• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.362-367
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• 2008

Tubes in nuclear steam generators are held up by supports because the tubes are long and slender. Fluid flows of high-pressure and high-temperature in the tubes cause oscillating motions between tubes and supports. This is called as FIV (flow induced vibration), which causes fretting wear in contact parts of tube-support. The fretting wear of tube-support can threaten the safety of nuclear power plant. The tube and support materials were Inconel 690 and STS 409. The wear tests were conducted in various environments, which are in water without flow, in flowing water and in flowing water with air. The results showed that the flow of water influenced on the wear-life of tube. The wear-life of tube decreased in water flow as compared with wear-life in stationary water.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.7 s.262
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• pp.784-791
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• 2007

Fretting, which is a special type of wear, is defined as small amplitude tangential oscillation along the contacting interface between two materials. In nuclear power plants, fretting wear caused by flow induced vibration (FIV) can make a serious problem in a U-tube bundle in steam generator. In this study, substructure method is developed and is verified the feasibility for the finite element model of fretting wear problems. This method is applied to the two-dimensional finite element analyses, which simulate the contact behavior of actual tube to support. For these examples, computing time can be reduced up to 1/5 in comparisons with conventional finite element analyses.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.1859-1863
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• 2007

A new type of a fretting wear tester has been designed and developed in order to simulate the actual vibration behavior of a nuclear fuel rod for springs/dimples in room temperature. When considering the actual contact condition between fuel rod and spring/dimple, if fretting wear progress due to the flow-induced vibration (FIV) under a specific normal load exerted on the fuel rod by the elastic deformation of the spring, the contacting force between the fuel rod and dimple that were located in the opposite side should be decreased. Consequently, the evaluation of developed spacer grids against fretting wear damage should be performed with the results of a cell unit experiments because the contacting force is one of the most important variables that influence to the fretting wear mechanism. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new type of fretting test rig in order to simulate the actual contact condition. In this paper, the development procedure of a new fretting wear tester and its performance were discussed in detail.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.127-142
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• 2016

Aerodynamic effects, such as drag force and flow-induced vibration (FIV), on civil engineering structures can be minimized by optimally modifying the structure shape. This work investigates the turbulent wake of a square prism with its faces modified into a sinusoidal wave along the spanwise direction using three-dimensional large eddy simulation (LES) and particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques at Reynolds number $Re_{Dm}$ = 16,500-22,000, based on the nominal width ($D_m$) of the prism and free-stream velocity ($U_{\infty}$). Two arrangements are considered: (i) the top and bottom faces of the prism are shaped into the sinusoidal waves (termed as WSP-A), and (ii) the front and rear faces are modified into the sinusoidal waves (WSP-B). The sinusoidal waves have a wavelength of $6D_m$ and an amplitude of $0.15D_m$. It has been found that the wavy faces lead to more three-dimensional free shear layers in the near wake than the flat faces (smooth square prism). As a result, the roll-up of shear layers is postponed. Furthermore, the near-wake vortical structures exhibit dominant periodic variations along the spanwise direction; the minimum (i.e., saddle) and maximum (i.e., node) cross-sections of the modified prisms have narrow and wide wakes, respectively. The wake recirculation bubble of the modified prism is wider and longer, compared with its smooth counterpart, thus resulting in a significant drag reduction and fluctuating lift suppression (up to 8.7% and 78.2%, respectively, for the case of WSP-A). Multiple dominant frequencies of vortex shedding, which are distinct from that of the smooth prism, are detected in the near wake of the wavy prisms. The present study may shed light on the understanding of the underlying physical mechanisms of FIV control, in terms of passive modification of the bluff-body shape.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.130-133
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• 2007

Fuel cladding tubes in nuclear fuel assembly are held up by supporting grids because the tubes are long and slender. Fluid flows of high-pressure and high-temperature in the tubes cause oscillating motions between tubes and supports. This is called as FIV (flow induced vibration), which causes fretting wear in contact parts of tube and support. The fretting wear of tube and support can threaten the safety of nuclear power plant. Therefore, a research about the fretting wear characteristics of tube-support is required. The fretting wear tests were performed with supporting grids and cladding tubes, especially after corrosion treatment on tubes, in water. The tests were done using various applied loads with fixed amplitude. From the results of fretting tests, the wear amounts of tube materials can be predictable by obtaining the wear coefficient using the work rate model. Due to stick phenomena the wear depth was changed as increasing load and temperature. The maximum wear depth was decreased as increasing the water temperatures. At high temperatures there are the regions of some severe adhesion due to stick phenomena.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.129-132
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• 2008

Fuel cladding tubes in nuclear fuel assembly are held up by supporting grids because the tubes are long and slender. Fluid flows of high-pressure and high-temperature in the tubes cause oscillating motions between tubes and supports. This is called as FIV (flow induced vibration), which causes fretting wear in contact parts of tube and support. The fretting wear of tube and support can threaten the safety of nuclear power plant. Therefore, a research about the fretting wear characteristics of tube-support is required. The fretting wear tests were performed with supporting grids and cladding tubes, especially after corrosion treatment on tubes, in water. The tests were done using various applied loads with fixed amplitude. From the results of fretting tests, the wear amounts of tube materials can be predictable by obtaining the wear coefficient using the work rate model. Due to stick phenomena the wear depth was changed as increasing load and temperature. The maximum wear depth was decreased as increasing the water temperatures. At high temperatures there are the regions of some severe adhesion due to stick phenomena.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.201-206
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• 2011

A spacer grid assembly is one of the most important structural components of the nuclear fuel assembly of a pressurized water reactor (PWR), and it affects the performance of the fuel assembly. The primary design requirement is that the mechanical integrity of the fuel rod should be maintained by the spacer grid assembly during the operation of the reactor. It was known that fretting damage to the fuel rod can be reduced by adjusting the relative moving displacement between the fuel rod and its support. In this study, we used the finite element method to evaluate the characteristics of a sliding support designed to reduce fretting damage of fuel rods.