Abstract
The bottom structure of an instrumented capsule is a part which is joined at the receptacle of the flow tube in the reactor in-core. A geometrical change of the bottom structure has an effect on the pressure drop and the vibration of the capsule. The out-pile test to evaluate the structural integrity of the material capsule called 04M-17U was performed by using a single channel and a half core test loop. From the pressure drop test, the optimized diameter of the cone shape's bottom structure which satisfies HANARO's flow requirement (19.6 kg/s) is 71 mm. The maximum displacement of the capsule measured at the half core test loop is lower than 1.0 mm. From the analysis results, it is found that the test hole will not be interfered with near the flow tubes because its displacement due to the cooling water is very small at 0.072 mm. The fundamental frequency of the capsule under water is 9.64 Hz. It is expected that the resonance between the capsule and the fluid flow due to the cooling water in HANARO's in-core will not occur. Also, the new bottom structure of a solid cone shape with 71 mm in diameter will be applicable to the material and special capsules in the future.
