Pathway to Evaluate Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger Based on Simplified Elastic-Perfectly Plastic Analysis Methodology for High Temperature Nuclear Service

Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers (PCHEs) are well-suited for Very High Temperature Reactors (VHTRs) due to high compactness and efficiency for heat transfer. The design of PCHE must be robust enough to withstand possible failure caused by cyclic loading during high temperature operation. The current rules in ASME Code Section III Division 5 to evaluate strain limits and creep-fatigue damage based on elastic analysis method have been deemed infeasible at temperatures above 650°C. Hence, these rules are inapplicable for temperatures ranging from 760–950°C for VHTRs. A full inelastic analysis method with complex constitutive material description as an alternative, on the other hand, is time consuming; hence impracticable. Therefore, the simplified Elastic-Perfectly Plastic (EPP) analysis methodology is used as a solution in ASME Code Section III Division 5. The current literature, however, lacks any study on the performance evaluation of PCHE through EPP analysis. To address these issues, this study initiates the pathway of EPP evaluation of an actual size PCHE starting with elastic orthotropic analysis in the global scale. Subsequently, preliminary planning for analyzing intermediate and local submodels are provided to determine channel level responses to evaluate PCHE performance against strain limits and creep-fatigue damage using Code Case-N861 and N862 respectively.