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Modeling of irradiation-induced damage and failure behaviors of fuel foil/cladding interface in UMo/Zr monolithic fuel plates

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Abstract

Models to describe the damage and fracture behaviors of the interface between the fuel foil and cladding in UMo/Zr monolithic fuel plates were established and numerically implemented. The effects of the interfacial cohesive strength and cohesive energy on the irradiation-induced thermal–mechanical behaviors of fuel plates were investigated. The results indicated that for heterogeneously irradiated fuel plates: (1) interfacial damage and failure were predicted to be initiated near the fuel foil corner with higher fission densities, accompanied by the formation of a large gap after interface failure, which was consistent with some experimental observations; high tensile stresses in the fuel foil occurred near the edges of the failed interface, attributed to through-thickness cracking of the fuel foil, as found in some post-irradiation examinations; (2) the cohesive strength and cohesive energy of the interface both influenced the in-pile evolution behaviors of fuel plates; a lower cohesive strength or cohesive energy resulted in faster interfacial damage; (3) after interface fracture, the thickness of the whole plate increased to a greater degree (by ~ 20%) than that of the samples without interfacial damage, which was attributed to the locally enhanced Mises stresses and the nearby creep deformations around the cracked interface. This study provided a theoretical basis for assessing failure in fuel elements.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Xiang-Zhe Kong, Feng Yan, Xiao-Bin Jian and Shu-Rong Ding. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Xiang-Zhe Kong and Shu-Rong Ding revised the submitted manuscripts. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shu-Rong Ding.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 12132005, 11772095, 12102094) and the Foundation from Science and Technology on Reactor System Design Technology Laboratory.

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Kong, XZ., Jian, XB., Yan, F. et al. Modeling of irradiation-induced damage and failure behaviors of fuel foil/cladding interface in UMo/Zr monolithic fuel plates. NUCL SCI TECH 33, 54 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-022-01046-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-022-01046-6

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