Question

Discuss the interactions of mechanical engineering with other disciplines at arkansas nuclear

Answer 1

Mechanical Engineering is a broad branch and deals with many other disciplines in one way or other,

1. The nuclear energy is produced by nuclear fission ie. the heavy nucleus of the radioactive elements is broken into small nucleus which releases large amount of thermal energy, this is achieved by bombarding free neutrons on the nucleus.
2. This thermal energy is utilized for generating high pressure steam in Rankine cycle.

3. The high pressure steam drives the steam turbine which is coupled with generator to produce electricity.

4. The core operation of nuclear power plant is basically part of Power plants working on Thermodynamic principles, which is a part of mechanical engineering.

Thermal analysis of Rankine cycle:

Work required by pump per kg of steam generated, Wpump = Enthalpy difference across the pump = (h2-h1) kJ/kg

Heat supplied by nuclear plant to the boiler per kg of steam generated, Qboiler = (h3-h1) kJ/kg.

Work developed by turbine per kg of steam generated, Wturbine = (h3 – h4) kJ/kg

Heat rejected by condenser per kg of steam generated, Qcondenser = (h4 – h1) kJ/kg

Efficiency of Rankine Cycle = Net work output / Heat supplied = (Wturbine – Wpump) / Qboiler = ((h3-h4) – (h2 – h1)) / (h3 – h1)