Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences: Research Areas

Abstract:
A representation of the temperature and thermal stress distribution in the Ghana Research Reactor 1 (GHARR-1) Vessel is investigated. The specialized software package ANSYS is used to provide an engineering perspective on how a real event can be examined by evaluating data from the study. For the analysis, a finite element model of the GHARR-1 vessel is created using ANSYS 13.0 FEA program. A 3-D FEA shell analysis is performed using the sequential coupled thermal stress analysis approach; static structural analysis is implemented in determining the thermal stresses at different time steps. The present work quantified the temperatures and the subsequent thermal stresses in the vessel arising during operation. In general the complex nature of thermal-structural systems and more so due to the composite nature of structural components encountered in engineering in practice makes it difficult to analyze such systems. The emergence of advanced computational power and improvements in computer-aided designs provides understanding to enhanced levels in conjunction with graphic enhanced visualization for these complex systems.

Keywords: ANSYS, Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Ghana Research Reactor 1 (GHARR-1, Static Structural Analysis, Thermal Analysis

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