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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Energy Res.
Sec. Nuclear Energy
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2024.1436284
This article is part of the Research Topic Numerical and Experimental Studies on Small/Micro Nuclear Reactors, Volume II View all articles

Study on Thermodynamic Equivalent Performance of Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated Fuel Based on Representative Volume Element Model

Provisionally accepted
Chunyu Yin Chunyu Yin 1Zhong Xiao Zhong Xiao 1*Kun Zhang Kun Zhang 1*Peng Cao Peng Cao 2*Changbing Tang Changbing Tang 1Liang He Liang He 1*Shichao Liu Shichao Liu 1
  • 1 Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC), Chengdu, China
  • 2 Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Fully ceramic microencapsulated (FCM) fuel is a five-layer intercalation system material consisting of a UO2 core, a sparse pyrolytic carbon layer (Buffer), an inner dense pyrolytic carbon layer (IPyC), an outer dense pyrolytic carbon layer (OPyC), and a silicon carbide matrix (SiC). At first, this paper researched the thermodynamic models of the materials, including heat conduction coefficient, Young's modulus, thermal expansion coefficient, etc. Then DIGIMAT, the finite element software, was used to establish the equivalent volume element (RVE) for the equivalent analysis of the thermodynamic properties of the FCM fuel pellet. Finally, the thermodynamic equivalent performance model of FCM fuel was obtained by multi-factor fitting analysis. The results show that among these thermodynamic properties of FCM fuel pellets, the Young's modulus, thermal expansion coefficient and plastic performance are mainly affected by temperature, fast neutron fluence, and UO2 volume fraction; the specific heat capacity is mainly affected by UO2 volume fraction and temperature; the heat conduction coefficient is mainly affected by temperature and UO2 volume fraction. The thermal conductivity is mainly affected by temperature, burnup and UO2 volume fraction. In this study, the equivalent models obtained through the fitting analysis of RVE model parameters can well describe the thermodynamic behavior of FCM fuel particles.

    Keywords: FCM fuel, TRISO particles, Thermodynamic performance, RVE, DIGIMAT

    Received: 21 May 2024; Accepted: 23 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Yin, Xiao, Zhang, Cao, Tang, He and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Zhong Xiao, Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC), Chengdu, China
    Kun Zhang, Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC), Chengdu, China
    Peng Cao, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, Beijing Municipality, China
    Liang He, Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC), Chengdu, China

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