A finite element model for static strength analysis of CANDU fuel bundle

Horhoianu, G.; Ionescu, D. V.

doi:10.3139/124.100294

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In the literature, finite element modeling of CANDU fuel bundles for dynamic analysis is rarely seen. Static models were presented by Cho et al (2000) and Horhoianu et al (2006). A fuel bundle model with contact constraints was given by Xu et al (2005).…”

Section: Structural Modeling Of Fuel Bundlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Numerical and experimental investigations on vibration of simulated CANDU fuel bundles subjected to turbulent fluid flow

Zhang¹

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Vibration of simulated CANDU fuel bundles induced by coolant flow is investigated in this thesis through experiments and numerical simulations. Two simulated bundles and a hydraulic loop are built to mimic the situation of the fuel bundles located at the inlet of a fuel channel in a CANDU nuclear reactor. Fuel bundle vibration mechanism is investigated through experiments and numerical simulations. The three-dimensional turbulent flow that passes through the simulated bundles is modeled using the large eddy simulation (LES) and solved with parallel processing. The local cross flows induced by the presence of endplates at the inlet location and bundle interface location are investigated. The fluid forces are obtained as excitations for the fuel bundle vibration analysis. A finite element model of the fuel bundles is developed with the endplates modeled using the 3rd order thick plate theory. The response of the inlet fuel bundle to the fluid excitations is solved in the time and the frequency domain. The added mass and the fluid damping are approximated with the theory on the flow-induced vibration of slender bodies in a parallel flow. Measurements are obtained and used to validate the numerical prediction under various operating flow conditions.

show abstract

Section: Structural Modeling Of Fuel Bundlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The fuel element was modeled as a composite beam in their BEAM code, taking consideration of fuel pellet cracking, creep, coolant pressure and thermal effect. In structural analysis, the fuel element can be further simplified as beams, as presented in the models of Cho et al (2000) and Horhoianu et al (2006).…”

Section: Structural Modeling Of Fuel Bundlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical and experimental investigations on vibration of simulated CANDU fuel bundles subjected to turbulent fluid flow

Zhang¹

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Fadaee and Yu (2015) used an incremental displacement approach in connection the LCP to study the vibrational behaviour of a single mass subjected to two-dimensional friction. Cho et al (2000) and Horhoianu et al (2006) presented some static models of fuel bundle.…”

Section: Unilateral Frictional Contactmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flow-Induced Vibration of a Candu Fuel String

Fadaee¹

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A comprehensive vibration model is developed in this thesis to simulate the dynamical behaviour of a string of CANDU fuel bundles subjected to unsteady flow of coolant inside a pressure tube. The large-scale dynamical system of interest consists of several hundreds of solid and deformable components interacting with the coolant flow, with each other and with the pressure tube through frictional contact at various interfaces. In the first stage of this thesis, the three-node higher-order mixed beam finite elements and the nine-node thick plate finite elements are employed to model the fuel bundles. The equations of motion of the fuel string system are discretised in the time domain using the Newmark integration scheme. The CANDU fuel string behaviour is highly nonlinear and the total number of potential frictional contact exceeds thousand sets. In the second stage, a numerical scheme for efficiently handling three-dimensional friction and contact is developed. The incremental displacement is used to relate gaps with contact forces and the problem is formulated to be a linear complementarity problem (LCP). The accuracy and robustness of the presented method is tested against several numerical simulations and experimental results available in the literature. To find the unsteady fluid forces acting on the fuel string two comprehensive computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models that include endcaps and spacer pads are developed. The models are solved using the large eddy simulation (LES) scheme. The coolant unsteady pressure is integrated over fuel rods surfaces and unsteady fluid forces are found and used as the excitation sources for fuel string vibration. The power spectral density (PSD) of unsteady fluid forces are obtained and peak frequencies are identified. A FORTRAN code consisting of approximately 13000 lines is developed and validated at different stages for use in Canadian nuclear industry to simulate the vibrational behaviour of a 12-bundle fuel string and the material loss during reactor normal operations. Free vibration analyses of a CANDU fuel string are also performed and natural frequencies of the system are obtained.

show abstract

“…Static deformations of fuel bundle structures have been investigated in [Cho et al 2000;Horhoianu and Ionescu 2006]. Dynamic models of a horizontally placed rod bundle sitting on the inner surface of a tube have not been seen before in the literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Free vibration of a simulation CANDU nuclear fuel bundle structure inside a tube

Zhang¹,

Yu²

2011

J. Mech. Mater. Struct.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper presents a numerical rigid-elasto model for vibration of a simulation nuclear fuel bundle structure confined in a circular tube. The model is developed using the finite element method combined with the floating frame formulation. The nonlinear dynamic equations are derived using the Lagrange equations. Small-amplitude vibration about the static equilibrium position is obtained through linearization. Numerical results show that the fundamental mode is a rocking-like mode, in which rigid body translation and rotation are coupled with elastic deformations. Gravity is found to reduce the frequency of the fundamental mode without affecting the higher modes. Experiments are conducted for a single fuel bundle structure to validate the numerical results.

show abstract

A finite element model for static strength analysis of CANDU fuel bundle

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Numerical and experimental investigations on vibration of simulated CANDU fuel bundles subjected to turbulent fluid flow

Numerical and experimental investigations on vibration of simulated CANDU fuel bundles subjected to turbulent fluid flow

Flow-Induced Vibration of a Candu Fuel String

Free vibration of a simulation CANDU nuclear fuel bundle structure inside a tube

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About