Final published version, 6.33 MB, PDF document
Final published version
Licence: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Compact viscometer prototype for remote in-situ analysis of sludge
AU - Fried, Tomas
AU - Cheneler, David
AU - Monk, Stephen D.
AU - Taylor, C. James
AU - Dodds, Jonathan
PY - 2019/7/26
Y1 - 2019/7/26
N2 - On the Sellafield site there are a number of legacy storage tanks and silos containing sludge of uncertain properties. While there are efforts to determine the chemical and radiological properties of the sludge, in order to clean out and decommission these vessels the physical properties need to be ascertained as well. Shear behaviour, density and temperature are the key parameters to be understood before decommissioning activities commence. However, limited access, the congested nature of the tanks and presence of radioactive, hazardous substances severely limit sampling and usage of sophisticated characterisation devices within these tanks and therefore these properties remain uncertain. This paper describes the development of a cheap, compact and robust device to analyse the rheological properties of sludge, without the need to extract materials from the site in order to be analysed. Analysis of a sludge test material has been performed in order to create a suitable benchmark material for the rheological measurements with the prototype. Development of the device is being made with commercial off the shelf (COTS) components and modern rapid prototyping techniques. Using these techniques an initial prototype for measuring shear parameters of sludge has been developed, using a micro-controller for remote control and data gathering. The device is also compact enough to fit through a 75 mm opening, maximising deployment capabilities.
AB - On the Sellafield site there are a number of legacy storage tanks and silos containing sludge of uncertain properties. While there are efforts to determine the chemical and radiological properties of the sludge, in order to clean out and decommission these vessels the physical properties need to be ascertained as well. Shear behaviour, density and temperature are the key parameters to be understood before decommissioning activities commence. However, limited access, the congested nature of the tanks and presence of radioactive, hazardous substances severely limit sampling and usage of sophisticated characterisation devices within these tanks and therefore these properties remain uncertain. This paper describes the development of a cheap, compact and robust device to analyse the rheological properties of sludge, without the need to extract materials from the site in order to be analysed. Analysis of a sludge test material has been performed in order to create a suitable benchmark material for the rheological measurements with the prototype. Development of the device is being made with commercial off the shelf (COTS) components and modern rapid prototyping techniques. Using these techniques an initial prototype for measuring shear parameters of sludge has been developed, using a micro-controller for remote control and data gathering. The device is also compact enough to fit through a 75 mm opening, maximising deployment capabilities.
KW - rheology
KW - nuclear decommissioning
KW - rapid prototyping
U2 - 10.3390/s19153299
DO - 10.3390/s19153299
M3 - Journal article
VL - 19
JO - Sensors
JF - Sensors
SN - 1424-8220
IS - 15
M1 - 3299
ER -