The purpose of this study is to compare the characteristics of two types of nuclear fuel using the finite element program of thermoelastic-plastic-creep analysis. The analyzed fuel rods are of two types, solid and annular ones, and their thermomechanical characteristics are compared. Thermoelastic-plastic-creep analyses were made using an in-house finite element analysis program that adopts the “effective-stress-function” algorithm. The temperature-dependent material properties, which were obtained from the experiments for actual nuclear reactors, are adopted. The effects of type of fuel systems are revealed in both stresses and temperature distributions. The maximum tensile and compressive hoop stress of pellet and cladding are monitored to evaluate the mechanical behavior, and the maximum temperature is used to evaluate the thermal behavior. Although the annular type of fuel has certain disadvantage, it would be used very effectively or safely in future nuclear power plants.
In this study, the gear system is optimized by modifying the tooth configuration of the plastic gears. Plastic gear is widely used as a machine element in industries of electric and electronic parts, automotive parts etc. Unlike the steel gear, the plastic gear has low load-transmission, durability and reliability. On the other hand, it is light-weight, low-noise, operable without a lubricant, shock absorptive, and anti-corrosive.The gear characteristics are calculated and analyzed by Hexagon and FEM (Finite Element Method) tools, and the characteristics of the standard gear and the addendum modified gear of the steel gear and the plastic gear are compared. When torque is applied to these gear systems, the system using the addendum modified gear can realize soft contact between gears. So, the noise of the addendum modified gear system was less than that of the common normal gear system. However, this is not applicable to any material, such as steel which is governed by DIN (Deuteshe Industrie Norm) recommendation. This study adopted the narrow tip tooth plastic gear, and proposed the optimum addendum modified gear with respect to stress, noise and contact ratio. To calculate and analyze the simulation of gear matching, we used commercial tools like CATIA, Auto-CAD, MARC for simulation and Hexagon for calculation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.