• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 2007.04a
• /
• pp.145-150
• /
• 2007

The spacer grid set is a component in the nuclear fuel assembly. The set supports the fuel rods saftely. Therefore, the spacer gl1d set should have sufficient strength for the external impact forces. The fretting wear occurs between the spring of the fuel rod and the spacer grid due to tile flow-induced vibration. The conceptual design of the spacer grid set is performed based on the Independence Axiom of axiomatic design. Two functional requirements are defined and corresponding design parameters are selected. The overall flow of the design is defined according to the application of axiomatic design. The design for the impact load is carried out by using nonlinear dynamic analysis to determine the length of the dimple. Topology optimization is carried out to determine a new configuration of the spring. The fretting wear is reduced by shape optimization using the homology theory. In the design to reduce the fretting wear, the deformed shape of the spring should be the same as that of the fuel rod. This condition is transformed to a function and considered as a constraint in the shape optimization process. The fretting wear is expected to be reduced due to the homology constraint. The objective function is minimizing the maximum stress to allow a slight plastic deformation. Shape optimization results are confirmed through nonlinear static analysis because the contact area becomes wider.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.31 no.10
• /
• pp.999-1008
• /
• 2007

The spacer grid set is a component in the nuclear fuel assembly. The set supports the fuel rods safely. Therefore, the spacer grid set should have sufficient strength for the external impact forces such as earthquake. The fretting wear occurs between the spring of the fuel rod and the spacer grid due to flow-induced vibration. Conceptual design of the spacer grid set is performed based on the Independence Axiom of axiomatic design. Two functional requirements are defined for the impact load and the fretting wear, and corresponding design parameters are selected. The overall flow of design is defined according to the application of axiomatic design. Design for the impact load is carried out by using nonlinear dynamic analysis to determine the length of the dimple. Topology optimization is carried out to determine a new configuration of the spring. The fretting wear is reduced by shape optimization using the homology theory. The deformation of a structure is called homologous if a given geometrical relationship holds before, during, and after the deformation. In the design to reduce the fretting wear, the deformed shape of the spring should be the same as that of the fuel rod. This condition is transformed to a function and considered as a constraint in the shape optimization process. The fretting wear is expected to be reduced due to the homology constraint. The objective function is minimizing the maximum stress to allow a slight plastic deformation. Shape optimization results are confirmed through nonlinear static analysis.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.872-881
• /
• 1996

The concept of homology design has been devised for the application to large telescope structure by S.v.Hoerner. It is defined that the deformation of a structure shall be called homologous, if a given geometrical relation holds, for a given number of structural points, before, during, and after the deformation. Recently, the need of homology design in the structural design has been increase due to the required precision in the structure. Some researchers have utilized the theory on the structural design with finite element method in the late 1980s In the present investigation, a simple method using geometrical equality constraints is suggested to gain homologous deformation. The previous method is improved in that the decomposition of FEM eqation, which is very expensive, is not necessary. The basic formulations of the homology design with the optimization concept are described and several practical examples are solved to verify the usefulness and validity. Especially, a back-up structure of a satellite antenna is designed by the suggested method. The results are compared with those of existing researches.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 2006.04a
• /
• pp.828-835
• /
• 2006

Spacer grid springs support the fuel rods in a nuclear fuel system. The spacer grid is a part of a fuel assembly. Since a spring has repeated contacts with the fuel rod, fretting wear occurs on the surface of the spring. Design is usually performed to reduce the wear. The conceptual design process for the spring is defined by using the Independence of axiomatic design and the design is carried out based on the direction that the design matrix indicates. For detailed design an optimization problem is formulated. In optimization, homologous design is employed to reduce fretting wear. The deformation of a structure is called homologous if a given geometrical relationship holds for a given number of structural points before, during, and after the deformation. In this case, the deformed shape of the spring should be the same as that of the fuel rod. 1bis condition is transformed to a function and considered as a constraint in the optimization process. The objective function is minimizing the maximum stress to allow a local plastic deformation. Optimization results show that the contact occurs in a wide range. Also, the results are verified by nonlinear finite element analysis.