ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
May 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
WIPP: Lessons in transportation safety
As part of a future consent-based approach by the federal government to site new deep geologic repositories for nuclear waste, local communities and states that are considering hosting such facilities are sure to have many questions. Currently, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is the only example of such a repository in operation, and it offers the opportunity for state and local officials to visit and judge for themselves the risks and benefits of hosting a similar facility. But its history can also provide lessons for these officials, particularly the political process leading up to the opening of WIPP, the safety of WIPP operations and transportation of waste from generator facilities to the site, and the economic impacts the project has had on the local area of Carlsbad, as well as the rest of the state of New Mexico.
Sai K. Mylavarapu, Xiaodong Sun, Richard N. Christensen
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 182 | Number 3 | March 2016 | Pages 319-331
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE14-107
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Hydrodynamically developing and fully developed laminar flows in a semicircular duct are numerically and analytically investigated, respectively. As part of the analytical approach, scale analysis is used to develop order-of-magnitude estimates for the friction factor–Reynolds number product for developing and fully developed laminar flows in a semicircular duct. Dimensionless axial velocity distribution is determined and presented in terms of the dimensionless pressure drop constant for hydrodynamically fully developed laminar flow. Fully developed laminar frictional characteristics for flow through a semicircular duct are then deduced from the dimensionless axial velocity distribution, from which the location of maximum axial velocity and the ratio of maximum axial velocity to the mean axial velocity are determined. In addition, hydrodynamically developing laminar flow in a semicircular duct is numerically analyzed. Various developing flow region parameters, such as the apparent Fanning friction factor and incremental pressure drop number, for laminar flows in a semicircular duct are determined from the numerical analysis. Furthermore, the fully developed laminar flow results obtained from the numerical analysis are compared with the analytical solution, and good agreement is observed between them.