Thermal conductivity modeling of U-Mo/Al dispersion fuel

A dataset for the thermal conductivity of U-Mo/Al dispersion fuel made available by KAERI was reanalyzed. Using this dataset, an analytical model was obtained by expanding the Bruggeman model. The newly developed model incorporates thermal resistances at the interface between the U-Mo particles and the Al matrix and the defects within the Al matrix (grain boundaries, cracks, and dislocations). The interfacial resistances are expressed as functions of U-Mo particle size and Al grain size obtained empirically by fitting to measured data from KAERI. The model was then validated against an independently measured dataset from ANL.