University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) Design Demonstration Element End Fitting Structural Rigidity Analysis

Abstract

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University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) LEU Fuel Fluid-Structure Interaction Analysis

“…A coolant density of 998.64 kg/m 3 at the inlet temperature of 49 °C is used. The Young's modulus of AA6061 is estimated to be 67.02 GPa on the basis of the maximum plate averaged temperature of 89.17 °C, which is predicted using PLTEMP/ANL for the element with the highest temperature in the LEU core [11] (reference core 7X, beginning-of-life, fresh element X1, as explained in [5]). The geometry of plate 22 is used in the calculation since it predicts the minimum Miller's critical velocity, as will be shown later.…”

“…The fuel plates of MURR are connected to the side plates by swaging; the support provided to the fuel plates by the side plate is not necessarily the same as the fixed constraint. In the MURR Design Demonstration Element End Fitting Structural Rigidity Analysis [11], the displacement of side plates was simulated instead of assuming a fixed constraint, and the same hydraulic load extracted from the plate-level FSI analysis was applied. As a result, a much larger displacement magnitude was predicted.…”

“…The solid domain geometry used in the MURR FSI analysis is developed using the MURR LEU structural model created in work [11]. The isometric view of the element and the top end fitting, as well as the top view of the element, are presented in Figure 4.2.…”

“…Although the heat transfer and thermal expansion is not considered in this FSI simulation, the effects of changing coolant properties, density and viscosity, along the flow on the plate deformation magnitude are considered. The one-dimensional (1-D) coolant temperature development curve is calculated using PLETMP/ANL [16] for the element with the highest temperature in the LEU core (reference core 7X, beginning-of-life, fresh element X1, as explained in [5]) [11]. As shown in Figure 4.9 (a), the coolant temperature is 49.0°C at the inlet, and gradually increases and reaches 61.4°C at the outlet.…”