Analysis of the uranium enrichment by gas centrifuge

The flow and separation analysis of a gas centrifuge and the cascade analysis have been studied to develop a centrifuge. The methods of analysis and the typical example of numerical results are presented. The analythical technique have played an important roll to improve the separative performance of a recent centrifuge. In the centrifuge analysis, a flow field in a centrifuge rotor is numerically determined by solving the Navier-Stokes equations for compressible gas in strong rotation. The diffusion equation is also solved to determine the concentration distribution of the lighter isotope corresponding to the obtained flow field. Three dimensional flow calculations around a scoop located in a supersonic flow are carried out by using two different numerical methods. One is Beam-Warming method and another is Control-Volume method. The behavior of a shock wave around a scoop is presented. For the cascade, the steady state analysis, the time dependent analysis are performed and the results are presented. (author)