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General Kenneth Nichols and the Manhattan Project
Nichols
The Oak Ridger has published the latest in a series of articles about General Kenneth D. Nichols, the Manhattan Project, and the 1954 Atomic Energy Act. The series has been produced by Nichols’ grandniece Barbara Rogers Scollin and Oak Ridge (Tenn.) city historian David Ray Smith. Gen. Nichols (1907–2000) was the district engineer for the Manhattan Engineer District during the Manhattan Project.
As Smith and Scollin explain, Nichols “had supervision of the research and development connected with, and the design, construction, and operation of, all plants required to produce plutonium-239 and uranium-235, including the construction of the towns of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Richland, Washington. The responsibility of his position was massive as he oversaw a workforce of both military and civilian personnel of approximately 125,000; his Oak Ridge office became the center of the wartime atomic energy’s activities.”
Robert C. Bowden, Casey Tompkins, Sun-Kyu Yang (CNL)
Proceedings | Advances in Thermal Hydraulics 2018 | Orlando, FL, November 11-15, 2018 | Pages 751-764
In this experimental investigation, mean liquid velocity fields were investigated for turbulent flow within a horizontal 7-rod bundle geometry using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). PIV measurements were conducted at two axial locations, near the bundle inlet and also near the mid-plane, and at four Reynolds numbers ranging from approximately 8400 to 21000 based on a hydraulic diameter of 7.636 mm. The axial velocity fields in three different gap regions of the 7-rod bundle were reported, including rod-rod gaps and rod-channel gaps. Statistical techniques were used to describe the velocity fields, including mean and turbulent velocity components. The instantaneous and ensemble-averaged velocities in the gap regions are shown to be aligned in the axial (horizontal) flow direction, with a negligible mean vertical components. It was found that the maximum velocity profile was between 20 to 25% higher than the average velocity, while measured axial turbulent velocity typically ranged between 10 to 20% of the corresponding mean velocity. Profiles of local mean and turbulent velocity components in the gap regions were found to be self-similar when normalized using the maximum velocity, and local velocity, respectively.