IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i23p6066-d1535063.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Investigation of the Stiffness Characteristics of a PWR Nuclear Fuel Spacer Grid by a 3D Shell Model

Author

Listed:
  • Minhee Kim

    (Department of NPP Engineering, KEPCO International Nuclear Graduate School, Ulsan 45014, Republic of Korea)

  • Ihn Namgung

    (Department of NPP Engineering, KEPCO International Nuclear Graduate School, Ulsan 45014, Republic of Korea)

Abstract

The structural integrity of fuel assemblies hinges significantly on the effectiveness of spacer grids. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach to assess the structural robustness of the mid-spacer grid (SG) of the PLUS7 fuel assembly (FA) using 3D shell elements. Any excessive external load from seismic activity can be broken down into two perpendicular components, namely normal load and shear load. The decomposition enables easy assessment of the structural integrity of the fuel spacer grid for any external loads. From the analysis, the reaction force of normal input displacement is around 440 times greater than that for shear input displacement for the same amount of displacement. This result highlights how vulnerable the spacer grid is to shear load and this should be considered in studies of fuel assembly integrity assessment. This study also highlights the need for improved and more robust spacer grids for safer operation of NPPs.

Suggested Citation

  • Minhee Kim & Ihn Namgung, 2024. "An Investigation of the Stiffness Characteristics of a PWR Nuclear Fuel Spacer Grid by a 3D Shell Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:23:p:6066-:d:1535063
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/23/6066/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/23/6066/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Naqeeb Hakam Adli & Ihn Namgung, 2024. "An Investigation of Structural Strength of Nuclear Fuel Spacer Grid," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-13, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:23:p:6066-:d:1535063. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.