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Extension of the OFFBEAT fuel performance code to finite strains and validation against LOCA experiments

Edoardo Luciano Brunetto, Carlo Fiorina, Andreas Pautz, Alessandro Scolaro

The mechanical analysis of nuclear fuel behavior under base-irradiation conditions has traditionally been performed adopting the small-strain approximation. However, many cases of interest for fuel behavior involve the occurrence of large rod deformations that overcome the validity limits of the small-strain approach such as the cladding ballooning during Loss Of Coolant Accidents, the Pellet-Cladding Mechanical Interaction in case of a Missing Pellet Surface or bending experiments on spent fuel rods. For this reason, the mechanical framework of the open-source fuel performance code OFFBEAT is extended to finite strains. To allow for validation against cladding burst experiments, high-temperature models tailored for LOCA regime including creep, Zircaloy phase-transition and cladding burst criteria are also implemented in the code and described in the present work. The paper presents the implementation and the verification of the large-strain mechanical solver implemented in OFFBEAT, together with the results of the validation performed against the PUZRY and the IFA-650.2 LOCA experiments.

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA2023

Towards coupling conventional with high-fidelity fuel behavior analysis tools

Edoardo Luciano Brunetto, Carlo Fiorina, Andreas Pautz, Alessandro Scolaro

Multi-dimensional fuel performance codes have the potential to enhance the understanding of complex phenomena affecting fuel integrity, but their application is often limited by the high computational cost. Recognizing that many multi-dimensional aspects such as the ballooning of the cladding during a loss of coolant accident or the pellet-cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI) during power ramps are of interest mainly for operational and accidental transients, we have developed a coupling methodology between conventional and high-fidelity fuel behavior analysis. This consists in using a well-validated 1.5-D code to rapidly simulate the base irradiation and set the initial and boundary conditions for the 2-D or 3-D transient model, leading to an optimized use of computational resources. In this paper we present the coupling methodology, and we apply it to link the TRANSURANUS code and the multi-dimensional code OFFBEAT. To demonstrate the capabilities of the coupling tool, we study the PCMI during the end-of-life power ramp of the AN3 segment from the Riso-3 experiment and we compare the predicted cladding deformation and bamboo structure against the experimental profilometry provided by the Post Irradiation Examination (PIE). In the conclusions, we also outline further potential applications of the coupling methodology.

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD2022