Abstract
This paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of spacer grid of nuclear fuel assembly (FA). The spacer grids (SG) that support fuel rods are in square lattice and the structural stiffness is maximum when the direction of load is aligned with SG plate directions, i.e., in square direction. When an input load is off from the square direction of the SG plates, i.e., out-of-plane direction, the structural stiffness becomes very small compared to in-plane direction. This implies SG of FA may deform more easily than the deformation due to square load. It was found that the square load stiffness is larger than shear load stiffness around 200 times. This requires that to fully assess and evaluate fuel assembly integrity by test or analysis, it should include shear load cases.
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