Pellet cladding mechanical interaction modeling using the extended finite element method

Conference · Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016

OSTI ID:22764088

Spencer, B. W.; Jiang, W. ^[1]; Dolbow, J. E.; Peco, C. ^[2]

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1. Fuel Modeling and Simulation Department, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-0340 (United States)
2. Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0287 (United States)

Fracturing of light water reactor (LWR) UO{sub 2} pellet has multiple important effects on fuel performance. One particularly important concern is that cracks in the fuel cause elevated stresses in the cladding when pellet cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI) occurs. The extended finite element method (XFEM) is a powerful method to represent arbitrary propagating discrete cracks in finite element models. The use of XFEM has been previously demonstrated for modeling propagating discrete cracks in the BISON fuel performance code. This paper demonstrates an initial application of XFEM to model stress concentrations induced by fuel fractures at the fuel/cladding interface during PCMI. This is demonstrated on a study of a pre-defined stationary crack in a 2D cross-section model of a LWR fuel rod. The results from a model with a discrete crack defined with XFEM compare favorably with the results from a model with the same crack geometry defined in the finite element mesh. This study focuses on benchmarking the use of XFEM for PCMI modeling with a stationary crack, but this technique will be readily extended in the future to consider PCMI in conjunction with arbitrary, physics-driven crack propagation. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 22764088
• Resource Relation: Conference: TOP FUEL 2016: LWR fuels with enhanced safety and performance, Boise, ID (United States), 11-15 Sep 2016; Other Information: Country of input: France; 11 refs.; This record replaces 50007234; Related Information: In: TOP FUEL 2016 Proceedings| 1670 p.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
42 ENGINEERING
B CODES
CLADDING
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CONCENTRATION RATIO
CRACK PROPAGATION
CRACKS
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
FRACTURES
FRACTURING
FUEL PELLETS
FUEL RODS
FUEL-CLADDING INTERACTIONS
GEOMETRY
NUCLEAR FUELS
STRESSES
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
URANIUM DIOXIDE
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS