• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한기계학회 2000년도 춘계학술대회논문집A
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• pp.731-736
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• 2000

An optimal design method is adopted for a spacer grid in nuclear power plant. It is made of punched sheet metal process, functioning as springs and dimples supporting fuel rods. For stress analysis of the assembled fuel rod support, a typical cell out of the repeated pattern in the assembly is modeled using 4-node shell elements. A commercial code, ABAQUS, is used for detailed analysis of contacting phenomena with friction. For the optimization, design varibles are taken from geometric parameters representing the shape of the bent leaf spring part and mating contact region with fuel rod. Objective function is considered in relation to mechanical functions and durability. Maximum yon Mises stress is considered in relation to constrained contact stress.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제40권1호
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• pp.21-36
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• 2008

High bum-up fuel technology has been developed through a national R&D program, which covers key technology areas such as claddings, $UO_2$ pellets, spacer grids, performance code, and fuel assembly tests. New cladding alloys were developed through alloy designs, tube fabrication, out-of-pile test and in-reactor test. The new Zr-Nb tubes are found to be much better in their corrosion resistance and creep strength than the Zircaloy-4 tube, owing to an optimized composition and heat treatment of the new Zr-Nb alloys. A new fabrication technology for large grain $UO_2$ pellets was developed using various uranium oxide seeds and a micro-doping of Al. The uranium oxide seeds, which were added to $UO_2$ powder, were prepared by oxidizing and heat-treating scrap $UO_2$ pellets. A $UO_2$ pellet containing tungsten channels was fabricated for a thermal conductivity enhancement. For the fuel performance analysis, new high burnup models were developed and implemented in a code. This code was verified by an international database and our own database. The developed spacer grid has two features of contoured contact spring and hybrid mixing vanes. Mechanical and hydraulic tests showed that the spacer grid is superior in its rodsupporting, wear resistance and CHF performance. Finally, fuel assembly test technology was also developed. Facilities for mechanical and thermal hydraulic tests were constructed and are now in operation. Several achievements are to be utilized soon by the Korea Nuclear Fuel and thereby contribute to the economy and safety of PWR fuel in Korea

• 한국소음진동공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국소음진동공학회 2003년도 춘계학술대회논문집
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• pp.905-910
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• 2003

One of the methods that are used to compare and verify the supporting performance of the spacer grids developed is the vibration characteristic test. A modal test in this paper is performed for a dummy rod 3,847mm tall supported by eight New Doublet (ND) spacer grids. For the vibration test in air, nine accelerometers, one displacement sensor and one shaker are used for acquiring signals, and an I-DEAS TDAS software is employed for analyzing the signals. Also, a finite element (FE) analysis is performed by a beam-spring simple model and a contact model simulating the contact phenomenon between the rod and the fm spring. And then, the result of the FE analysis is compared with that of the modal test. The natural frequencies as well as the mode shapes calculated by the proposed contact models have a greater similarity to the test results than those by the previous beam-spring model. In addition, for grasping whether or not the modal parameters are influenced by where shaking spot is, two kinds of tests are performed; one is for the shaker attached at the fourth span (center), the other is for the shaker at the fifth span that is one span nearer to the bottom of the rod. The latter shows higher MAC than the former. Finally, the vibration displacements are measured in the range of 0.112-0.214mm for the excitation force of 0.25-0.75 N.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한기계학회 2007년도 춘계학술대회A
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• pp.1859-1863
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• 2007

A new type of a fretting wear tester has been designed and developed in order to simulate the actual vibration behavior of a nuclear fuel rod for springs/dimples in room temperature. When considering the actual contact condition between fuel rod and spring/dimple, if fretting wear progress due to the flow-induced vibration (FIV) under a specific normal load exerted on the fuel rod by the elastic deformation of the spring, the contacting force between the fuel rod and dimple that were located in the opposite side should be decreased. Consequently, the evaluation of developed spacer grids against fretting wear damage should be performed with the results of a cell unit experiments because the contacting force is one of the most important variables that influence to the fretting wear mechanism. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new type of fretting test rig in order to simulate the actual contact condition. In this paper, the development procedure of a new fretting wear tester and its performance were discussed in detail.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.8-13
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• 2006

Sliding wear tests have been performed to evaluate the effect of normal load decrease on the wear depth of nuclear fuel rods in room temperature air. The objectives of this study are to quantitatively evaluate the supporting ability of spacer grid springs, to estimate the wear depth by using the contacting force decrease and to compare the wear behavior with increasing test cycles (up to $10^7$) at each spring condition. The result showed that the contacting load decrease depends on the spring shape and the applied slip amplitude. The estimated wear depth is smaller when compared with measured wear depth. Based on the test results, the wear mechanism, the role of wear debris layer and the spring shape effect were discussed.

