Experimental investigation of flow-induced vibration in the control rod guide cylinder of pressurized-water reactor

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to investigate flow-induced vibration (FIV) in the control rods of a pressurized-water reactor (PWR). Control rods and a guide cylinder (full scale compared with the real structure) were installed on an FIV experiment platform, with which flow distributions were simulated according to actual situations. The vibration displacements of the control rods were observed in different flow rate ranges of transverse and vertical flows. Several FIV characteristics of the control rods under different transverse and vertical flows were determined by analyzing the experimental results. A formula was also proposed to predict vibration.