Recently, severe wear on the shutdown rod cladding of Ulchin Nuclear Power Plant #1, #2 were observed by the Eddy Current Test (E.C.T.) . In particular, the wear at the sixth card location was up to 75%. The test results indicated that the Flow Induced Vibration(F.I.V.) might be the cause of the fretting wear resulting from the contact between Rod Cluster Control Assemblies (RCCAs) and their spacing cards (guide plates) arranged in the guide tube. From reviewing RCCAs fretting wear reports and analyzing the general characteristics of F. I. V. mechanism in the reactor, geometric layout and flow conditions around the control rod, it is concluded that the turbulence excitation is the most probable vibration mechanism of RCCA. To identify the governing mechanism of RCCA vibration, an experiment was performed for a representative rod position in which the most serious fretting wear was experienced among the six rod positions. The experimental rig was designed and set up to satisfy the governing nondimensional numbers which are Reynolds number and mass damping parameter. The vibration amplitude measurement by the non-contact laser displacement sensor showed good agreements in the frequency and the maximum wearing(vibration) location with Ulchin E. C. T. results and Framatome report, respectively. The sudden increase in the vibration amplitude was sensed around the 6th guide plate with mass flow rate variation. Comparing the similitude rod behaviour with the idealized response of a cylinder in flow induced vibration, it was found that the dominant mechanism of vibration was transferred from turbulence excitation to periodic shedding at the mass flow rate 901/min. Also the critical velocity of the vibration in RCCAs was determined and the vibration can be prevented by reducing the bypass flow rate below the critical velocity.
