A Jacobian-free Newton Krylov method for mortar-discretized thermomechanical contact problems

Journal Article · Wed Jul 20 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Journal of Computational Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2011.04.038· OSTI ID:21592601

Hansen, Glen ^[1]

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1. Idaho National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-3840 (United States)

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 fuel rod, which consists of cylindrical pellets of uranium dioxide (UO{sub 2}) 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.

• OSTI ID: 21592601
• 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

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
CALCULATION METHODS
CHALCOGENIDES
CLADDING
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CONFIGURATION
CYLINDRICAL CONFIGURATION
DEPOSITION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY
ENERGY SOURCES
ENERGY TRANSFER
EQUATIONS
EXPANSION
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
FLUIDS
FUEL PELLETS
FUELS
GASES
GEOMETRY
HEAT
HEAT FLUX
HEAT TRANSFER
HELIUM
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
MATHEMATICS
MORTARS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
NONMETALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PELLETS
PERFORMANCE
RARE GASES
REACTOR FUELING
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
SIMULATION
SURFACE COATING
THERMAL EXPANSION
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM DIOXIDE
URANIUM OXIDES
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS