Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Energy Res.
Sec. Nuclear Energy
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2024.1450488
This article is part of the Research Topic Novel Nuclear Reactors and Research Reactors View all 11 articles

Simulation Research on the Blister Evolution Behaviors of UMo/Zr Monolithic Fuel Elements

Provisionally accepted
Changbing Tang Changbing Tang Feng Yan Feng Yan Yongjun Jiao Yongjun Jiao *Yong Xin Yong Xin Zengping Pu Zengping Pu *Zhong Xiao Zhong Xiao *
  • Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC), Chengdu, China

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

    Blister behavior is one of the main failure modes of UMo/Zr monolithic fuel elements during irradiation. The temperature of fuel elements may increase greatly so that the fuel elements may be destroyed. Post-irradiation annealing tests are used to study the blister behaviors of fuel elements under high temperature. In this study, a simulation method is developed based on the finite element method to study the evolution of blister behaviors of UMo/Zr monolithic fuel elements in the blister tests, taken into considering that the evolution of bubble pressure should be coupled with the deformation of cladding. The influence of creep rate of the cladding on the evolution of blister height is analyzed. The study shows that the unrecoverable creep deformation of the cladding, which occurs under high temperature, is the major factor in the increment of bubble height. The increase of bubble height mainly occurs during the heat preservation process and the initial stage of cooling process. The creep rate of cladding is positively related to the evolution of bubble height.

    Keywords: UMo/Zr monolithic fuel element, Annealing test, Creep rate, blister height, Finite element method

    Received: 17 Jun 2024; Accepted: 25 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tang, Yan, Jiao, Xin, Pu and Xiao. 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:
    Yongjun Jiao, Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC), Chengdu, China
    Zengping Pu, Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC), Chengdu, China
    Zhong Xiao, Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC), Chengdu, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.