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Title: A new fuel modeling capability, CTFFuel, with a case study on the fuel thermal conductivity degradation

Journal Article · · Nuclear Engineering and Design
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3]
  1. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  3. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Here, a new fuel modeling capability, CTFFuel, is developed from the subchannel code, CTF. This code is a standalone interface to the CTF fuel rod models, allowing for fuel rod simulations to be run independently from the fluid. This paper provides an overview of the code with a case study on the thermal conductivity degradation of LWR fuels to demonstrate its capabilities. The modeling of fuel thermal conductivity degradation in the code is improved through the addition of new modeling options to account for the irradiation effects via globally defined parameters. After the initial implementation, a variety of order-of-accuracy tests and code comparisons are performed to test software quality. A controlled analysis is allowed by CTFFuel to verify the numerical scheme of CTF’s conduction solution and to benchmark its fuel temperature predictions against FRAPCON-4.0’s. Overall, the software quality and verification procedure ensures that the new model is coded correctly, that it properly interacts with the rest of the code.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1489593
Journal Information:
Nuclear Engineering and Design, Journal Name: Nuclear Engineering and Design Journal Issue: C Vol. 341; ISSN 0029-5493
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English