• 한국소음진동공학회논문집
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• 제13권10호
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• pp.798-804
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• 2003

One of the methods that are used to compare and verify the supporting performance of the spacer grids developed is the vibration characteristic test. A modal test in this paper is performed for a dummy rod 3,847 mm tall supported by eight New Doublet (ND) spacer grids. For the vibration test in air, nine accelerometers, one displacement sensor and one shaker are used for acquiring signals, and an I-DEAS TDAS software Is employed for analyzing the signals. Also, a finite element (FE) analysis is performed by a beam-spring simple model and a contact model simulating the contact phenomenon between the rod and the ND spring. And then, the results of the modal testing are compared with those of the FE analysis. The natural frequencies as well as the mode shapes obtained by the experiment have a greater similarity to the results by the contact model than the previous beam-spring model. In audition, for grasping whether or not the modal parameters are influenced by where shaking spot is, two kinds of tests are performed : one is for the shaker attached at the fourth span (center), the other is for the shaker at the fifth span that is one span nearer to the bottom of the rod. The latter shows higher MAC than the former Finally, the vibration displacements are measured in the range of 0.l12∼0.214 mm for the excitation force of 0.25∼0.75 N.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제33권6호
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• pp.619-625
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• 2001

An axial-flow-induced vibration model was proposed for a rod supported by two translational springs at both ends. For developing the model, a one-mode approximation was made based on the assumption that the first mode was dominant in vibration behavior of the single span rod. The first natural frequency and mode shape functions for the flow-induced vibration, called the FIV model were derived by using Lagrange＇s method. The vibration displacements at reactor conditions were calculated by the proposed model for the spring-supported rod and by the previous model for the simple-supported(55) rod. As a result, the vibration displacement for the spring-supported rod was larger than that of the 55 rod, and the discrepancy between both displacements became much larger as flow velocity increased. The vibration displacement for the spring-supported rod appeared to decrease with the increase of the spring constant. AS flow velocity increased, the increase rate of vibration displacement was calculated to go linearly up, and that of the rod having the short span length was larger than that of the rod having the long span length although the displacement value itself of the long span rod was larger than that of the short one.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• 제14권8호
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• pp.816-822
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• 2000

In the core of the nuclear power plant of PWR, several cases of fuel failure by unknown causes have been experienced for various fuel types. From the common features of the failure pattern, failure lead time, flow conditions, and flow induced vibration characteristics in nuclear fuel bundles, it is deduced that the fretting wear failure of the fuel rod at the spacer grid position is due to the fluidelastic vibration. In the past, fluidelastic vibration was simulated by quasi -static semi-analytical model, so called the static model, which could not account for the interaction between the rods within a bundle. To overcome this defect and to provide for more flexibilities applicable to the fuel bundle, Tanaka's unsteady model was modified to accomodate the geometrical differences and governing parameter changes during the operations such as the number of rods, pitch to diameter ratio (P/D), spring force, damping coefficient, etc. The critical velocity was calculated by solving the governing equations with the MATLAB code. A comparison between the estimated critical velocity and the test result shows a good agreement. Finally, the level of decrease of the critical velocity due to the reduction in the spring force and reduced damping coefficient due to the radiation exposure is also estimated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제25권4호
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• pp.552-560
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• 1993

지진 및 냉각재상시사고시 핵연료집합체의 건전성 확인은 원자로심모델의 핵연료집합체 집중질량모델을 이용하여 지지격자에 발생한 충격 해석치와 동적좌굴시험치와의 비교를 통해 사고시의 핵연료집합체 건전성을 평가하여 왔다. 그러나 이 방법은 사고시 핵연료집합체 부품별 설계 요구사항 만족여부를 평가하는데 미흡하여 본 연구에서는 지진 및 냉각재상실사고시 핵연료집합체 구조적건전성 평가를 위한 수평방향 핵연료집합체 응력해석모델을 개발하였다. 이를 위해 첫번째 단계로써 원자로심모델의 해석 결과인 각 절점에서의 변위와 회전각으로부터 응력을 계산하고 가장 큰 응력을 갖는 핵연료를 찾아내는 MAIN이라는 전산프로그램을 개발하였다. 그리고 다음단계로써 이 .프로그램에서 구한 핵연료집합체 변위와 회전각을 이용하여 핵연료집합체의 주요부품에 가해지는 응력을 계산하기 위한 핵연료집합체 응력해석모델을 개발하였다. 이 모델은 집합체주요부품인 안내관과 연료봉을 3차원보요소로, 지지격자스프링을 선형 및 회전스프링으로 각각 모델링 하였으며, MAIN 프로그램의 출력인 집합체의 변위를 구속조건으로 사용하였다. 또한, 개발된 프로그램과 응력해석모델을 이용하여 하나의 적용 예로써 임의의 지진하중하에서 16$\times$16형 핵연료집합체에 대한 응력해석을 수행하였다. 이 모델을 개발하므로써 지진 및 냉각재상실사고시 핵연료집합체 설계용구사항 만족여부를 평가할 수 있는 기틀을 마련하였다.