scholarly journals The Buckling of Fuel Rods Under Inertia Loading

Author(s):  
Gordon S. Bjorkman

The buckling analysis of fuel rods during an end drop impact of a spent fuel transportation cask has traditionally been performed to demonstrate the structural integrity of the fuel rod cladding or the integrity of the fuel geometry in criticality evaluations for a cask drop event. The actual calculation of the fuel rod buckling load, however, has been the subject of some controversy, with estimates of the critical buckling load differing by as much as a factor of 5. Typically, in the buckling analysis of a fuel rod, assumptions are made regarding the percentage of fuel mass that is bonded to or that participates with the cladding during the buckling process, with estimates ranging from 0 to 100%. The greater the percentage of fuel mass that is assumed to be bonded to the cladding the higher the inertia loads on the cladding, and, therefore, the lower the “g” value at which buckling occurs. However, these solutions do not consider displacement compatibility between the fuel and the cladding during the buckling process. By invoking displacement compatibility between the fuel column and the cladding column, this paper presents an exact solution for the buckling of fuel rods under inertia loading. The results show that the critical inertia load magnitude for the buckling of a fuel rod depends on the weight of the cladding and the total weight of the fuel, regardless of the percentage of fuel mass that is assumed to be attached to or participate with the cladding in the buckling process. Therefore, 100% of the fuel always participates in the buckling of a fuel rod under inertia loading.

Metals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 470
Author(s):  
Sanghoon Lee ◽  
Seyeon Kim

Spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated and discharged from nuclear reactors. During the whole management stages of SNF before it is, in the end, disposed in a deep geological repository, the structural integrity of fuel rods and the assemblies should be maintained for safety and economic reasons. In licensing applications for the SNF storage and transportation, the integrity of SNF needs to be evaluated considering various loading conditions. However, this is a challenging task due to the complexity of the geometry and properties of SNF. In this paper, a simple and equivalent analysis model for SNF rods is developed using model calibration based on optimization and process integration. The spent fuel rod is simplified into a hollow beam with a homogenous isotropic material, and the model parameters thus found are not dependent on the length of the reference fuel rod segment that is considered. Two distinct models with different interfacial conditions between the fuel pellets and cladding are used in the calibration to account for the effect of PCMI (Pellet-Clad Mechanical Interaction). The feasibility of the models in dynamic impact simulations is examined, and it is expected that the developed models can be utilized in the analysis of assembly-level analyses for the SNF integrity assessment during transportation and storage.


Author(s):  
A Ghorbanpour Arani ◽  
M Mohammadimehr ◽  
A R Saidi ◽  
S Shogaei ◽  
A Arefmanesh

In this article, the buckling analysis of a double-walled carbon nanotube (DWCNT) subjected to a uniform internal pressure in a thermal field is investigated. The effects of the temperature change, the surrounding elastic medium based on the Winkler model, and the van der Waals forces between the inner and the outer tubes are considered using the continuum cylindrical shell model. The small-length scale effect is also included in the present formulation. The results show that there is a unique buckling mode corresponding to each critical buckling load. Moreover, it is shown that the non-local critical buckling load is lower than the local critical buckling load. It is concluded that, at low temperatures, the critical buckling load for the infinitesimal buckling of a DWCNT increases as the magnitude of temperature change increases whereas at high temperatures, the critical buckling load decreases with the increasing of the temperature.


Author(s):  
A Naderi ◽  
A R Saidi

In this study, an analytical solution for the buckling of a functionally graded annular sector plate resting on an elastic foundation is presented. The buckling analysis of the functionally graded annular sector plate is investigated for two typical, Winkler and Pasternak, elastic foundations. The equilibrium and stability equations are derived according to the Kirchhoff's plate theory using the energy method. In order to decouple the highly coupled stability equations, two new functions are introduced. The decoupled equations are solved analytically for a plate having simply supported boundary conditions on two radial edges. Satisfying the boundary conditions on the circular edges of the plate yields an eigenvalue problem for finding the critical buckling load. Extensive results pertaining to critical buckling load are presented and the effects of boundary conditions, volume fraction, annularity, plate thickness, and elastic foundation are studied.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Young-Hwan Kim ◽  
Yung-Zun Cho ◽  
Jin-Mok Hur

