• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.843-850
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• 2010

A spacer grid assembly is one of the most important structural components of the nuclear fuel assembly of a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). A primary design requirement is that the fuel rod integrity be maintained by the spacer grid assembly during the operation of the reactor. In this study, we suggested a new spacer grid assembly having a fuel rod support, which is capable of sliding when the fuel rod vibrates due to flow-induced vibrations in the reactor. By adjusting the relative displacement between the fuel rod and its support, the proposed design will help in reducing fuel rod fretting damage.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.157-169
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• 2016

The structural integrity of tube bundles represents a major concern when dealing with high risk industries, such as nuclear steam generators, where the rupture of a tube or tubes will lead to the undesired mixing of the primary and secondary fluids. Flow-induced vibration is one of the major concerns that could compromise the structural integrity. The vibration is caused by fluid flow excitation. While there are several excitation mechanisms that could contribute to these vibrations, fluidelastic instability is generally regarded as the most severe. When this mechanism prevails, it could cause serious damage to tube arrays in a very short period of time. The tubes are therefore stiffened by means of supports to avoid these vibrations. To accommodate the thermal expansion of the tube, as well as to facilitate the installation of these tube bundles, clearances are allowed between the tubes and their supports. Progressive tube wear and chemical cleaning gradually increases the clearances between the tubes and their supports, which can lead to more frequent and severe tube/support impact and rubbing. These increased impacts can lead to tube damage due to fatigue and/or wear at the support locations. This paper presents simulations of a loosely supported multi-span U-bend tube subjected to turbulence and fluidelastic instability forces. The mathematical model for the loosely-supported tubes and the fluidelastic instability model is presented. The model is then utilized to simulate the nonlinear response of a U-bend tube with flat bar supports subjected to cross-flow. The effect of the support clearance as well as the support offset are investigated. Special attention is given to the tube/support interaction parameters that affect wear, such as impact and normal work rate.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.355-360
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• 2001

Design requirements for the nuclear fuel assembly grid of the pressurized light water reactor(PLWR) are scrutinized from the mechanical/structural point of view. As a result of the scrunity, mechanical/structural test facilities on the spacer grid of the PLWR Fuel are set up in KAERI to find out their mechanical/structural performance.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.431-437
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• 2003

KAERI has contrived 14 kinds of spacer grid shapes of its own since 1997 and applied for Korean and US patents. To date. KAERI has obtained US and Korean patents for 6 kinds of spacer grid shapes among them. Tn this study. performance test on two spacer grid shapes that are assumed to be the most effective candidates for the spacer grid of the next generation nuclear fuel in Korea was carried Qui through the mechanical/structural test and analysis. The test result has shown thai the performances of the candidates are better or not worse than that of the current spacer grid.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1006-1013
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• 2004

Operating experience of steam generators shows that the tubes are degraded by stress corrosion cracking, fretting wear and so on. These defected tubes could stay in service if it is proved that the tubes have sufficient structural margin to preclude the risk of tube bursting. This paper provides detailed plastic limit pressure solutions for through-wall cracks in the steam generator tubes. These are developed based on three dimensional(3D) finite element analyses assuming elastic-perfectly plastic material behavior. Both axial and circumferential through-wall cracks in free span and in u-bend regions are considered. The resulting limit pressure solutions are given in a polynomial form, and thus can be simply used in practical integrity assessment of the steam generator tubes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.273-279
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• 1995

본 연구에서는 증기발생기 튜브의 마모마손에 대한 평가 방법을 열수력해석, 자유진동해석, 비선형해석, 마모량예측 등의 과정을 통해 증기발생기튜브의 마모량과 수명을 예측하는 방법에 대해 알아보았다. 본 연구를 통해 얻어진 결론은 다음과 같다. 1) 증기발생기 비선형충격해석에서 사용되는 정확한 난류 여기진동가진 가진력의 확보가 정확한 마모치를 예측할 수 있고, 2) 마모치예상을 위한 수식의 사용시 튜브의 미끌림거리 over bar L값이 매우 주요한 변수임을 알 수 있었다. 3) 충격력과 마모치의 연관관계에 대한 정확한 정의가 본 연구에 사용된 Archard의 마모방정식 이외에 여러 가지가 있으나, 아직 이들에 대한 정보부족으로 더 많은 검토가 필요하다.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.54-60
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• 2011

