The headline is a hat tip to The Daily Bayonet, who we miss, still in hiatus. Excerpts from the Los Angeles Times:
June 19, 2012, 12:33 a.m.
Faulty computer modeling caused the equipment problems that are expected to keep the San Onofre nuclear plant dark through the summer, federal regulators said Monday.
Officials from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave their first public account of the initial findings of their investigation into the plant’s problems at a meeting in San Juan Capistrano.
What they did not give was any indication of how long the plant is likely to remain out of service, saying there are still questions plant operator Southern California Edison needs to answer and more inspections the NRC must do.
…
NRC officials said it appears that simulations by Mitsubishi underpredicted the velocity of steam and water flowing among the tubes by a factor of three or four. The high rate of flow caused the tubes to vibrate and knock against each other, leading to the wear.
It was not clear why the computer modeling was so far off. Mitsubishi had no representatives at the meeting and could not be immediately reached for comment. Collins, however, said that ultimate responsibility lies with Edison.
Full story here
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If a linear system like steam in pipes can’t be properly modeled, it makes you wonder how well the chaotic non-linear system of global climate does in computer models like GISS Model E.
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I have one thing to say about this:-
STUXNET!
Mmmmm, just in case you’re serious, not very likely. A steam generator is basically a big tube with a lot of little tubes inside it. You can control the steam flowrate on the outside of the little tubes and the water flow rate inside the little tubes and that’s about it. Not a lot of room for mucking around.
Maybe not. Those ballons are tricksy. Much better to use balloons.
Measurements are a very good idea, much easier to do with today’s sensors and computers. But they still cost money, takes judgement to say “we must test”.
Indeed, some old designers were very good, as “scott” says. They built something like the Avro Arrow interceptor airplane and its Iroquois engine in a short time. However, there were some duds in those days. (Some of those cases likely program management failures, which also delays programs that eventually work out – like the 787 airplane, probably quite good now but at a huge cost penalty from the delays. A common problem is what I call “schedule push”, not getting fundamentals right at the beginning because work is rushed.)
As for slide rule calculators, Walter Shawlee in the Kelowna BC area has a collection from which he might sell or trade. He tells me that one of the large wooden ones has recently been produced in India (but perhaps mis-represented as original vintage). I have my treasured Pickett metal slide rule stored somewhere, with its case, purchased with money earned working in a grocery store during high school.