Modeling of Gap Closure in Uranium-Zirconium Alloy Metal Fuel - A Test Problem

Abstract

Uranium based binary and ternary alloy fuel is a possible candidate for advanced fast spectrum reactors with long refueling intervals and reduced liner heat rating [1]. An important metal fuel issue that can impact the fuel performance is the fuel-cladding gap closure, and fuel axial growth. The dimensional change in the fuel during irradiation is due to a superposition of the thermal expansion of the fuel due to heating, volumetric changes due to possible phase transformations that occur during heating and the swelling due to fission gas retention. The volumetric changes due to phase transformation depend both on the thermodynamics of the alloy system and the kinetics of phase change reactions that occur at the operating temperature. The nucleation and growth of fission gas bubbles that contributes to fuel swelling is also influenced by the local fuel chemistry and the microstructure. Once the fuel expands and contacts the clad, expansion in the radial direction is constrained by the clad, and the overall deformation of the fuel clad assembly depends upon the dynamics of the contact problem. The neutronics portion of the problem is also inherently coupled with microstructural evolution in terms of constituent redistribution and phase transformation. Because of themore » complex nature of the problem, a series of test problems have been defined with increasing complexity with the objective of capturing the fuel-clad interaction in complex fuels subjected to a wide range of irradiation and temperature conditions. The abstract, if short, is inserted here before the introduction section. If the abstract is long, it should be inserted with the front material and page numbered as such, then this page would begin with the introduction section.« less