A spacer grid, which supports nuclear fuel rods laterally and vertically with a friction grip, is one of the most important structural components in a PWR fuel. The form of grid strap and supporting parts such as grid spring and dimple is known to be closely related with the mechanical/structural performance of spacer grid and nuclear fuel assembly. In this study, reviewing various research results for enhancing the performance of the spacer grid, some structural design considerations and research directions on the spacer grid assembly are suggested for further study.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1997.05b
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• pp.46-51
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• 1997

최근 경수로 핵연료 손상 원인 중의 하나인 연료봉 마모(Fretting Wear)가 지지격자의 스프링력 저하뿐만 아니라 원자로 냉각재 유동에 기인한 집합체 진동(Self-excited Fuel Assembly Vibration)에 의해 유발될 수 있는 것으로 밝혀져 해외 연료공급자들은 새로운 연료개발시 집합체 유동시험을 수행하여 냉각재 유동에 의한 집합체 진동 여부를 확인하고 있다. 본 연구에서는 경수로 핵연료집합체에 대한 모드해석 및 진동시험으로부터 고유진동수 및 진동모드형태를 구하여 모의 집합체 유동시험 결과와 비교 평가하였고 냉각재 유동에 의해 과도한 집합체 진동이 발생됨을 확인하였으며 가연성흡수봉집합체를 삽입한 경우에 대한 유동시험 결과와도 비교하였다. 또한, 이들 집합체의 진동 변위량과 손상 연료의 마모량 분포의 상관성을 비교 평가하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.312-317
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• 2005

Fluid-elastic instability and turbulence excitation for an under developing steam generator are investigated numerically. The stability ratio and the amplitude of turbulence excitation are obtained by using the PIAT (Program for Integrity Assessment of Steam Generator Tube) code from the information on the thermal-hydraulic data of the steam generator. The aspect ratio, the ratio between the height of U-tube from the upper most tube support plate (h) and the width of two vertical portion of U-tube (w), is defined for geometric parameter study. Several aspect ratios with relocation of tube support plates are adopted to study the effects on the mode shapes and characteristics of flow-induced vibration. When the aspect ratio exceeds value of 1, most of the mode shapes at low frequency are generated at the top of U-tube. It makes very high value of the stability ratio and the amplitude of turbulent excitation as well. We can consider that the local mode shape at the upper side of U-tube will develop the wear phenomena between the tube and the anti-vibration bars such as vertical, horizontal, and diagonal strips. It turns out that the aspect ratio reveals very important parameter for the design stage of the steam generator. The appropriate value of the aspect ratio should be specified and applied.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.74-81
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• 2004

The KSNP Steam Generators (Youngkwang Unit 3 and 4, Ulchin Unit 3 and 4) have a problem of U-tube fretting wear due to Flow Induced Vibration (FIV). In particular, the wear is localized and concentrated in a small area of upper part of U-bend in the Central Cavity region. The region has some conditions susceptible to the FIV, which are high flow velocity, high void fraction, and long unsupported span. Even though the FIV could be occurred by many mechanisms, the main mechanism would be fluid-elastic instability, or turbulent excitation. To remedy the problem, Eggcrate Flow Distribution Plate (EFDP) was installed in the Central Cavity region or Ulchin Unit 5 and 6 steam generators, so that it reduces the flow velocity in the region to a certain level. However, the cause of the FIV and the effectiveness of the EFDP was not thoroughly studied and checked. In this study, therefore the Stability Ratio (SR), which is the ratio of the actual velocity to the critical velocity, was compared between the value before the installation of EFDP and that after. Also the possibility of fluid-elastic instability of KSNP steam generator and the effectiveness of EFDP were checked based on the ATHOS3 code calculation and the Pettigrew's experimental results. The calculated results were plotted in a fluid-elastic instability criteria-diagram (Pettigrew, 1998, Fig. 9). The plotted result showed that KSNP steam generator with EFDP had the margin of Fluid-Elastic Instability by almost 25％.