Asymptotic Expansion Homogenization for Multiscale Nuclear Fuel Analysis

Journal Article · Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Computational Materials Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2014.12.039· OSTI ID:1177605

Hales, J. D. ^[1]; Tonks, M. R. ^[1]; Chockalingam, K. ^[2]; Perez, D. M. ^[1]; Novascone, S. R. ^[1]; Spencer, B. W. ^[1]; Williamson, R. L. ^[1]

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1. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
2. Ruhr Univ., Bochum (Germany) Interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Materials Simulation

Engineering scale nuclear fuel performance simulations can benefit by utilizing high-fidelity models running at a lower length scale. Lower length-scale models provide a detailed view of the material behavior that is used to determine the average material response at the macroscale. These lower length-scale calculations may provide insight into material behavior where experimental data is sparse or nonexistent. This multiscale approach is especially useful in the nuclear field, since irradiation experiments are difficult and expensive to conduct. The lower length-scale models complement the experiments by influencing the types of experiments required and by reducing the total number of experiments needed. This multiscale modeling approach is a central motivation in the development of the BISON-MARMOT fuel performance codes at Idaho National Laboratory. These codes seek to provide more accurate and predictive solutions for nuclear fuel behavior. One critical aspect of multiscale modeling is the ability to extract the relevant information from the lower length-scale sim- ulations. One approach, the asymptotic expansion homogenization (AEH) technique, has proven to be an effective method for determining homogenized material parameters. The AEH technique prescribes a system of equations to solve at the microscale that are used to compute homogenized material constants for use at the engineering scale. In this work, we employ AEH to explore the effect of evolving microstructural thermal conductivity and elastic constants on nuclear fuel performance. We show that the AEH approach fits cleanly into the BISON and MARMOT codes and provides a natural, multidimensional homogenization capability.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1177605
• Report Number(s): INL/JOU-14-32113; TRN: US1500046
• Journal Information: Computational Materials Science, Vol. 99; ISSN 0927-0256
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
NUCLEAR FUELS
PERFORMANCE
ASYMPTOTIC SOLUTIONS
IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
Homogenization Methods
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
Elasticity
IRRADIATION
MICROSTRUCTURE
B Codes
M Codes
ASYMPTOTIC EXPANSION HOMOGENIZATION
MULTISCALE
NUCLEAR FUEL PERFORMANCE MODELING