Jet flow emanating from loss of coolant accident (LOCA) holes in the baffle plates of some pressurized water reactors (PWRs) was found responsible for flow-induced vibration in nuclear fuel bundles. This could cause fretting wear of the fuel rods at the spacer grid location. Experimental tests on prototypical rod bundles subjected to jet cross-flow showed a strong vibration response akin to fluidelastic instability of tube arrays in uniform cross-flow. Vibrations similar to flow-periodicity resonance response have also been reported.Fluidelastic instability (FEI) is the most critical flow-induced vibration mechanism. For fuel rods subject to jet-cross flow, it is important to identify the specific mechanism underlying the rod vibrations and in particular, confirm possible fluidelastic instability. In previous work, a few stability boundary correlations based on the Connors equation were developed for the baffle jetting (i.e. 2D jet) problem in PWRs. With the exception of these correlations, no theoretical model accounting for fluid–structure interaction under jet cross-flow has been reported.To investigate possible fluidelastic instability, the quasi-steady model, initially developed for tube arrays in uniform cross-flow, is extended to the problem of a rod bundle subjected to a jet cross-flow. In the extended quasi-steady model, a new formulation of the fluidelastic forces as functions of the projected rod area derivative is proposed to account for the variation of the projected area through the LOCA hole (i.e. circular jet).A significant limitation of the ‘classical’ quasi-steady model is the poor representation of the time delay effect, known to be critical for correct fluidelastic instability prediction. This shortcoming is addressed in the present work. Furthermore, unsteady flow effects are partly taken into account experimentally measuring the time delay parameter for this jet-cross-flow configuration.For the present highly compact rod array, a new test apparatus is designed and built to directly measure the time delay parameter. The new results show that the time delay to be non-constant, strongly dependent on Reynolds number while relative independent of reduced velocity for Low Re. For High Re, the time delay depends on both Re and reduced flow velocity. Based on the new measurements, a formulation for the time delay parameter, dependent on Reynolds number and reduced velocity is proposed for the highly packed fuel rod bundle.The new extended quasi-steady model conclusively confirms that the vibration phenomenon observed in experimental tests is clear fluidelastic instability induced by the jet cross-flow. Moreover, the model predicts the critical jet velocity for fluidelastic instability with an error of 9% when the new Reynolds number dependent time delay formulation is employed.