Mortar-based Cohesive Zone Model with Application to TRISO Particle Debonding

S&T Accomplishment Report · Wed Jan 31 00:00:00 EST 2024

OSTI ID:3017866

Recuero, Antonio Martin ^[1]; Jiang, Wen ^[2]; Novascone, Stephen R ^[3]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
2. North Carolina State University
3. Idaho National Laboratory

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program aims to develop predictive capabilities by applying computational methods to the analysis and design of advanced reactor and fuel cycle systems. This program has been providing engineering-scale support for the development of BISON, a high-fidelity and high-resolution fuel performance tool. This report outlines work towards the development of an integrated, mortar-based cohesive zone framework with mechanical contact. We model debonding of tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) layers using a mortar approach, extending the framework used for mechanical contact, using weighted quantities. A bilinear mixed mode traction approach, already used in Jiang et al. (2021), is applied analogously herein to model debonding between TRISO particle layers. The examples include the debonding of the inner pyrolytic carbon (IPyC) from the silicon carbide (SiC) layers, as well as partial and full debonding of the buffer from the IPyC layers. Both 2D and 3D examples are utilized to demonstrate the superior numerical performance of the new mortar approach, which allows for modeling arbitrarily meshed interfaces (i.e., non-matching discretizations).

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE); USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 3017866
• Report Number(s): INL/RPT-24-78711
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
97 - MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
BISON
finite element
MOOSE
Nuclear fuel performance
TRISO