• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.292-296
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• 2018

Recent events in the nuclear industry have resulted in a movement towards increased seismic and LOCA excitations and requirements that challenge current fuel designs. AREVA NP's GAIA fuel design introduces unique and robust characteristics to resist the effects of seismic and LOCA excitations. For demanding seismic and LOCA scenarios, fuel assembly spacer grids can undergo plastic deformations. These plastic deformations must not prohibit the complete insertion of the control rod assemblies and the cooling of the fuel rods after the accident. The specific structure of the GAIA spacer grid produces a unique and stable compressive deformation mode which maintains the regular array of the fuel rods and guide tubes. The stability of the spacer grid allows it to absorb a significant amount of energy without a loss of load-carrying capacity. The GAIA-specific grid behavior is in contrast to the typical spacer grid, which is characterized by a buckling instability. The increased mechanical robustness of the GAIA spacer grid is advantageous in meeting the increased seismic and LOCA loadings and the associated safety requirements. The unique GAIA spacer grid behavior will be incorporated into AREVA NP's licensed methodologies to take full benefit of the increased mechanical robustness.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2012.10a
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• pp.206-208
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• 2012

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.300.1-300.1
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.137-138
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• 2019

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.1914-1928
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• 2022

To improve the heat transfer efficiency of the reactor fuel assembly, it is necessary to accurately calculate the two-phase flow boiling characteristics and the critical heat flux (CHF) in the fuel assembly. In this paper, a Eulerian two-fluid model combined with the extended wall boiling model was used to numerically simulate the 5 × 5 fuel rod bundle with spacer grids (four sets of mixing vane grids and four sets of simple support grids without mixing vanes). We calculated and analyzed 11 experimental conditions under different pressure, inlet temperature, and mass flux. After comparing the CHF and the location of departure from the nucleate boiling obtained by the numerical simulation with the experimental results, we confirmed the reliability of computational fluid dynamic analysis for the prediction of the CHF of the rod bundle and the boiling characteristics of the two-phase flow. Subsequently, we analyzed the influence of the spacer grid and mixing vanes on the void fraction, liquid temperature, and secondary flow distribution. The research in this article provides theoretical support for the design of fuel assemblies.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.13 no.10
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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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• v.51 no.8
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• pp.1905-1915
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• 2019

This paper investigated the influence of simple support girds on flow, irrespective of having mixing vanes, in a 1 × 3 array rod bundle by using CFD methodology and the most accurate turbulence model which could reflect the actual physics of the flow was determined. In this context, a CFD model was created simulating the experimental studies on a single-phase flow [1] and the results were compared with the experimental data. In the first part of the study, influence of mesh was examined. Tetra, hybrid and poly type meshes were analyzed and convergence study was carried out on each in order to determine the most appropriate type and density. k - ε Standard and RSM LPS turbulence models were used in this section. In the second part of the study, the most appropriate turbulence model that could reflect the physics of the actual flow was investigated. RANS based turbulence models were examined using the mesh that was determined in the first part. Velocity and turbulence intensity results obtained on the upstream and downstream of the spacer grid at -3d_h, +3d_h and +40d_h locations were compared with the experimental data. In the last section of the study, the behavior of flow through the spacer grid was examined and its prominent aspects were highlighted on the most appropriate turbulence model determined in the second part. Results of the study revealed the importance of mesh type. Hybrid mesh having the largest number of structured elements performed remarkably better than the other two on results. While comparisons of numerical and experimental results showed an overall agreement within all turbulence models, RSM LPS presented better results than the others. Lastly, physical appearance of the flow through spacer grids revealed that springs has more influence on flow than dimples and induces transient flow behaviors. As a result, flow through a simple support grid was examined and the most appropriate turbulence model reflecting the actual physics of the flow was determined.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.7
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• pp.895-910
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• 2013

The reflood test data from the rod bundle heat transfer (RBHT) test facility showed that the grids in the upper portion of the rod bundle could become wet well before the arrival of the quench front and that the sizes of liquid droplets downstream of a wet grid could not be predicted by the droplet breakup models for a dry grid. To investigate the water droplet generation from a wet grid spacer, a viscous linear temporal instability model of the water sheet issuing from the trailing edge of the grid with the surrounding steam up-flow is developed in this study. The Orr-Sommerfeld equations along with appropriate boundary conditions for the flow are solved using Chebyshev series expansions and the Tau-Galerkin projection method. The effects of several physical parameters on the water sheet oscillation are studied by determining the variation of the temporal growth rate with the wavenumber. It is found that a larger relative steam velocity to water velocity has a tendency to destabilize the water sheet with increased dynamic pressure. On the other hand, a larger ratio of steam boundary layer to the half water sheet thickness has a stabilizing effect on the water sheet oscillation. Droplet diameters downstream of the spacer grid predicted by the present model are found to compare reasonably well with the data obtained at the RBHT test facility as well as with other data recently reported in the literature.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.361-365
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• 2007

우라늄을 내장한 연료봉은 핵분열이 일어나는 우라늄 펠렛(pellet)을 1차적으로 차폐하는 중요한 구조물이다. 연료봉은 원자로 내에서 유체유발진동에 의해 손상될 수 있으며, 본 연구에서는 유동유발진동 특성을 예측하기 위해 핵연료봉의 동특성 규명을 위한 모드해석을 수행하였다. 핵연료봉의 진동특성을 규명하기 위해 제작한 시험장치를 이용하여 피복관(clad tube)의 진동특성실험과 유한 요소 해석을 수행하였다. 모드시험(Modal Testing)은 현재 상용 핵연료봉(튜브)을 대상으로 수행되었으며, 유한 요소 해석 모델을 개발하여 해석 결과와 시험 결과를 비교 분석하였다.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.1803-1806
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• 2007

The General roles of a spacer grid(SG) are providing a lateral and vertical support for fuel rods, promoting a mixing of coolant and keeping guide tubes straight so as not to impede a control rod insertion under any normal or accidental conditions. To evaluate the impact characteristics of a SG such as impact velocity, critical buckling strength and duration time, a few types of impact tests for SGs have been conducted. In a previous study, a new welding method, a through-welding method, was proposed to increase critical buckling strength of a SG without any design change or material change and was verified by impact tests with $7{\times}7$ partial SG specimens.In this paper, the effect of through-welding method in case of a $16{\times}16$ full-size SG is investigated by pendulum impact tests with $16{\times}16$ SG specimens. And the increase of critical buckling strength for full-size SGs is measured by comparison with impact results of spot-welded and through-welded SGs.