITICAL VALUE OF DESIGN
The nuclear renaissance is spawning renewed Nuclear engineers need to carefully consider the
interest in finding the most efficient, reliable and data and methods they employ. Whether they
effective ways to build, operate, and eventually are based on manuals, technical publications or
decommission environmentally safe nuclear faci- testing, are experimental, developed in-house or
lities. Because of this, there is increasing pressure engineering software commercially available, the
on nuclear engineers to address issues related data and methods used can make a considerable
to thermo-hydraulics, structural and mechanical impact on the success of a project.
design, ventilation systems, noise suppression and
environmental impact within the targets set by the According to ESDU engineers, not all enginee-
latest international standards and codes. ring data and design methods are created equal.
“Some of these methods are high-cost and
The types of projects nuclear engineers typically time-consuming. Others are of questionable vali-
focus on, such as product design and certification, dity,” they pointed out.
research and development, product evaluation,
equipment selection, product optimization, and What engineers need are methods that let them
validation and benchmarking of computational reduce testing and modeling time to obtain op-
methods, are all under the microscope. Yet at the timal engineering solutions quickly, accurately
same time, the push to bring new nuclear facilities and confidently. Tapping into industry best prac-
online means engineers need to continually look tices, using benchmarks for model validation to
for ways to increase design process efficiencies to streamline computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
reduce time to market. and finite element analysis (FEA) modeling time,
and reducing the time needed for certification
A typical engineering design process—whether allows engineers to rapidly and accurately solve
for a nuclear facility or other type of project—goes complicated engineering problems.
through three stages: conceptualization, prelimi-
nary and detailed design, and testing and produc-
MEETING CRITICAL NEEDS OF THE DESIGN
tion. The earlier part of the process is critical, as the
PHASE
decisions made at this point can have a significant
impact on the overall length and cost of the pro- Designed for engineers by engineers, ESDU data
ject. and design methods can help all types of en-
gineers, including those in the nuclear industry,
“Problems found in the later stages of a project fulfill these needs. ESDU offers a collection of indus-
can be very expensive, so it’s vital that the design is try-standard engineering data and design me-
done correctly the first time,” said an ESDU engineer, thods and software for a wide range of enginee-
head of Fluid Mechanics - Internal Flow. ring disciplines.
Each ESDU design method has been validated by Each segment contains validated design methods
independent technical committees made up of and software. Customers use the ESDU nuclear
subject matter experts drawn from the Aerospace package for a wide range of engineering projects,
and Defense and Process Engineering industries, such as evaluating a nuclear plant’s response to
various research organizations, and academia. wind load, selecting the appropriate plant equip-
ment for handling gases and fluids, designing and
What engineers need are methods that let them assessing ventilation systems and duct fittings and
reduce testing and modeling time to obtain op- equipment, analyzing transient effects in pipelines,
timal engineering solutions quickly, accurately and receiving guidance on CFD modeling.
and confidently. Tapping into industry best prac-
tices, using benchmarks for model validation to
streamline computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
and finite element analysis (FEA) modeling time,
and reducing the time needed for certification
allows engineers to rapidly and accurately solve
complicated engineering problems.
Among the many ESDU data and design method
offerings is its nuclear package. The ESDU Nuclear
Package provides support for a number of nuclear
engineering considerations, including fluid mecha- ESDU Engineers continue to work on new design
nics and internal flow, heat transfer, stress and methods and software for nuclear engineers. For
strength, metallic material properties, wind load, example, one method under development offers
physical data, mechanisms, tribology, noise sup- guidance on calculating the background infor-
pression, and vibration and acoustic fatigue. mation for the physical properties governing fluid
mechanics, thermodynamics and mechanical en-
“ESDU methods have been used to design many gineering involved in accidental or intentional fluid
critical components in nuclear facilities for a num- release situations.
ber of years now,” said ESDU engineers. They went
on to explain the various functions ESDU methods “We have used ESDU data and design methods for
support: nuclear site management and operations, the past 25 years,” said an ESDU customer in the
nuclear design services, nuclear decommissioning nuclear industry. “We have found benefits from
and waste management, and radiological services using this information to support design and safety
and nuclear security. functions in the company. This is because the
methods are continuously reviewed and updated
The ESDU nuclear package has been organized and this gives us confidence that we are using the
into four segments: nuclear plant thermo-hydraulic most up-to-date methods and that we are using
design, nuclear plant mechanical design, nuclear validated data. This is particularly important when
building/environmental impact and nuclear venti- we make license submissions to regulatory bodies.”
lation systems.
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