E 3 Research Team led by Dr. Karen Vierow Research Associate: Dr. Isaac Choutapalli bobdiskinwww.diskingalleries.com/ bobdiskin/slides/wate... by Marilyn Phillips Palacios High School Mathematics Instructor

Karen Vierow Associate Professor, Nuclear Engineering Education Ph.D., Quantum Engineering and System Sciences, University of Tokyo M.S., Nuclear Engineering, University of California at Berkeley B.S., Nuclear Engineering, Purdue University Project Leader

Dr. Vierow’s Grad Students — Niki Williams— Countercurrent Flow Limitation Experiment with Steam & Water — Adam Bingham — Analysis of Advanced Fuel Assemblies And Core Designs for the Current and the Next Generations of LWR’s (Light Water Reactors)

— Kevin Hogan — An Overview of Projects Using a Simulation Model —Zach Bailey — Nuclear Safety Curriculum Development Texas A & M — Ni Zhen — Analysis of VHTR (Very High Temperature Reactor) Using MELCOR

Other Team Members: Scott Griffin from Bay City High School Willie Smith from TideHaven High School Working in Conjunction with the South Texas Project Nuclear Facility

Picture of the South Texas Project Nuclear Facility

Water flow is essential in the nuclear plant. The water is used to cool the fission reaction of the Uranium-235 and it is converted to steam which then turns the turbines and produces electrical power which we use in our homes.

This is the project that I participated in this summer at Texas A & M University: Niki Williams’ experiment uses water flow and counter current air flow. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The purpose of this experiment is to come up with possible scenarios that will cause flooding to occur and thus jeopardize the safety of the nuclear facility.

By doing these type of tests, they can see how the cooling system is affected and provide the nuclear facilities with this information, so that they can put protocols in place to keep the plants operating at a safe level.

Water flow can also be used to determine how many pumps and valves you would need and what size of piping would be needed for an irrigation system. Other Applications of Water Flow

Have you visited a water park lately? Have you noticed the way that the water flows down the water slides. How does the steepness of the water slide affect the water flow?

Water & Soil Conservation is another important application of water flow. If we can measure the water flow in certain areas, we can keep our natural resources from eroding away.

When researching water flow, I found this article about the earthquake in China. They were racing against time to try to get the water to drain. Picture taken at 9 a.m. on June 10, 2008 from a military helicopter shows the drainage of the Tangjiashan quake lake in southewest China's Sichuan Province. Drainage of the quake lake through a manmade spillway speeded up to 1,760 cubic meters per second at 9:30 am on Tuesday, whereas water flow in the lower reaches of the lake, in Beichuan County, reached 2,240 cubic meters per second.

During this lesson, the students will learn the following objectives: (1)How changing dimensions affects the cross-sectional area and the volume of the water in the pipe. (2) How to calculate the water flow coming out a pipe by using the Δ Amount of Water / Δ Time (3)The students will also make a table, graph the data points and draw a conclusion from the graph. (4) The students will calculate the velocity of the water for each size of pipe.

Science teachers may also want to do a water conservation lesson along with this lesson on water flow. I will probably spend about one week of classroom time covering this material. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day One: Pre-Test on Basic knowledge Day Two: Do the Experiment Day Three: Make Graphs & Discuss the Data Day Four: Have a class discussion about how water flow relates to the safety of a nuclear plant, irrigation & everyday water use. Day Five: Post Test to determine what the students have learned.

Water Flow Velocity Cross-sectional Area Volume 1 Gallon = _128__oz. 1 Gallon = _231__in 3 Vocabulary Independent Variable Dependent Variable “Best-fit” line Rate of Change Counter current Slope

Equipment Needed About a 10 gal water tank 8 ft piece of each of the following: ⅜ inch PVC ½ inch PVC ¾ inch PVC 3 valves PVC glue 3/8 inch 1/2 inch3/4 inch Valve

Lab Procedure (Day 1): Three Students to a Group Have students start with the ½ inch pipe. The first student will turn the water on and start the timer at the same time. The second student could turn on the water and measure the water. The water will be collected and measured at a collection container at the other end of the pipe. The third student will write down the data into the collection table that could be used in this experiment.

The students will do three trials on each pipe and fill in the following data table. Water pipe size Δ Water Volume Δ Time Water Flow Rate__ ____3/8 inch_________________________________________________________ 3/8 inch_________________________________________________________ 3/8 inch__________________________________________________________ ½ inch__________________________________________________________ ½ inch___________________________________________________________ ¾ inch___________________________________________________________

Day 2 of Experiment After the students have collected all the data points, they will then calculate the flow rate for each trial by Using the following formula: Water flow = Δ volume/ Δ time (This is column 4 on the data table)

The students will then plot the data on a graph, where the independent variable is time (x-axis), and the dependent variable is the volume of the water (y-axis). The flow rate is the slope of the line.

Example of graph: Water Volume in ounces Time in seconds Graph of Time vs. ounces

Now have the students graph the water flow for each size of pipe: ⅜ inch 1.8 gal/min ½ inch 3.7 gal/min ¾ inch 7.5 gal/min

1/8 ¼ 3/8 ½ ¾ 1 Pipe Size Flow Rate in Gal/min Graph of Pipe size vs. flow rate

What conclusion can you make about the water flow and how it relates to the size of pipe? They should see that the graph is an exponential function. y = a2 kx

After the students graph the average water flow, the next thing that they will do is to calculate the velocity for each pipe. The velocity of the water is how fast the water is moving. This is found by using the following formula: Velocity = Water Flow / cross-sectional area

Predictions What conclusions can be made about the size of pipe and the water flow? What conclusions can be made about the size of pipe and the velocity at which the water is moving?

At this point I will give them some discussion questions and have them answer these questions on paper. How would you describe the water flow in the 3/4 inch pipe? How did it compare to the ½ inch pipe? How did it compare to the ⅜ inch pipe?

Algebraic Problem Solving If one pipe can empty a 40 gal water tank in 5 minutes and a second pipe can empty a 40 gal water tank in 8 minutes, how long will it take for both pipes to empty the water tank?

Analysis At this point, I would like them to be able to conclude that the water flow in the ½ inch pipe is twice the water flow in the ⅜ inch pipe and the water flow in the ¾ inch pipe is four times the water flow in the ⅜ inch pipe.

I would like to express my To Everyone in the E 3 Program, Especially those that took us on our field trips to the power plant and the nuclear plant: Dr. Cheryl Page, Dr. Robin Autenrieth, Dr. Karen Butler-Purry, and Jacque Hodge.

I would also like to Thank Professor Conkey and Professor Srinivasa for working with us in the Educational Discussion Time, along with all of the other people that are involved in the E3 Program.

In Conclusion, I would like to give a special to all of the people that made this presentation possible. TAMU E 3 Program Our Team Leader: Dr. Karen Vierow Research Associate: Dr. Isaac Choutapalli Grad Student: Niki Williams All of the other grad students that presented their work for us to view. The South Texas Project The National Science Foundation