• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.400-405
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• 2001

Nozzle of the double-plated grid plays the role of the spring to support a fuel rod as well as to provide the coolant path in grid. The nozzle was known to be necessary to reduce the spring stiffness for supporting performance. In this study the contact analysis between the fuel rod and the nozzle type spacer grid was performed by using ABAQUS standard to propose the preferable shape in tenn of spring performance. Two small cuts at the upper and lower part of the nozzle appeared to have a minor effect in decreasing the nozzle stiffness. A long slot at the center of the nozzle was turned out not only to decrease the spring constant as desired but also to increase the elastic displacement.