Thermal Stress Analysis for the Plate Type Fuel Assembly

The plate type fuel assembly is the most popular type of fuel assembly for research reactors. It is necessary to check the structural integrity of the fuel assemblies under pressure and temperature conditions in the reactor core. The typical plate type fuel assembly was modeled using a 3-D solid element by IDEAS code and this modeling was transferred into the ANSYS INPUT. Also, the temperature and the pressure distribution of the plate type fuel assembly, which were obtained from the thermal hydraulic analysis, were added in the ANSYS INPUT. And then the thermal stress analyses were performed for estimating the structural integrity. The analysis results showed that the plate type fuel assembly of Aluminum Alloy 6061-T6 material meets the limits of stress intensity for Level A and Level B service of ASME Code, Section III, Subsection NB. Also, the thermal stress analyses according to changing the boundary conditions for the nozzle were performed. That is, the thermal stress analyses according to the attachment methods of the nozzles were performed and the structural integrities of the plate type fuel assembly were estimated