• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.843-850
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• 2010

A spacer grid assembly is one of the most important structural components of the nuclear fuel assembly of a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). A primary design requirement is that the fuel rod integrity be maintained by the spacer grid assembly during the operation of the reactor. In this study, we suggested a new spacer grid assembly having a fuel rod support, which is capable of sliding when the fuel rod vibrates due to flow-induced vibrations in the reactor. By adjusting the relative displacement between the fuel rod and its support, the proposed design will help in reducing fuel rod fretting damage.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.201-206
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• 2011

A spacer grid assembly is one of the most important structural components of the nuclear fuel assembly of a pressurized water reactor (PWR), and it affects the performance of the fuel assembly. The primary design requirement is that the mechanical integrity of the fuel rod should be maintained by the spacer grid assembly during the operation of the reactor. It was known that fretting damage to the fuel rod can be reduced by adjusting the relative moving displacement between the fuel rod and its support. In this study, we used the finite element method to evaluate the characteristics of a sliding support designed to reduce fretting damage of fuel rods.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.54-60
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• 2011

A spacer grid, which supports nuclear fuel rods laterally and vertically with a friction grip, is one of the most important structural components in a PWR fuel. The form of grid strap and supporting parts such as grid spring and dimple is known to be closely related with the mechanical/structural performance of spacer grid and nuclear fuel assembly. In this study, reviewing various research results for enhancing the performance of the spacer grid, some structural design considerations and research directions on the spacer grid assembly are suggested for further study.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.552-560
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• 1993

In this study, the detailed fuel assembly stress analysis model to evaluate the structural integrity for seismic and blowdown accidents is developed. For this purpose, as the first step, the program MAIN which identifies the worst bending mode shaped fuel assembly(FA) in core model is made. And the finite element model for stress calculation of FA components is developed. In the model the fuel rods (FRs) and the guide thimbles are modelled by 3-dimensional beam elements, and the spacer grid spring is modelled by a linear and relational spring. The constraints come from the results of the program MAIN. The stress analysis of the 16$\times$16 type FA under arbitary seismic load is performed using the developed program and modelling technique as an example. The developed stress model is helpful for the stress calculation of FA components for seismic and blowdown loads to evaluate the structural integrity of FA.