Developing a laser shockwave model for characterizing diffusion bonded interfaces
- Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
The US National Nuclear Security Agency has a Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) with the goal of reducing the worldwide use of high-enriched uranium (HEU). A salient component of that initiative is the conversion of research reactors from HEU to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuels. An innovative fuel is being developed to replace HEU in high-power research reactors. The new LEU fuel is a monolithic fuel made from a U-Mo alloy foil encapsulated in Al-6061 cladding. In order to support the fuel qualification process, the Laser Shockwave Technique (LST) is being developed to characterize the clad-clad and fuel-clad interface strengths in fresh and irradiated fuel plates. LST is a non-contact method that uses lasers for the generation and detection of large amplitude acoustic waves to characterize interfaces in nuclear fuel plates. However, because the deposition of laser energy into the containment layer on a specimen's surface is intractably complex, the shock wave energy is inferred from the surface velocity measured on the backside of the fuel plate and the depth of the impression left on the surface by the high pressure plasma pulse created by the shock laser. To help quantify the stresses generated at the interfaces, a finite element method (FEM) model is being utilized. This paper will report on initial efforts to develop and validate the model by comparing numerical and experimental results for back surface velocities and front surface depressions in a single aluminum plate representative of the fuel cladding.
- OSTI ID:
- 22391206
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1650, Issue 1; Conference: 41. Annual Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation, Boise, ID (United States), 20-25 Jul 2014; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Laser Shockwave Technique For Characterization Of Nuclear Fuel Plate Interfaces
Laser shockwave technique for characterization of nuclear fuel plate interfaces
Related Subjects
GENERAL PHYSICS
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ALUMINIUM
CLADDING
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DIFFUSION
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
FUEL PLATES
HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM
INTERFACES
LASER-PRODUCED PLASMA
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MOLYBDENUM ALLOYS
NUCLEAR FUEL CONVERSION
SHOCK WAVES
SLIGHTLY ENRICHED URANIUM
SOUND WAVES
SPENT FUELS
SURFACES
URANIUM ALLOYS