• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.1663-1668
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• 2012

A spacer grid, which is one of the structural components in a PWR fuel, is an interconnected array of slotted grid straps that are welded at the intersections to form an egg-crate structure. The spacer grid is required to have sufficient lateral crush strength to enable nuclear reactor shut-down during abnormal operating environments. Previous studies on the lateral crush strength analysis of the spacer grid were performed using only the base material properties. In this study, to investigate the effect of the lateral crush strength of the spacer grid when using the mechanical properties in the weld zone instead of the base material properties, lateral crush strength analysis by considering the mechanical properties in the weld zone as obtained from the instrumented indentation technique was performed, and the results were compared with those of previous studies.