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Sodium cooled fast reactors (SFRs) have been developed in France for nearly 50 years with successively Rapsodie, Phenix and Superphenix plants. Nowadays, the so-called Astrid prototype is developed in France in the frame of Generation IV deployment. The Astrid project requires thermal hydraulic inputs to support the design and the safety analysis. This paper deals with some thermal hydraulic concerns in the primary circuit: the subassembly, the core, the hot plenum and the cold plenum. The so-called TRIO_U Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) code developed at CEA has been progressively adapted to these Astrid concerns. The paper presents the recent improvements, the present status and the remaining challenges for TRIO_U code on each topic. For the subassembly, refined modelling and sub-channel modelling have been developed in parallel. The validation process based on existing experimental data is in progress. A global core modelling including the inter-wrapper region and the connection to the hot plenum is depicted. The need of experimental validation is pointed out. The core outlet region requires refined Large Eddy Simulation computations to predict temperature fluctuations which can induce thermal fatigue. Validation based on sodium experimental data is briefly presented. Thermal stratification in the plenum is a key point for thermal stress analysis on the structures. Validation process includes the comparison to reactor data. Special developments using a Front Tracking method are carried out to deal with free surface and gas entrainment. A methodology including local and global modelling is developed and the validation process is in progress. For decay heat removal situations and especially in natural convection cases, the whole primary vessel – except at the moment the intermediate heat exchangers and the pumps – is modelled with TRIO_U code. Phenix ultimate tests performed in 2009 will be used for the qualification of these particular situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The 27th of March 2003, an explosion caused the death of four employees in a Nitrochimie pyrotechnic plant, at Billy Berclau, in the north of France. Following the accident, the ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development appointed INERIS to perform an investigation. According to the terms of reference, the investigation would cover technical (origins of the explosion, extent of damages) as well as organisational issues, as defined by SEVESO II safety management system requirements. This paper has a threefold purpose. It intends first to illustrate with an empirical case the current trend in safety auditing and accident investigation, targeting organisational factors, alongside human factors. There are not so many published cases of accidents analysed with an organisational perspective. Secondly, it shows that it is possible to investigate organisational dimensions (through articulation of safety engineering, safety management and human and social sciences) within reasonable time frames and a reasonable amount of resources. By focusing on key actors and asking appropriate questions related to key dimensions, investigating organisational accidents might not necessarily imply spending much more resources than other steps such as damage assessment, chronological construction or identification of technical scenarios, although there are also some prerequisite conditions needed to achieve this. Finally this paper should be seen as a technical communication beyond the pyrotechnic industry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The earliest scientific descriptions of excessive pedestrian-induced lateral vibrations are dated back to the 1970s, but it was not until the beginning of the new millennium that bridge engineers fully comprehended the potential negative effect of pedestrian crowds on long-span footbridges. Following the unexpected serviceability failures of Paris’ Solférino and London’s Millennium footbridges in 1999 and 2000, a new tract of research was initiated, focused on understanding the phenomenon which has become known as Synchronous Lateral Excitation (SLE). In this paper, a comprehensive review of studies related to pedestrian-induced lateral vibrations of footbridges is provided, primarily focusing on studies published within the last decade. Research in this field can generally be split into three categories; (i) full-scale testing of existing bridges subject to crowd loading, (ii) laboratory studies on human-structure interaction between single pedestrians and laterally moving platforms and (iii) mathematical modelling of the pedestrian-induced load. It is shown herein, that a significant amount of research has been carried out within each of the three categories, but there is only limited interconnection, particularly between the mathematical models on one side and the empirical observations on the other. The main purpose of this review is to provide this link, through a detailed and critical review of publications within each of the three categories. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: In the framework of evaluating the safety of a radioactive waste disposal in deep argillaceous formations and its assessment by the implementer, IRSN and MINES ParisTech built a hydrogeological model of the Paris Basin aquifer system with the aim of identifying radionuclide pathways, estimating transfer times associated with those pathways and locating potential outlets. Such modelling of fluid and mass transport through a sedimentary basin is a recurrent applied geology study. However, recent research shows that in a deep and saline environment, density effects induced by both temperature (to a small extent) and particularly salt concentration can play a major role in the predicted groundwater flow pathways. The present study highlights the relevance of building a hydrogeological model from the measured hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical parameters by combining the calibration of the piezometric levels and the salinity values simultaneously. The application of this strategy to the Paris Basin shows that the Keuper halite formation (Triassic), located in the eastern part of the basin, can be considered as the unique salt source, provided that the density effects are taken into account in the flow and transport modelling. The calibration requires, in particular, to also take into account some of the basin’s major tectonic faults, which allow vertical hydraulic connections between aquifers and thus allow salt water fluxes toward the shallower formations. The results presented in this paper show that when considering “thermohaline” effects, the model effectively reproduces the observed hydraulic heads and salinity values throughout the entire Paris Basin, whilst at the same time outlining the role of faults and of the geometry of geological formations on salt transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper argues that congestion in public transportation is alike the much more studied road congestion. It sets out to produce, on the case of the Paris subway, a congestion cost curve linking the willingness to pay for non-congested travel to actual congestion levels. Congestion costs appear high. What travelers would be ready to pay to avoid congestion in the Paris subway is on average about three times the amount of their out-of-pocket payments. An 8% increase in densities experienced over the 2002–2007 period implies a welfare loss of at least 75M€/year. Taking into account the subway congestion costs and the resulting externalities modifies significantly the optimal car-subway mix (from 8% to 24% according to a tentative computable model). