Effects of porous fuel structure on the irradiation-induced thermo-mechanical coupling behavior in monolithic fuel plates

UMo/Zr monolithic fuel plates have a promising application prospect in high flux research reactors. To prolong the service life and achieve safety design, the in-pile macro-mesoscale thermal-mechanical behavior of the fuel plate needs further simulation research. In this study, for the fuel meat, the theoretical models of the equivalent fission gas bubble volume fraction, the gas-bubble inner pressure and the maximum skeleton stress are developed, with the effects of bubble distribution pattern involved. The application into the simulation of the in-pile macro-mesoscale thermal-mechanical behavior of the UMo/Zr monolithic fuel plate indicates that the maximum skeleton stress of the fuel meat basically rises with the burn-up, and may reach four times of the macroscale first principal stress of the fuel meat. The distribution patterns of the gas bubbles in the fuel meat might have a distinct influence on the maximum skeleton stress, and the most conservative results of the simple cubic arrangement can be used for the failure prediction of the fuel meat.

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Simulation research on the blister evolution behaviors of UMo/Zr monolithic fuel elements

Changbing,

Feng,

Yongjun

et al. 2024

Front. Energy Res.

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Blister behavior is one of the main failure modes of UMo/Zr monolithic fuel elements during irradiation. The temperature of fuel elements may increase greatly so that the fuel elements may be destroyed. Post-irradiation annealing tests are used to study the blister behaviors of fuel elements under high temperature. In this study, a simulation method is developed based on the finite element method to study the evolution of blister behaviors of UMo/Zr monolithic fuel elements in the blister tests, taken into considering that the evolution of bubble pressure should be coupled with the deformation of cladding. The influence of creep rate of the cladding on the evolution of blister height is analyzed. The study shows that the unrecoverable creep deformation of the cladding, which occurs under high temperature, is the major factor in the increment of bubble height. The increase of bubble height mainly occurs during the heat preservation process and the initial stage of cooling process. The creep rate of cladding is positively related to the evolution of bubble height.

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Effects of porous fuel structure on the irradiation-induced thermo-mechanical coupling behavior in monolithic fuel plates

Cited by 3 publications

References 15 publications

The critical influencing factors responsible for the particle cracking in UMo/Zr dispersion fuel plates during post-irradiation anneal tests

The critical influencing factors responsible for the particle cracking in UMo/Zr dispersion fuel plates during post-irradiation anneal tests

Macro-Mesoscale In-Pile Thermal-Mechanical Behavior Simulation of a UMo/Zr Monolithic Fuel Plate

Simulation research on the blister evolution behaviors of UMo/Zr monolithic fuel elements

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