• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.3473-3478
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• 2007

A dual side cooling annular fuel having internal and external coolant channels has many advantages basically due to low fuel temperature and high DNBR margin, which can make a significant increase of core power density possible. So recently a 12x12 square annular fuel array was proposed for the fuel assembly to be reloaded without structural interference with operating reactors of OPR-1000s. Even through the inherent potential of the annular fuel on the high power density, it may be seriously eroded in the case of a severe unbalanced mass flux split to the internal and external channels in standpoint of DNB. Mass flux split is determined pressure drop characteristics between inner and outer channels. The spacer grids binding fuel array influence greatly the pressure drop in outer channels and the mass flux split. As an important factor of DNB behavior, the enthalpy differences at both channel exits were evaluated using the mass flux splits.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.737-746
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• 2007

A spacer grid, which is one of the most important structural components in a PWR fuel assembly, supports its fuel rods laterally and vertically. Based on in-house design experience, scrutiny of the design features of advanced nuclear fuels and the patents of other spacer grids, KAERI has devised its own spacer grid shapes and acquired patents. In this study, a performance evaluation of KAERI's spacer grid shapes was carried out from mechanical/structural and thermohydraulic view points. A comparative performance evaluation of commercial spacer grid shapes was also carried out. The comparisons addressed the spring characteristics, fuel rod vibration characteristics, fretting wear resistance, impact strength characteristics, CHF enhancement, and the pressure drop level of the spacer grid shapes. The results show that the performances of KAERI's spacer grid shapes are as good as or better than those of the commercial spacer grid shapes.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.56-71
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• 1996

The local hydrulic characteristics in subchannels of 5$\times$5 nuclear fuel bundles with spacer grids were measured at upstream and downstream of the spacer grid for the investigation of the spacer grid effects on turbulent flow structure by using an LDV(Laser Doppler Velocimeter). The measured parameters are axial velocity and turbulent intensity, skewness factor, and flatness factor. Pressure drops were also measured to evaluate the loss coefficient for the spacer grid and the friction factor for rod bundles. From these data, it was found that the turbulent mixing and forced mixing occur up to $x/D^h=10$ and 20 from the spacer grid, respectively. The turbulence decay behind spacer grid behaves in the similar decay rate as turbulent flow through mesh grids or screens. Mixing factors useful in subchannel analysis code were correlated from the data and show the highest value near spacer grid and then have a stable values.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.431-437
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• 2003

KAERI has contrived 14 kinds of spacer grid shapes of its own since 1997 and applied for Korean and US patents. To date. KAERI has obtained US and Korean patents for 6 kinds of spacer grid shapes among them. Tn this study. performance test on two spacer grid shapes that are assumed to be the most effective candidates for the spacer grid of the next generation nuclear fuel in Korea was carried Qui through the mechanical/structural test and analysis. The test result has shown thai the performances of the candidates are better or not worse than that of the current spacer grid.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.1297-1302
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• 2003

KAERI has contrived 15 kinds of spacer grid shapes of its own since 1997 and applied for domestic and foreign patents. To date, KAERI has obtained US and ROK patents for 6 kinds of spacer grid shapes among them and the others are under review in USA, EC, China, and ROK. In this study, mechanical/structural performance analysis and test on two spacer grid shapes that are assumed to be the most effective candidates for the spacer grid of the next generation nuclear fuel in Korea was carried out. The result has shown that the performances of the candidates are better or not worse than those of the current spacer grid.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.432-437
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• 2004

KAERI has contrived 16 kinds of spacer grid shapes of its own since 1997 and applied for domestic and foreign patents. To date, KAERI has obtained US and ROK patents for 11 kinds of spacer grid shapes among them and the others are under review in USA, EC, China, and ROK. In this study, detailed performance analysis and test on two spacer grid shapes that are assumed to be the most effective candidates for the spacer grid of the next generation nuclear fuel in Korea was carried out. The result has shown that the performances of the candidates are better or not worse than those of the current spacer grid.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2003.05a
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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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.689-695
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• 2012

The friction factor in a rod bundle and the loss coefficient at a spacer grid were examined. As a test section, 25 smooth rods, 9.5 mm in diameter and 2000 mm in length, were prepared and installed in a $5{\times}5$ square array in a square channel. In this case, the P/D (Pitch-to-Diameter ratio) was 1.35. In this work, plain (i.e., no mixing vanes), split-vane, and hybrid-vane spacer grids were tested. In a bare rod bundle (i.e., no spacer grid), the measured friction factors were in good agreement with the previous correlations. Among the spacer grids tested, the hybrid-vane spacer grid presented the largest friction factor in the rod bundle and loss coefficient. This may be because of the flow pattern change induced by large relative plugging of the flow cross section and mixing vane geometry. At Re=$5{\times}10^5$, the predicted loss coefficients of plain, splitvane, and hybrid-vane spacer grids were approximately 0.79, 0.80, and 0.88, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.377-382
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• 1995

An evaluation method of spacer grid thermal mixing performance in rod bundles is suggested based on hydraulic tests in a single phase flow. Heat transfer correlation was derived by the analogy between momentum and heat transfer. Three of major factors, such as blockage ratio of spacer grid, convective flow swirling, and turbulent intensity, were found to be significantly influential to the spacer grid thermal mixing performance. Local heat transfer near spacer grid was predicted for the hydraulic test of 6 ${\times}$ 6 rod bundles with neighboring different spacer grids.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.134-134
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• 2003