• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1373-1376
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• 2008

A supporting structure for a long tube bundle of a large diameter is considered in this paper. The primary purpose of the present study is to develop a spacer grid structure for a so-called "dual cooled nuclear fuel", which has been being studied for a nuclear power uprate. The outer diameter of the fuel rod increases considerably from the conventional one. So a completely new shape of the supporting structure (spacer grid) needs to be developed. One of the challenges is to insert a supporting tube into the cross points of the grid straps. To meet a supporting performance, the load vs. displacement characteristics should be obtained. So the present study focuses on the finite element analysis technology to evaluate the characteristics through a parametric study. As a result, major influencing parameters are investigated for an optimized spacer grid design.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.6 s.261
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• pp.718-724
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• 2007

Some of gas turbine model of 7F-Class has constructed and is operating with units domestically. Non-destructive testing (NDT) is one of the methods being used to inspect damage $1^{st}$ stage bucket and review damage trends. We also analyze damage configuration and microstructure according to material and compare with pape of electric power research institute (EPRI). The damaged mode could be determined by leveraging failure analysis. Especially, configuration uprate of bucket is not only to prevent damage during operation but also avoid domestic manufacturing by the competitors. Modifications were mainly concentrated on surfaces such as cooling hole and bucket tips. Analyzing of bucket damage, the earlier model of 7F-Class used with one cycle with equivalent operation hour (EOH), has various cracking of the bucket surface. Bucket damage of new model is centered on tip area (54%) as analyzed by EPRI research. We conclude that improving bucket configuration would increase repair rate on the bucket tip.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.742-754
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• 2020

Zircaloy cladding oxidation is an important phenomenon for both design basis accident and severe accidents, because it results in cladding embrittlement and rapid fuel temperature escalation. For this reason during the last decade, many experts have been conducting experiments to identify the oxidation phenomena that occur under design basis accidents and to develop mathematical analysis models. However, since the study of design extension conditions (DEC) is relatively insufficient, it is essential to develop and validate a physical and mathematical model simulating the oxidation of the cladding material at high temperatures. In this study, the QUENCH-05 and -06 experiments were utilized to develop the best-fitted oxidation model and to validate the SPACE code modified with it under the design extension condition. It is found out that the cladding temperature and oxidation thickness predicted by the Cathcart-Pawel oxidation model at low temperature (T < 1853 K) and Urbanic-Heidrick at high temperature (T > 1853 K) were in excellent agreement with the data of the QUENCH experiments. For 'LOCA without SI' (Safety Injection) accidents, which should be considered in design extension conditions, it has been performed the evaluation of the operator action time to prevent core melting for the APR1400 plant using the modified SPACE. For the 'LBLOCA without SI' and 'SBLOCA without SI' accidents, it has been performed that sensitivity analysis for the operator action time in terms of the number of SIT (Safety Injection Tank), the recovery number of the SIP (Safety Injection Pump), and the break sizes for the SBLOCA. Also, with the extended acceptance criteria, it has been evaluated the available operator action time margin and the power margin. It is confirmed that the power can be enabled to uprate about 12% through best-estimate calculations.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.269-274
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• 2011

A CFD analysis was performed to examine the inner channel blockage of dual-cooled fuel which has being developed for the power uprate of a pressurized water reactor (PWR). The dual-cooled fuel consists of an annular fuel pellet($UO_2$) and dual claddings as well as internal and external cooling channels. The dual-cooled annular fuel is different from a conventional solid 려el by employing an internal cooling channel for each fuel pellet as well as an external cooling channel. One of the key issues is the hypothetical event of inner channel blockage because the inner channel is an isolated flow channel without the coolant mixing between the neighboring flow channels. The inner channel blockage could cause the Departure from Nucleate Boiling (DNB) in the inner channel that eventually causes a fuel failure. This paper presents the CFD simulation of the flow through the side holes of the bottom end plug for the complete entrance blockage of the inner channel. Since the amount of coolant supply to the inner channel depends on largely the pressure loss at the side hole, the pressure loss coefficient of the side hole was estimated by the CFD analysis. The CFD prediction of the loss coefficient showed a reasonable agreement with an experimental data for the complete blockage of both the inner channel entrance and the outer channel. The CFD predictions also showed the decrease of the loss coefficient as the outer channel blockage increases.