TY - RPRT TI - The role of a fuel element and its cladding in water cooled reactor dynamics AB - To clarify the role of fuel element cladding in water reactor dynamics, the heat diffusion and transfer equations are solved in slab geometry for (a) an oscillatory fission power, (b) an oscillatory coolant temperature. From the resulting transfer functions a clear description of the effect of the cladding on the heat flow is obtained. A Mercury autocode programme for evaluating the transfer functions is described. In addition to the slab element, the heat diffusion equations are also solved for a cylindrical system exposed to an oscillatory fission power. The solutions are expressed as transfer functions and are obtainable numerically from another autocode programme. Both of these programmes are used to obtain the power out/ power in transfer function for a typical cylindrical and slab UO{sub 2} fuel pellet clad in zircaloy. The results give a further indication of the effect of the cladding heat capacity over a wide frequency range. It is shown also that the effect of the geometrical difference between a slab and cylindrical fuel element is unimportant provided the surface to volume ratio of the fuel is the same in each case. (author) AU - "Randles, J [Technical Assessments and Services Division, Atomic Energy Establishment, Winfrith, Dorchester, Dorset (United Kingdom)]" KW - "21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS" KW - "CLADDING" KW - "CYLINDRICAL CONFIGURATION" KW - "DIFFUSION EQUATIONS" KW - "FISSION" KW - "FUEL ELEMENTS" KW - "FUEL PELLETS" KW - "GEOMETRY" KW - "REACTOR KINETICS" KW - "SLABS" KW - "SPECIFIC HEAT" KW - "TRANSFER FUNCTIONS" KW - "URANIUM DIOXIDE" KW - "WATER" KW - "WATER COOLED REACTORS" KW - "ZIRCALOY" DO - https://doi.org/ UR - PB - CY - United Kingdom PY - 1963 DA - 1963-10-15 LA - English J2 - [] VL - C1 - United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, Reactor Group, Winfrith (United Kingdom) C2 - C3 - AEEW-R-196 C4 - C5 - Available from INIS in electronic form; Also available from H.M. Stationery Office L3 - Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); 2 refs, 2 figs ER -