• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제43권6호
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• pp.489-498
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• 2011

UK National Nuclear Laboratory's (NNL's) version of the ENIGMA fuel performance code is described, including details of the development history, the system modelled, the key assumptions, the thermo-mechanical solution scheme, and the various incorporated models. The recent development of ENIGMA in the areas of whole core analysis and dry storage applications is then discussed. With respect to the former, the NEXUS code has been developed by NNL to automate whole core fuel performance modelling for an LWR core, using ENIGMA as the underlying fuel performance engine. NEXUS runs on NNL's GEMSTONE high performance computing cluster and utilises 3-D core power distribution data obtained from the output of Studsvik Scandpower's SIMULATE code. With respect to the latter, ENIGMA has been developed such that it can model the thermo-mechanical behaviour of a given LWR fuel rod during irradiation, pond cooling, drying, and dry storage - this involved: (a) incorporating an out-of-pile clad creep model for irradiated Zircaloy-4; (b) including the ability to simulate annealing out of the clad irradiation damage; (c) writing of additional post-irradiation output; (d) several other minor modifications to allow modelling of post-irradiation conditions.

• 수산해양기술연구
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• 제28권1호
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• pp.71-78
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• 1992

Zr-4 used for a cladding and an end plug of reactor component has creep deformation under operation at high temperature. Creep is regarded as the time dependent deformation of a material under constant applied stress. Although the major source of the deformation of zirconium component in water-cooled reactors is irradiation creep, the thermal creep may give a rise to significant deformation in reactor component especially at relatively high temperatures and at various constant stresses, and therefore it must be predicted accurately. Stress relaxation is the time dependent change of stress at constant strain and it is a process related intimately to creep. In this paper, the creep behavior and stress relaxation of Zr-4 is examined at the temperature of 50$0^{\circ}C$ that is 40% of the absolute melting temperature of Zr-4 under the stress below yield stress and under the various constant strains. The results obtained are summarized as follows: 1) With an increase of stress, the steady state creep rate increases and the creep rupture time decreases. 2) The steady state creep rate $\varepsilon$(%/s) for the stress $\sigma$sub(c) (kgf/mm super(2)) of Zr-4 increases outstandingly. All the empirical equations computed for Zr-4 increases outstandingly. All the empirical equations computed for Zr-4 are in accord with Norton's model equation($\varepsilon$=K$\sigma$ sub(c) super (n)). The constants of materials computed are as follows: K=3.9881$\times$10 super(-5), n=1.9608 3) The rupture time T sub(r) (hr) decreases linearly with the increase of stress on the log-log scaled graph. The empirical equations computed for Zr-4 are in accord with Bailey's model equation (T sub(r)=K sub(1)$\sigma$sub(c) super(m)). The constants of materials computed are as follows: K sub(1)=1.2875$\times$10 super(16), m=-3.467 4) It seems clear that the strain could be quantitatively dependent on the high temperature creep properties such as creep stress, rupture time, steady state creep rate and total creep rate. It is found that these relationships are linear on the log-log graph. 5) In stress relaxation test, as the critical constant strain that can be allowed to the specimen is larger, stress relaxation becomes more rapid, and as the constant strain is smaller, the stress relaxation becomes slower.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 2004년도 추계학술발표회 발표논문집
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• pp.927-928
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• 2004

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 2002년도 춘계공동학술발표회요약집
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• pp.226-226
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• 2002

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제14권4호
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• pp.1-6
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• 1998

인공관절 라이너에 널리 사용되는 대표적 생체재료인 초고분자량 폴리에틸렌(Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene)은 체내에 삽입되기 전에 멸균처리를 거쳐야 하며, 가장 보편적인 멸균방법은 감마선을 이용한 멸균처리이다. 그러나, 감마선은 폴리에틸렌의 화학분자 결합구조에 변화를 일으키며, 따라서 물리적, 기계적 물성치에 변화를 야기시킨다. 이는 인공관절 수명을 좌우하는 변형과 마모현상에도 결정적 영향을 줄 것으로 사려된다. 본 연구에서는 감마선 멸균처리가 UHMWPE의 크리프 변형 및 마모에 미치는 영향이 관찰되었고, 그 결과들은 감마선 멸균처리로 야기된 폴리에틸렌의 화학분자 결합구조의 변화(Crystallinity, Oxidation, Crosslinking)와 함께 분석되었다. 압축 제작된 초고분자량 폴리에틸렌 봉(extruded UHMWPE rod)으로부터 원통형의 시평을 제작하여 감마선 멸균처리를 행하고, 압축 크리프 실험과 마모 실험을 실시하여 멸균처리하지 않은 시편을 제작하여 감마선 멸균처리를 행하고, 압축 크리프 실험과 마모 실험을 실시하여 멸균처리하지 않은 시편 사이에는 크리프 복원정도를 제외하고 거의 차이가 없었으나, 반면에 마모의 경우, 감마선 멸균처리된 시편이 멸균처리하지 않은 시편보다 훨씬 적은 마모량을 보였다(p〈0.05). 이것은 crosslinking 증가에 따른 마모 저항력 향상으로 볼 수 있다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권9호
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• pp.2937-2952
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• 2021

