Title:
Atomistic Study of the Structure, Thermodynamics, and Morphological Evolution of Uranium-Zirconium Alloys

dc.contributor.advisor Deo, Chaitanya S.
dc.contributor.author Moore, Alexander P.
dc.contributor.committeeMember Stacey, Weston M
dc.contributor.committeeMember McDowell, David L
dc.contributor.committeeMember Wang, Yan
dc.contributor.committeeMember Garmestani, Hamid
dc.contributor.department Mechanical Engineering
dc.date.accessioned 2016-08-22T12:19:24Z
dc.date.available 2016-08-22T12:19:24Z
dc.date.created 2016-08
dc.date.issued 2016-05-10
dc.date.submitted August 2016
dc.date.updated 2016-08-22T12:19:24Z
dc.description.abstract An atomistic study of U-Zr alloys was conducted, a promising nuclear reactor metallic fuel. A semi-empirical modified embedded atom method (MEAM) potential was developed for application to the high temperature body-centered-cubic uranium-zirconium alloy (γ-U-Zr) phase and checked against numerous first principles and experimental properties. The potential was then used to examine some of the high temperature thermodynamics and structure, and was able to obtain new values for the isothermal compressibility, adiabatic index, and the Grüneisen parameters for the U-Zr phase at temperature. In many metallic alloys, complex microstructures form as a consequence of local atomic ordering that depends on the processing path. This research uses an atomistic approach to study microstructural morphology and evolution by investigating how temperature and alloy concentration affect ordering behaviors that lead to observed microstructures. Finally, a sensitivity analysis of the MEAM potential was performed in order to examine and understand the uncertainty in the parameters and formalism of the interatomic potential. The sensitivity analysis was conducted using one-at-a-time (OAT) sampling of the parameters and how they affected the ground state, thermal, and alloy structural and thermodynamic properties.
dc.description.degree Ph.D.
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1853/55479
dc.language.iso en_US
dc.publisher Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject Atomistics
dc.subject Uranium
dc.subject Zirconium
dc.subject Uranium-Zirconium
dc.subject Molecular Dynamics
dc.subject Monte Carlo
dc.subject Metallic Fuel
dc.subject Order/Disorder
dc.title Atomistic Study of the Structure, Thermodynamics, and Morphological Evolution of Uranium-Zirconium Alloys
dc.type Text
dc.type.genre Dissertation
dspace.entity.type Publication
local.contributor.advisor Deo, Chaitanya S.
local.contributor.corporatename George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename College of Engineering
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication e70a4cb9-5a0d-4c70-8cab-031b27668247
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication c01ff908-c25f-439b-bf10-a074ed886bb7
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 7c022d60-21d5-497c-b552-95e489a06569
thesis.degree.level Doctoral
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