• Title/Summary/Keyword: spacer grid

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Study on Characteristics of Sliding Support for Fuel Rod (이동 가능한 연료봉 지지부의 특성 고찰)

  • Song, Kee-Nam;Lee, Sang-Hoon
    • 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.

Free Vibration Characteristics of 5 × 5 Spacer Grid Assembly Supporting the PWR Fuel Rod (경수로 연료봉을 지지하는 5×5 지지격자체의 자유진동특성)

  • 강흥석;윤경호;송기남;최명환
    • Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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    • v.14 no.6
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    • pp.512-519
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    • 2004
  • This paper described the free vibration characteristics of Optimized H Type (OHT) spacer grids (SG) supporting the PWR fuel rod. The vibration test and the finite element (FE) analysis are performed under the free boundary condition and the clamped at two points (or three points) in the bottom which is the same one as the experimental condition for the dummy rod continuously supported by spacer grids. A modal test is conducted by the impulse excitation method using an impulse hammer and an accelerometer, and the TDAS module of the I-DEAS software is used to acquire and analyze the sensor signals. The softwares related to the FE analysis are the I-DEAS for the geometrical shape modeling and meshing, and the ABAQUS for solving. The fundamental frequency of the OHT SG by experiment under a clamped condition at two points is 175.18 Hz, and shows a bending mode. We think there is no resonance between the fuel rod and the SG because the SG's frequency is higher than that of the fuel rod existing in the range from 30 to 120 Hz. The fundamental frequency of the SG under the free boundary condition is 349.2 Hz showing a bending mode, and the results between the test and the analysis have a good agreement with maximum 7 % in error It is also found that the FE analysis model of the OHT SGs to analyze an impact, a buckling and vibration et al. has been generated with reliability.

Enthalpy Rise for Pressure Loss of Spacer Grids of Dual Coolant Fuel (이중냉각연료에서 지지격자의 압력손실에 대한 엔탈피 증가)

  • Chun, Kun-Ho;Chun, Tae-Hyun;Shin, Chang-Hwan
    • Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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    • 2007.05b
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    • pp.3473-3478
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    • 2007
  • A dual side cooling annular fuel having internal and external coolant channels has many advantages basically due to low fuel temperature and high DNBR margin, which can make a significant increase of core power density possible. So recently a 12x12 square annular fuel array was proposed for the fuel assembly to be reloaded without structural interference with operating reactors of OPR-1000s. Even through the inherent potential of the annular fuel on the high power density, it may be seriously eroded in the case of a severe unbalanced mass flux split to the internal and external channels in standpoint of DNB. Mass flux split is determined pressure drop characteristics between inner and outer channels. The spacer grids binding fuel array influence greatly the pressure drop in outer channels and the mass flux split. As an important factor of DNB behavior, the enthalpy differences at both channel exits were evaluated using the mass flux splits.

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Development of A Methodology for In-Reactor Fuel Rod Supporting Condition Prediction (노내 연료봉 지지조건 예측 방법론 개발)

  • Kim, K. T.;Kim, H. K.;K. H. Yoon
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.17-26
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    • 1996
  • The in-reactor fuel rod support conditions against the fretting wear-induced damage can be evaluated by residual spacer grid spring deflection or rod-to-grid gap. In order to evaluate the impact of fuel design parameters on the fretting wear-induced damage, a simulation methodology of the in-reactor fuel rod supporting conditions as a function of burnup has been developed and implemented in the GRIDFORCE program. The simulation methodology takes into account cladding creep rate, initial spring deflection, initial spring force, and spring force relaxation rate as the key fuel design parameters affecting the in-reactor fuel rod supporting conditions. Based on the parametric studies on these key parameters, it is found that the initial spring deflection, the spring force relaxation rate and cladding creepdown rate are in the order of the impact on the in-reactor fuel rod supporting conditions. Application of this simulation methodology to the fretting wear-induced failure experienced in a commercial plant indicates that this methodology can be utilized as an effective tool in evaluating the capability of newly developed cladding materials and/or new spacer grid designs against the fretting wear-induced damage.

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