A typical three-dimensional finite element model for a fuel assembly is established, which is composed of 16 monolithic U-10Mo fuel plates and Al alloy frame. The distribution and evolution results of temperature, displacement and stresses/strains in all the parts are numerically obtained and analyzed with a self-developed code of FUELTM. The simulation results indicate that (1) the out-of-plane displacements of Al alloy side plates are mainly attributed to the bending deformations; (2) enhanced out-of-plane displacements appear in fuel plates adjacent to the outside Al plates, which results from the occurred bending deformations due to the applied constraints of outside Al plates; (3) an intense interaction of fuel foil with the cladding occurs near the foil edge, which appears more heavily in the fuel plates adjacent to the outside Al plates. The maximum first principal stresses in the fuel foil are similar for all the fuel plates and appear near the fuel foil edge; while, the through-thickness creep strains of fuel foil in the fuel plate near the central region of fuel assembly are larger, and the induced creep damage might weaken the fuel skeleton strength and raise the fuel failure risk.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권6호
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• pp.2094-2106
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• 2022

The solid-state core of a heat pipe cooled reactor operates at high temperatures over 1000 K with thermal and irradiation-induced expansion during burnup. The expansion changes the gap thickness between the solid components and the material properties, and may even cause the gap closure, which then significantly influences the thermal and mechanical characteristics of the reactor core. This study developed an irradiation behavior model for HPRTRAN, a heat pipe reactor system analysis code, to introduce the irradiation effects such as swelling and creep. The megawatt heat pipe reactor MegaPower was chosen as an application case. The coupled irradiation-thermal-mechanical model was developed to simulate the irradiation effects on the heat transfer and stresses of the whole reactor core. The results show that the irradiation deformation effect is significant, with the irradiation-induced strains up to 2.82% for fuel and 0.30% for monolith at the end of the reactor lifetime. The peak temperatures during the lifetime are 1027:3 K for the fuel and 956:2 K for monolith. The gap closure enhances the heat transfer but caused high stresses exceeding the yield strength in the monolith.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.143-148
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• 2009

The increasing power and other demands on PWR fuel is leading to a demand for cladding that has low corrosion but that should also be robust with regard to mechanical behavior, impact of the irradiation environment and the coolant chemistry. The Optimized $ZIRLO^{TM}$ cladding is an evolutionary development of $ZIRLO^{TM}$ taking advantage of the long experience of the ZIRLO cladding but has significantly improved corrosion behavior. Recently, operation of Optimized ZIRLO to above 73 kWd/kgU has shown a reduction of the corrosion of almost 50%.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제37권9호
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• pp.1127-1132
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• 2013

원자로 내부구조물은 파손시 원자로 안전 운전/정지에 주요한 영향을 미칠 수 있으며 중성자 조사 수준이 높아 중성자 조사와 관련된 다양한 열화가 발생하였거나 잠재적으로 발생할 수 있다. 원자로 내부구조물의 주요 재질인 오스테나이트 스테인리스 강은 중성자 조사에 따라 인장/크리프 물성, 파괴인성 등 기계적 재료 거동에 변화가 발생한다. 각종 열화기구에 대한 원자로 내부구조물의 구조 건전성이 설계수명 또는 계속운전 기간 동안 유지됨을 평가할 때 중성자 조사에 따른 기계적 재료거동의 변화를 고려하여야 한다. 본 연구에서는 중성자 조사에 따른 기계적 재료거동의 변화를 고려한 사용자 정의 보조 프로그램을 개발하였다. 개발된 사용자 정의 보조 프로그램을 다양한 조건에 대해 검증한 결과, 타당함을 확인하였다.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 2002년도 춘계공동학술발표회요약집
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• pp.242-242
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• 2002

Two MIMAS MaX fuel rods base-irradiated in a commercial PWR have been reinstrumented and irradiated at a test reactor. The fabrication data for two MOX roda are characterized together with base irradiation information. Both Rods were reinstrumented to be fitted with thermocouple to measure centerline temperature of fuel. One rod was equipped with pressure transducer for rod internal pressure whereas the other with cladding elongation detector. The post irradiation examinations for various items were performed to determine fuel and cladding in-pile behavior after base irradiation. By using well characterized fabrication and re-instrumentation data and power history, the fuel performance code, COSMOS, is verified with measured in-pile and PIE information. The COMaS code shows good agreement for the cladding oxidation and creep, and fission gas release when compared with PIE dad a after base irradiaton. Based on the re-instrumention information and power history measured in-pile, the COSMOS predicts re-instrumented in-pile thermal behaviour during power up-ramp and steady operation with acceptable accuracy. The rod internal pressure is also well simulated by COSMOS code. Therfore, with all the other verification by COSMOS code up to now, it can be concluded that COSMOS fuel performance code is applicable for the design and license for MaX fuel rods up to high burnup.