We are developing a practical-scale mechanical decladder that can slit nuclear spent fuel rod-cuts (hulls + pellets) on the order of several tens of kgf of heavy metal/batch to supply UO2 pellets to a voloxidation process. The mechanical decladder is used for separating and recovering nuclear fuel material from the cladding tube by horizontally slitting the cladding tube of a fuel rod. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) is improving the performance of the mechanical decladder to increase the recovery rate of pellets from spent fuel rods. However, because actual nuclear spent fuel is dangerously toxic, we need to develop simulated spent fuel rods for continuous experiments with mechanical decladders. We describe procedures to develop both simulated cladding tubes and simulated fuel rod (with physical properties similar to those of spent nuclear fuel). Performance tests were carried out to evaluate the decladding ability of the mechanical decladder using two types of simulated fuel (simulated tube + brass pellets and zircaloy-4 tube + simulated ceramic fuel rod). The simulated tube was developed for analyzing the slitting characteristics of the cross section of the spent fuel cladding tube. Simulated ceramic fuel rod (with mechanical properties similar to the pellets of actual PWR spent fuel) was produced to ensure that the mechanical decladder could slit real PWR spent fuel. We used castable powder pellets that simulate the compressive stress of the real spent UO2 pellet. The production criteria for simulated pellets with compressive stresses similar to those of actual spent fuel were determined, and the castables were inserted into zircaloy-4 tubes and sintered to produce the simulated fuel rod. To investigate the slitting characteristics of the simulated ceramic fuel rod, a verification experiment was performed using a mechanical decladder.


2006 ◽  
Vol 306-308 ◽  
pp. 55-60
Author(s):  
I.S. Putra ◽  
T. Dirgantara ◽  
Firmansyah ◽  
M. Mora

In this paper, buckling analysis of cylindrical shells with a circumferential crack is presented. The analyses were performed both numerically using FEM and experimentally. The numerical analyses and experiments were conducted for several crack lengths and radius of curvature, and two different boundary conditions were applied, i.e. simply support and clamp in all sides. The results show the effect of the presence of crack to the critical buckling load of the shells. There are good agreements between experimental and numerical results.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hossein Sharifan ◽  
Mohsen Jabbari

Abstract In this paper, mechanical buckling analysis of a functionally graded (FG) elliptical plate, which is made up of saturated porous materials and is resting on two parameters elastic foundation, is investigated. The plate is subjected to in-plane force and mechanical properties of the plate assumed to be varied through the thickness of it according to three different functions, which are called porosity distributions. Since it is assumed that the plate to be thick, the higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT) is employed to analyze the plate. Using the total potential energy function and using the Ritz method, the critical buckling load of the plate is obtained and the results are verified with the simpler states in the literature. The effect of different parameters, such as different models of porosity distribution, porosity variations, pores compressibility variations, boundary conditions, and aspect ratio of the plate, is considered and has been discussed in details. It is seen that increasing the porosity coefficient decreases the stiffness of the plate and consequently the critical buckling load will be reduced. Also, by increasing the pores' compressibility, the critical buckling load will be increased. Adding the elastic foundation to the structure will increase the critical buckling load. The results of this study can be used to design more efficient structures in the future.


Author(s):  
Bob (H. E. J.) van der Heijden ◽  
Richard Liu ◽  
Gabriel Vazquez Perez ◽  
Henk Smienk

Within Heerema Marine Contractors’ (HMC) global installation analysis scope, the sidestep procedure of structures (e.g. in-line tee structure, 2nd end FLET structure or upper riser assembly structure) is identified that might require global buckling analysis. During a side-step procedure a structure is skidded out of the J-Lay tower while free-standing via the stem pipe on the hang off collar of the last hex-joint. While skidding the tower cannot support the structure vertically, only horizontally via a side step clamp higher up in the tower. Hence the stem pipe could buckle globally under the structure weight. The weight of the structure causes compression in the stem pipe and a center of gravity offset of the structure with respect to the pipe centerline causes a bending moment leading to potential global buckling. A global buckling analysis must be performed to check this load case. The purpose of this paper is to provide validation for the use of Flexcom for performing global buckling analysis for the side-step procedure of structures in the J-Lay tower. In order to prove that Flexcom can indeed model global buckling behavior with sufficient accuracy, the critical buckling load obtained is validated using the FE packages Abaqus and Ansys. This comparison serves as validation, not only for the use of Flexcom, but also for the method used to determine the critical buckling load in Flexcom. The analysis methodology used to assess a pipeline or riser for global buckling behavior is updated using the benefits of Flexcom. The use of Flexcom for global buckling analysis is more efficient, due to the ease and simplicity of modeling, and allows dynamic load cases, due to environmental loads and vessel motions, to be analyzed. Hence the potential benefit of performing global buckling analysis in Flexcom.


