Analysis of the rigidity of the nonirradiated fuel assemblies of pressurized water type reactor

Authors: Merinova V.E.
Published in issue: #8(37)/2019
DOI: 10.18698/2541-8009-2019-8-515
Category: Power, Metallurgic and Chemical Engineering | Chapter: Nuclear power plant
Keywords: rigidity, stiffener, fuel assembly, PWR, Ansys APDL
Published: 03.09.2019

Trends in increasing the operating time of the fuel assembly (FA) of a pressurized water reactor (PWR, WWER) led to the systematic abandonment of the use of corrosion-resistant steels for the manufacture of stiffeners in favor of zirconium alloys, which led to their increased deflections. This caused the regulatory bodies and emergency protection blocking, and, consequently, reduced the safety of reactor facilities. To solve this problem, two fundamentally different stiffeners were developed. The first is formed as a result of welding of the guide channels to the spacer grids, and the second with the use of angle bars. An objective comparison of the deflection of these frames under longitudinal-transverse loads and with the use of the ANSYS Mechanical APDL v 17.2 program was performed.

References

[1] Shmelev V.D., Dragunov Yu.G., Denisov V.P., et al. Aktivnye zony VVER dlya atomnykh elektrostantsiy [Active zones of VVER for atomic stations]. Moscow, Akademkniga Publ., 2004 (in Russ.).

[2] Leskin S.T., Shelegov A.S., Slobodchuk V.I. Fizicheskie osobennosti i konstruktsiya reaktora VVER-1000 [Physical properties and construction of VVER-1000 reactor]. Moscow, NIYaU MEPhI Publ., 2011 (in Russ.).

[3] Ryzhov S.B., Mokhov V.A., Vasil’chenko I.N., et al. [Development experience and exploitation results for TVS-2 and TVS-2M]. Mat. IX Ross. konf. po reaktornomu materialovedeniyu [Proc. IX Russ. conf. on Reactor material engineering]. Dimitrovgrad, NIIAR, 2009, pp. 5–7 (in Russ.).

[4] ANSYS mechanical user’s guide. Release 17.2. ANSYS, Inc., 2016.

[5] Kaplun A.B., Morozov E.M., Olfer’yeva M.A. ANSYS v rukakh inzhenera [ANSYS in hands of an engineer]. Moscow, Librokom Publ., 2015 (in Russ.).

[6] Azarova E.N., Kovaleva V.A., Satin A.A. Vliyanie konstruktsionnykh faktorov na zhestkost’ teplovydelyayushchikh sborok vodo-vodyanykh energeticheskikh reaktorov. V: Bogatstvo Rossii [Effect of construction aspects on rigidity of fuel assembly of pressurised water reactor. In: Russian wealth]. Moscow, Bauman MSTU Publ., 2018, pp. 295–296 (in Russ.).

[7] Blokhina A.N., Stolotnyuk S.V., Stolotnyuk Ya.D. Comparative analysis of stress-strained state for VVER-1000 reactor fuel assemblies under dynamic loads. Izvestiya vysshikh uchebnykh zavedeniy. Mashinostroenie [Proceedings of Higher Educational Institutions. Маchine Building], 2012, no. 5, pp. 6–16 (in Russ.).

[8] Basov K.A. ANSYS. Spravochnik pol’zovatelya [ANSYS. User handbook]. Moscow, DMK Press Publ., 2014 (in Russ.).

[9] Feodos’yev V.I. Soprotivlenie materialov [Strength of materials]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1967 (in Russ.).

[10] Timoshenko S.P. Kurs teorii uprugosti [Course of elasticity theory]. Kiev, Naukova dumka Publ., 1972 (in Russ.).