Mechanistic materials modeling for nuclear fuel performance

Tonks, Michael; Andersson, David; Phillpot, Simon R.; Zhang, Yongfeng; Williamson, Richard L.; Stanek, Christopher R.; Uberuaga, Blas P.; Hayes, S. L.

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2017.03.005

Cited by 61 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 156 publications

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“…Included are fuel performance models to describe temperature-and burnup-dependent thermal properties, fission product swelling, densification, thermal and irradiation creep, fracture, and fission gas production and release. [40][41][42] Also implemented are plasticity, irradiation growth, and thermal and irradiation creep models for clad materials. Models are also available to simulate gap heat transfer, mechanical contact, and the evolution of the gap/plenum pressure with plenum volume, gas temperature, and fission gas addition.…”

Section: Iiia4 Bisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coupled Multiphysics Simulations of Heat Pipe Microreactors Using DireWolf

et al. 2021

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program, the DireWolf software application's objective is to provide the nuclear community with a design and safety analysis simulation capability. Based upon the NEAMS program Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) computational framework, DireWolf tightly couples nuclear microreactor physics, reactor physics, radiation transport, nuclear fuel performance, heat pipe thermal hydraulics, power generation, and structural mechanics to resolve the interdependent nonlinearities. DireWolf is capable of simulating both steady and transient normal reactor operation and several postulated failure scenarios. We will present the fundamental physics of heat pipe-cooled nuclear microreactors and the MOOSE-based software employed in DireWolf. Both steady and transient results for coupled reactor physics, radiation transport, and nuclear fuel performance are demonstrated.

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Section: Iiia4 Bisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coupled Multiphysics Simulations of Heat Pipe Microreactors Using DireWolf

et al. 2021

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“…Perhaps one of the most critical properties for modeling any fuel system are the thermal properties due to the temperature dependency of everything: diffusion, phase transitions, etc. An understanding of the thermal properties, specifically thermal conductivity, of the entire U-Pu-Zr system and its associated binaries is necessary to enable mechanistic fuel modeling approaches 56 . Some of these thermal conductivity values have been directly measured while other reports contain values calculated from densities, thermal diffusivities, and specific heat capacities.…”

Section: Iiif Fuel Thermal Conductivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Advanced Modeling and Accelerated Testing for a Modernized Fuel Qualification Paradigm

et al. 2021

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With the increasing interest in sodium fast reactor technology, as seen by applications to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the OKLO Aurora plant, fuel testing for the TerraPower Traveling Wave Reactor, and the impending construction and startup of the versatile test reactor (VTR), a modernized, accelerated approach to fuel qualification is needed. To guide this effort, a Phenomena Identification Ranking Table-styled analysis was performed for a U-Pu-Zr sodium-free annular fuel system. This analysis evaluated a series of fuel design properties and parameters against their contributions to key fuel performance phenomena. The resulting priority parameters were then reviewed against existing modeling and experimental capabilities to support investigation of the highest-priority parameters. A pathway for qualification was then established using highthroughput, high-volume experiments from MiniFuel and FAST in parallel with advanced physics-based model development. This effort outlines how the first stages of qualification can be reduced from the typical 20+-year development cycle to 5 to 7 years by deploying accelerated irradiation testing platforms. As with any accelerated test, these methods are prototypic in some aspects and less so in others; however, by coupling with advanced fuel performance modeling and simulation capabilities, the larger space of irradiation parameters and material response provided offers advantages for the validation of physics-based models supporting the deployment of novel fuel designs. As a test case, this paper utilizes a proposed Mark II fuel system for the upcoming VTR. Thus, an accelerated qualification method can be tested for the development of MARK II driver fuel so that by the time of VTR startup, lead test assemblies for a Mark II fuel can be initiated.

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“…A more important purpose of this development is to use mesoscale simulations to develop materials models that can be used in engineering scale fuel performance modeling, such as in BISON. Ideally, theses models will describe the evolving fuel microstructure that is defined by a list of state variables [36], tentatively including grain size, porosity and concentrations of fission products. Meanwhile, structure-property correlations are needed to predict the transient fuel properties in HBS such as thermal conductivity and mechanical strength.…”

Section: Developing Materials Models To Be Used At the Engineering Scalementioning

confidence: 99%

Model Development in MARMOT for High Burn-up Structure Formation

Zhang

Schwen

Permann

et al. 2017

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A phase field model for the formation of High Burn-up Structure (HBS) was developed and implemented in MARMOT. The model takes into consideration the chemical energy of gas atoms, interfacial energies of grain boundaries and bubble surfaces, and strain energy associated with dislocations, which renders the model capable of simulating the concurrent formation and growth of both bubbles and sub-grains. Moreover, in contrast to existing phase-field models of recrystallization, the current model makes no ad hoc or a priori assumptions for the nucleation rate or recrystallized grain size and shape. All the model parameters were quantified in terms of thermodynamic and kinetic properties. The model predicts a strong effect of magnitude and distribution of dislocation density, grain boundary energy, and bubble surface energy on the formation of sub-grains. The model results are shown to be consistent with theoretical predictions. For polycrystalline UO 2 at 1200K, preliminary results suggest an averaged recrystallized grain size of 0.6-1.3 microns at a critical dislocation density in the range of ρ = 9 × 10 15 − 1.2 × 10 16 m-2 , which corresponds to a burn-up of 98-105 GWD/tU. These values lie well within the range of reported data in literature. The model will be further refined to perform mesoscale simulations for HBS formation with the purpose of developing materials models to be used in the engineering scale fuel performance modeling. This work is supported by the DOE Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program.

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Mechanistic materials modeling for nuclear fuel performance

Abstract: 2017-08-25T16:28:04

Cited by 61 publications

References 156 publications

Coupled Multiphysics Simulations of Heat Pipe Microreactors Using DireWolf

Coupled Multiphysics Simulations of Heat Pipe Microreactors Using DireWolf

Integrating Advanced Modeling and Accelerated Testing for a Modernized Fuel Qualification Paradigm

Model Development in MARMOT for High Burn-up Structure Formation

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