{"title":"Zircaloy-4 fuel pin failure under simulated loss-of-coolant-accident conditions: Creep and rupture","authors":"Saurabh Sagar , Mohd. Kaleem Khan , Manabendra Pathak , Suparna Banerjee , Tapan Kumar Sawarn , S.K. Yadav , R.N. Singh","doi":"10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113507","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper presents a detailed investigation of the creep and rupture behavior of Zircaloy-4 (Zry-4) fuel claddings used in Indian Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (IPHWR) under simulated Loss-Of-Coolant Accident (LOCA) conditions. Fuel claddings are pre-oxidized in the steam environment at 500 °C to mimic the oxygen pickup during normal reactor operation. The burst tests are then performed on these preoxidized tubes at different heating rates (55–115 K/s) and internal overpressures (15–45 bar) in the steam environment, creating LOCA-like scenario in a high burnup condition, wherein the claddings further oxidize while undergoing deformation and rupture. The burst stress correlation is developed for IPHWR claddings from the obtained burst temperature and oxygen concentration data. A burst criterion model is developed by solving available creep rate, oxidation rate, and phase transformation equations simultaneously to study the effect of various parameters on burst characteristics of the fuel cladding. The proposed burst criterion model agrees well with the present and previous experimental burst data. Also, the ballooning progression predicted from the model is validated with the present and previous experimental data. In addition, the effect of available correlations for the creep rate, phase boundary temperature, and oxidation factor on the burst characteristics has been presented.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":1,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of Chemical Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Accounts of Chemical Research","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0029549324006071","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper presents a detailed investigation of the creep and rupture behavior of Zircaloy-4 (Zry-4) fuel claddings used in Indian Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (IPHWR) under simulated Loss-Of-Coolant Accident (LOCA) conditions. Fuel claddings are pre-oxidized in the steam environment at 500 °C to mimic the oxygen pickup during normal reactor operation. The burst tests are then performed on these preoxidized tubes at different heating rates (55–115 K/s) and internal overpressures (15–45 bar) in the steam environment, creating LOCA-like scenario in a high burnup condition, wherein the claddings further oxidize while undergoing deformation and rupture. The burst stress correlation is developed for IPHWR claddings from the obtained burst temperature and oxygen concentration data. A burst criterion model is developed by solving available creep rate, oxidation rate, and phase transformation equations simultaneously to study the effect of various parameters on burst characteristics of the fuel cladding. The proposed burst criterion model agrees well with the present and previous experimental burst data. Also, the ballooning progression predicted from the model is validated with the present and previous experimental data. In addition, the effect of available correlations for the creep rate, phase boundary temperature, and oxidation factor on the burst characteristics has been presented.
期刊介绍:
Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance.
Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.