A Jacobian-Free Newton Krylov Method for Mortar-Discretized Thermomechanical Contact Problems
Multibody contact problems are common within the field of multiphysics simulation. Applications involving thermomechanical contact scenarios are also quite prevalent. Such problems can be challenging to solve due to the likelihood of thermal expansion affecting contact geometry which, in turn, can change the thermal behavior of the components being analyzed. This paper explores a simple model of a light water reactor nuclear reactor fuel rod, which consists of cylindrical pellets of uranium dioxide (UO2) fuel sealed within a Zircalloy cladding tube. The tube is initially filled with helium gas, which fills the gap between the pellets and cladding tube. The accurate modeling of heat transfer across the gap between fuel pellets and the protective cladding is essential to understanding fuel performance, including cladding stress and behavior under irradiated conditions, which are factors that affect the lifetime of the fuel. The thermomechanical contact approach developed here is based on the mortar finite element method, where Lagrange multipliers are used to enforce weak continuity constraints at participating interfaces. In this formulation, the heat equation couples to linear mechanics through a thermal expansion term. Lagrange multipliers are used to formulate the continuity constraints for both heat flux and interface traction at contact interfaces. The resulting system of nonlinear algebraic equations are cast in residual form for solution of the transient problem. A Jacobian-free Newton Krylov method is used to provide for fully-coupled solution of the coupled thermal contact and heat equations.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - NE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1028226
- Report Number(s):
- INL/JOU-11-20857
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Computational Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Computational Physics Journal Issue: 17 Vol. 230; ISSN JCTPAH; ISSN 0021-9991
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CLADDING
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
EQUATIONS
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
FUEL PELLETS
FUEL RODS
HEAT
HEAT FLUX
HEAT TRANSFER
HELIUM
INTERFACES
IRRADIATION
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PERFORMANCE
REACTORS
THERMAL EXPANSION
TRANSIENTS
URANIUM DIOXIDE
mortar finite element method
pellet cladding interaction
reactor fuel performance
reactor multiphysics simulation
thermomechanical contact