An Investigation of Oxide Layer Impact on Heat Transfer in a Fuel Element of the MARIA Reactor

  • Szymon Jerzy Suchcicki Institute of Heat Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology
  • Nikołaj Uzunow Institute of Heat Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology
  • Krzysztof Pytel National Centre for Nuclear Research
  • Władysław Mieleszczenko National Centre for Nuclear Research
  • Alojzy Mołdysz National Centre for Nuclear Research

Abstract

Within the framework of test fuel examination it has been performed the irradiation of one of fuel elements to high level of burnup (ca. 60 %). Post-irradiation examinations proved that under high burnup it comes to local detachment of oxide layer from the fuel element cladding. Unilateral breaking away of the oxide layer of strong insulation properties from cladding surface may lead to disturbance of conditions for heat removal from the fuel. This effect has been numerically modeled by means of ANSYS FLUENT code. The numerical results confirmed the existence of heat flux redistribution in the spot of oxide layer detachment. Since the phenomenon for breaking away of oxide layer appears at high fuel burnup the thermal loads are getting lower than in most thermally loaded fuel elements so the safety margins for fuel operation are being preserved.

References

[1] ANSYS FLUENT 13.0 Documentation, SAS IP, Inc., 2010.

[2] Conversion of MARIA Reactor Core on MC Fuel, Annex 2011/1 to Operational Safety Report for MARIA Reactor, NCBJ, 2011, under editing of K. Pytel (in Polish).

[3] Operational Safety Report for MARIA Reactor, NCBJ, 2009, under editing of K. Pytel (in Polish).

[4] Heat Transfer. Tables and Graphs, WPW, 1991, W. Gogół (in Polish).

[5] Thermal Tables with Graphs, WNT, 1966, Ražnjević K. (in Polish).

[6] An Investigation of Oxide Layer Impact on Heat Transfer in MARIA Reactor Fuel Elements, M.Sc. thesis, Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, June 2012, Suchcicki S. (in Polish).

[7] An Introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics. The finite volume method, Pearson Education Ltd., 2007, Versteeg H.K, Malalasekera W.

[8] Heat Transfer, WNT, 2009, Wiśniewski S., Wiśniewski T. S. (in Polish).
Published
2013-08-27
How to Cite
SUCHCICKI, Szymon Jerzy et al. An Investigation of Oxide Layer Impact on Heat Transfer in a Fuel Element of the MARIA Reactor. Journal of Power Technologies, [S.l.], v. 93, n. 4, p. 247--256, aug. 2013. ISSN 2083-4195. Available at: <https://papers.itc.pw.edu.pl/index.php/JPT/article/view/389>. Date accessed: 21 nov. 2024.
Citation Formats
Issue
Vol 93 No 4 (2013)
Section
Nuclear Fuels and Reactor Safety

Keywords

MARIA reactor; oxide layer
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