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Predicting the persistence and adaptability of natural populations to climate change is a challenging task. Mechanistic models that integrate biological and evolutionary processes are helpful toward this aim. Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar (L.), is a good candidate to assess the effect of environmental change on a species with a complex life history through an integrative modelling approach due to (i) a large amount of knowledge concerning its biology and (ii) extensive historical data sets that can be used for model validation. This paper presents an individual-based demo-genetic model developed to simulate S. salar population dynamics in southern European populations: IBASAM (Individual-Based Atlantic SAlmon Model). The model structure is described thoroughly. A parameterization exercise was conducted to adjust the model to an extensive set of demographic data collected over 15 years on the Scorff River, Brittany, France. A sensitivity analysis showed that two parameters determining mean and variability of juvenile growth rates were crucial in structuring the simulated populations. Additionally, realistic microevolutionary patterns of different aspects of life history were predicted by the model, reproducing general knowledge on S. salar population biology. The integration into IBASAM of a demo-genetic structure coupled with the explicit representation of individual variability and complex life histories makes it a cohesive and novel tool to assess the effect of potential stressors on evolutionary demography of Atlantic salmon in further studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In December 2008, an intense avalanche cycle occurred in the eastern part of the southern French Alps. Southerly atmospheric fluxes that progressively evolved into an easterly return caused important snowfalls with return periods up to 10years. Cold temperatures and drifting snow had important aggravating effects. The return period for the number of avalanches was above 50years in two massifs and some of the avalanche had very long runouts that exceeded historical limits recorded in the French avalanche atlas. Using this case study, this paper illustrates and discusses how avalanche reports, snow and weather data and results from numerical modelling of the snow cover can be combined to analyse abnormal temporal clusters of snow avalanches. For instance, it is shown how statistical techniques developed in other fields can be used to test the significance of different explanatory factors, extract spatio-temporal patterns, compare them with previous cycles and quantify the magnitude/frequency relationship at different scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Structural health monitoring is a problem which can be addressed at many levels. One of the more promising approaches used in damage assessment problems is based on pattern recognition. The idea is to extract features from the data that characterize only the normal condition and to use them as a template or reference. During structural monitoring, data are measured and the appropriate features are extracted as well as compared (in some sense) to the reference. Any significant deviations from the reference are considered as signal novelty or damage. In this paper, the corpus of symbolic data analysis (SDA) is applied on the one hand for classifying different structural behaviors and on the other hand for comparing any structural behavior to the previous classification when new data become available. For this purpose, raw information (acceleration measurements) and also processed information (modal data) are used for feature extraction. Some SDA techniques are applied for data classification: hierarchy-divisive methods, dynamic clustering and hierarchy-agglomerative schemes. Results regarding experimental tests performed on a railway bridge in France are presented in order to show the efficiency of the described methodology. The results show that the SDA methods are efficient to classify and to discriminate structural modifications either considering the vibration data or the modal parameters. In general, both hierarchy-divisive and dynamic cloud methods produce better results compared to those obtained by using the hierarchy-agglomerative method. More robust results are given by modal data than by measurement data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper compares two methods for modeling karst aquifers, which are heterogeneous, highly non-linear, and hierarchical systems. There is a clear need to model these systems given the crucial role they play in water supply in many countries. In recent years, the main components of soft computing (fuzzy logic (FL), and Artificial Neural Networks, (ANNs)) have come to prevail in the modeling of complex non-linear systems in different scientific and technologic disciplines. In this study, Artificial Neural Networks and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Interface System (ANFIS) methods were used for the prediction of daily discharge of karstic aquifers and their capability was compared. The approach was applied to 7years of daily data of La Rochefoucauld karst system in south-western France. In order to predict the karst daily discharges, single-input (rainfall, piezometric level) vs. multiple-input (rainfall and piezometric level) series were used. In addition to these inputs, all models used measured or simulated discharges from the previous days with a specified delay. The models were designed in a Matlab™ environment. An automatic procedure was used to select the best calibrated models. Daily discharge predictions were then performed using the calibrated models. Comparing predicted and observed hydrographs indicates that both models (ANN and ANFIS) provide close predictions of the karst daily discharges. The summary statistics of both series (observed and predicted daily discharges) are comparable. The performance of both models is improved when the number of inputs is increased from one to two. The root mean square error between the observed and predicted series reaches a minimum for two-input models. However, the ANFIS model demonstrates a better performance than the ANN model to predict peak flow. The ANFIS approach demonstrates a better generalization capability and slightly higher performance than the ANN, especially for peak discharges. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a dynamic model of the helium flow in the cryogenic distribution line (QRL) used in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The study is focused on the return pumping line, which transports gaseous helium at low pressure and temperature over . Our aim is to propose a new real-time model of the QRL while taking into account the non-homogeneous transport phenomena. The flow model is based on 1D Euler equations and considers convection heat transfers, hydrostatic pressure and friction pressure drops. These equations are discretized using a finite difference method based on an upwind scheme. A specific model for the interconnection cells is also proposed. The corresponding simulation results are compared with experimental measurements of a heat wave along the line that results from a quench of a superconducting magnet. Different hypotheses are presented and the influence of specific parameters is discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]