Thermo-mechanical performance of petal-shaped fuel rods based on accident tolerant fuel cladding

IF 2.3 3区工程技术 Q1 NUCLEAR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Annals of Nuclear Energy Pub Date : 2025-09-16 DOI:10.1016/j.anucene.2025.111863

Binxian He , Juexiong Deng , Wenchao Zhang , Xiangfei Meng , Jianchuang Sun , Yuxiang Hong , Weihua Cai

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) cladding enhances nuclear fuel performance under extreme accident conditions. Current research on applying ATF cladding to petal-shaped fuel rods (PSFRs) for performance improvement remains exploratory. This study establishes a finite element-based thermo-mechanical coupling model to analyse PSFR behaviour under irradiation. The thermal–mechanical performance of Cr-coated, FeCrAl-coated, Zr-1%Nb, and FeCrAl claddings was investigated under normal operation and reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) conditions to evaluate their potential for replacing conventional Zr-4 cladding. Results indicate that thermal creep is the primary factor driving performance differences among cladding materials. Cr/FeCrAl-coated PSFR exhibited minor deviations from the reference model in stress, strain, and temperature distribution. While FeCrAl cladding demonstrated superior deformation resistance, it displayed earlier plastic strain initiation. Zr-1%Nb achieved significantly lower cladding stress (15.6 MPa at 5 % FIMA) owing to its excellent creep rate, highlighting its advantage in stress management. However, creep-induced radial deformation necessitates either increasing the gap between fuel rods or localizing the cladding thickness at petal angle to mitigate dimensional impacts.

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基于容错燃料包壳的花瓣形燃料棒热力学性能研究

耐事故燃料（ATF）包层可提高核燃料在极端事故条件下的性能。目前，将ATF包层应用于花瓣状燃料棒（PSFRs）以提高其性能的研究仍处于探索阶段。本研究建立了基于有限元的热-力耦合模型来分析辐照下PSFR的行为。研究了cr包覆层、FeCrAl包覆层、Zr-1%Nb包覆层和FeCrAl包覆层在正常运行和反应性事故（RIA）条件下的热力学性能，以评估它们取代传统Zr-4包覆层的潜力。结果表明，热蠕变是导致包层材料性能差异的主要因素。Cr/ fecral包覆的PSFR在应力、应变和温度分布上与参考模型偏差较小。FeCrAl包层表现出较好的抗变形能力，但塑性应变起始较早。由于优异的蠕变速率，Zr-1%Nb的熔覆应力显著降低（5% FIMA时为15.6 MPa），突出了其在应力管理方面的优势。然而，蠕变引起的径向变形需要增加燃料棒之间的间隙或在花瓣角处局部化包层厚度以减轻尺寸影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Annals of Nuclear Energy 工程技术-核科学技术

CiteScore

4.30

自引率

21.10%

发文量

632

审稿时长

7.3 months

期刊介绍： Annals of Nuclear Energy provides an international medium for the communication of original research, ideas and developments in all areas of the field of nuclear energy science and technology. Its scope embraces nuclear fuel reserves, fuel cycles and cost, materials, processing, system and component technology (fission only), design and optimization, direct conversion of nuclear energy sources, environmental control, reactor physics, heat transfer and fluid dynamics, structural analysis, fuel management, future developments, nuclear fuel and safety, nuclear aerosol, neutron physics, computer technology (both software and hardware), risk assessment, radioactive waste disposal and reactor thermal hydraulics. Papers submitted to Annals need to demonstrate a clear link to nuclear power generation/nuclear engineering. Papers which deal with pure nuclear physics, pure health physics, imaging, or attenuation and shielding properties of concretes and various geological materials are not within the scope of the journal. Also, papers that deal with policy or economics are not within the scope of the journal.