Effect of lattice deformation on temperature fields and heat transfer in the fuel elements of characteristic zones for a model of fast reactor fuel assembly

Given are the experimental results for temperature fields in the model assembly in nonribbed simulators of the BN-600-type reactor fuel elements in the course of deformation of the lattice caused by shifting of the central and peripheral (lateral, angular) fuel elements by the value of the gap between the fuel elements (the limiting case when the fuel elements touch each other along the whole length). An assembly consisting of 37 electroheated pipes arranged in a triangular lattice with a relative step of S/d=1.185 is used as a model. The experiments were carried out on the sodium stand at constant energy release along the length of the fuel element simulators and at the Pe number changing in the 14-700 range. The data obtained show considerable increase of nonuniformities of the fuel element temperatures for characteristic zones of the fuel cassette assembly models of the fast reactor at deviations of the lattice geometric sizes from the nominal ones. For the central nonribbed element the temperature nonuniformity increases approximately 7.5 times and for the lateral element approximately 6 times when the elements touch each other along the whole length. The shift the central nonribbed element by the value of the gap between the fu.el elements leads to the decrease of heat transfer in comparison with heat transfer at the nominal geometry approximately 3-7 times in the 10-450 range for the Pe numbers. It is shown that the coolant temperature distribution along the assembly radius has a complex character (with a peak between the centre and the perifery) caused by redistribution of coolant consumptions due to fuel element lattice deformation