Author(s):  
Tadas Kaliatka ◽  
Ausˇra Marao ◽  
Renatas Karalevicˇius ◽  
Eugenijus Usˇpuras

This paper presents the analysis determining the status of fuel rods after whole normal operation. The FEMAXI–6 code was selected for such analysis. Evaluating the specifics of RBMK fuel rods, the adaptation of code was provided. After the adaptation of FEMAXI-6 code, the single fuel rod model of RBMK-1500 was developed and the processes, which occur during whole life of fuel rods, were analyzed. For this analysis the fuel rod from fuel channel with average initial power (2.5 MW) was selected. After (normal) operation the fuel rods from the reactor are transferred to the spent fuel pool and the state of the fuel rods (intactness of cladding, residual stresses in the cladding and fuel pellets, gap between cladding and pellets and etc.) is very important, because fuel rod cladding is one of the safety barriers. In this paper the stresses in cladding, plastic deformation of cladding and other parameters were calculated using FEMAXI-6 and method of final elements. The performed analysis demonstrates possibility to identify state of fuel rods after normal operation that is necessary for long-term fuel storage in spent fuel pools.


2018 ◽  
Vol 881 ◽  
pp. 122-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miftahul Iman ◽  
Bambang Suhendro ◽  
Henricus Priyosulistyo ◽  
Muslikh

Pitting corrosion often leads to the creation of small holes in steel tubular member of platform structures when a protective coating is damaged. A single pit on slender compression element can cause a significant reduction in the buckling capacity of the member. Euler formula is no longer applicable for determining the critical buckling load when cutout presence on the member. This research was conducted to numerically study the effect of a circular hole on the buckling capacity of slender steel tubular member. A variation on hole positions was at 0.125 L, 0.25 L, 0.375 L, and 0.5 L, where L is the length of the member. The hole was taken to be 0.5 pipe diameter. Two nonlinear geometric 3D Finite Element models were developed to analyzed the member critical buckling load: (a) buckling analysis, where the problem was formulated as eigenvalue problem based on the nonlinear incremental equilibrium equations, and (b) nonlinear analysis, where the nonlinear equilibrium equations were developed and solved by several schemes to get the load – deflection curve. For the both models, the tubular member was discretized into: (a) shell elements, and (b) solid elements. The numerical results were verified by experimental investigation. The results showed that: (a) the presence of cutout reduced the buckling load significantly, (b) the reduction ranging from 3% to 10% depending on the hole positions, (c) the maximum reduction occurs when the hole position was in the middle of the member length, (d) compared to experimental results, the critical buckling load obtained from buckling analysis deviated 1~4% while those of nonlinear analysis deviated 1~5%, (e) the buckling mode corresponded with member bent away to opposite side of the cutout position.


Author(s):  
Alfonso Pagani ◽  
Riccardo Augello ◽  
Erasmo Carrera

An important role in the design of structure is represented by the buckling analysis. The loading and service conditions, in which structures usually work, may significantly afflict their equilibrium state. This aspect often forces the design engineers to perform an accurate buckling analysis, in order to calculate critical loads of the structure. In fact, this critical load causes a sudden change of the structure, leading to a radical decrease in the loadcarrying capability. For these reasons, buckling analysis of beam-columns has been widely investigated in the past and recent years. One of the most important experimental technology to calculate the critical buckling load of structures if represented by the Vibration Correlation Technique (VCT). It allows determining equivalent boundary conditions and buckling load for several types of structures and its strength is represented by the fact that it is a non-destructive methodology: essentially, the stability loads were determined by interpolating, until singularity, the natural frequency of the structure subjected to progressive higher loadings, without reaching the instability point. VCT is already widely used for beam, plate and shell structures. This paper intends to assess a numerical simulation of the experimental data needed for the Vibration Correlation Technique. The solution proposed is developed in the domain of the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF), according to which theories of structures can degenerate into a generalized kinematics that makes use of an arbitrary expansion of the generalized variables. Moreover, in order to reproduce results obtained in an experimental way, when large displacement and rotations may occur, geometrical nonlineatities have been taken into account. Thus, a finite element approximation is used along with a path-following method to perform nonlinear analyses. Different types of structures have been analyzed, made with metallic and composite materials, and some results are compared with others found in the VCT literature. Results show how this methodology can well evaluate the natural frequencies on the structure in a geometrical nonlinear framework, and so also the critical buckling load.


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