Abstract
The spacer grid is one of the main structural components in the fuel assembly, which supports the fuel rods<br/> and maintains coolable geometry from an external load. A vibration test and a finite element analysis using ABAQUS on a dummy fuel rod continuously supported by Optimized H type(OHT) and New Doublet (ND) spacer grids are performed to obtain the vibration characteristics such as natural frequencies and mode shapes and to verify a finite clement model. The results from the test and the finite element analysis are compared by<br/> modal assurance criteria (MAC) values. It is resulted that MACs for the first, the third and the fifth mode shapes are relatively good as compared with those of the second and fourth ones, The natural frequency<br/> differences between two methods as well as the mode comparison results for the rod with OHT spacer grid are better than those with ND spacer grid. It is judged that the FE model for the ND spacer grid spring should be modified to consider the long contact length which actually happen when the spring supports the rod.
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