Abstract
The inspection and control of sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFR) is a major issue for the nuclear industry. Ultrasonic solutions are under study because of the opacity of liquid sodium. In this paper, the use of leaky Lamb waves is considered for non-destructive testing (NDT) on parallel and immersed structures assimilated as plates. The first phase of our approach involved studying the propagation properties of leaky Lamb waves. Equations that model the propagation of Lamb waves in an immersed plate were solved numerically. The phase velocity can be experimentally measured using a two dimensional Fourier transform. The group velocity can be experimentally measured using a short-time Fourier transform technique. Attenuation of leaky Lamb waves is mostly due to the re-emission of energy into the surrounding fluid, and it can be measured by these two techniques.
Highlights
The sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) technology has been chosen for the French 4th generation of nuclear power plants
With liquid sodium as coolant, the improvement of in-service inspection and repair (ISI&R) techniques has been identified as a major issue for the ASTRID project (Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor for Industrial Demonstration) [1], [2]
Since experiments in liquid sodium are complex and liquid sodium is quite similar to water from an acoustic viewpoint, experimental measurements and observations were performed in water at room temperature
Summary
The sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) technology has been chosen for the French 4th generation of nuclear power plants. Ultrasonic solutions are being studied in order to inspect the main vessel and different parts of ASTRID. The objective is to inspect the main vessel, and the structures behind it This includes the redan (the component separating the hot and the cold pool), the internal baffles, sodium pump, and the heat exchanger skirts. The diameter of the main vessel and internal baffles is quite large (about 16 m) and justify to approximate locally their shape by two parallel and immersed plates (Fig. 2). The group velocity can be calculated from the phase velocity [13]
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