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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NUCLEAR AND

THERMOMECHANICAL ASPECTS IN FUEL ROD DESIGN
a b
Marco Spiga & Giampiero Spiga
a
Istituto di Fisica Tecnica Facoltà di Ingegneria Università di Bologna , Viale Risorgimento 2,
Bologna, 40136, Italy
b
Laboratorio di Ingegneria Nucleare, Università di Bologna , Via del Colli 16, Bologna,
40136, Italy
Published online: 27 Mar 2007.

To cite this article: Marco Spiga & Giampiero Spiga (1982) RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NUCLEAR AND THERMOMECHANICAL
ASPECTS IN FUEL ROD DESIGN, Journal of Thermal Stresses, 5:3-4, 377-394, DOI: 10.1080/01495738208942157

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01495738208942157

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 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NUCLEAR AND
THERMOMECHANICAL ASPECTS IN FUEL ROD DESIGN

Marco Spiga
Istituto di Fisica Tecnica
Facolta di Ingegneria
Universlta di Bologna
Viale Risorgimento 2
40136 Bologna. Italy
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Giampiero Spiga
Laboratorio di lngegneria Nucleare
Universita di Bologna
Via dei Colli 16
40136 Bologna. Italy

The aim of this paper is to provide all analy tical determination of temperature
and thermal stress ill a cylindrical Ill/clear fuel rod with cladding, including the
actual neutron flux distribution ill a unit cell. for a thermal reactor ill steady
stare. The t emperature and stresses are evaluated by solving a set of d ifferential
and integral equations, derived from the hear co ndu ct ion and Hooke's law. Some
numerical applications are presented (with reference to a C011l1ll0n pressurized
water reactor) and discussed. The emphasis is placed 011 the influence of nuclear
parameters on the thermal and mechanical behavior of the fuel element.

INTRODUCTION

To achieve maximum efficiency, a nuclear reactor should be operated at the highest

ternperatu re possible. The operating temperatures, induced by the nuclear heat generation,
are limited by the availability and cost of high-strength materials. Therefore, it is evident
that the influence of the neu tron flux distribution and the nuclear properties in the core,
affecting the temperature and stress distribu tion, play the fundamental role in the efficiency
and economy of the whole plant. Because of the general inaccessibility for inspection and
the stringent safety requirements, a thorough acquaintance with the high-temperature
behavior of the core components and an accurate appraisal of the responses of the reactor
parts to mechanical and thermally induced loads become essential. The design of the fuel
elements is an iterative process involving close interrelationships among various physical
and technological aspects; designing for the optimum configuration consists of deter-
mining the optimum compromise among different conflicting requirements of heat

Journal of Thermal Stresses, 5:377-394,1982

Copyright © 1982 by Hemisphere Publishing Corporation
0149-57391821030377 -18$2.75

377
 378 M. SPICA AND C. SPICA

transfer, strength, reactor physics, and economics. Generally, three different power
limitations restrict fuel element operating conditions:

I. The maximum fuel temperature such that melting or undesirable phase transformation
will not occur under the most adverse conditions.
2. The temperature such that the element maintains its structural integrity during its
expected life.
3. The maximum heat flux such that burnout is prevented.
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In practice, the structural integrity is the main limiting factor, as proved by many years
of experience. These considerations also include the cladding, whose presence is always
required for corrosion fuel protection and fission products containment. Since the fuel
clements contain the primary source of energy, they generally suffer the greatest nuclear
fluxes, the steepest thermal gradients, and the greatest temperatures and thermal stresses.
Also, since the fuel cycle (preparation, fabrication, assembly, inspections, shipping
charges, reprocessing) accounts for 20 to 40% of the total unit power cost, the fuel
elements playa major role in the economics of nuclear power [1-21.
To achieve an analytical determination of temperature and thermal-stress distribution
in a cylindrical fuel rod with cladding, taking a rigorous account of the actual neutron
flux distribution in the moderator and in the rod, it is necessary to provide a mathematical
solu lion which requires a physical model based on some hypotheses such as the assumption
that thc material is homogeneous, isotropic, and linear clastic and the assumption that the
gap between fuel and cladding is neglected. This leads to a safety structural design because
thc thermoelastic stresses so deduced are the upper bound for the real stresses. The
results obtained present a very simple and compact form and can constitute a potent
tool for a designer. Moreover, they represent a rigorous, reliable, and immediate bench-
mark solution for related computer programs, allowing improvement in the numerical
method adopted and reduction in both the execution time and cost.

NOMENCLATURE

Bi Biot number
D neutron diffusion coefficient
E modulus of elasticity
G energy per fission
h heat transport coefficient (coolant cladding)
1o. I" K o, K) modified Bessel functions of order 0 and I
K thermal conductivity
q slowing-down density
q' linear heat generation
Q specific heat generation
dimensionless radius
r
s, s dimensionless stresses
T temperature
,
u.u dimensionless displacements
 NUCLEAR AND THERMOMECHANICAL ASPECTS IN FUEL ROD DESIGN 379

ex temperature coefficient of linear expansion

>/J radial displacement
v Poisson number
e enrichment
~ cylindrical radial coordinate
e, T temperatures
a normal stress
<I> thermal neutron flux
~a inverse absorption mean free path
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~f macroscopic fission cross section

Subscripts

f fuel
c cladding
w water
radial
e tangential
z axial

NEUTRON FLUX AND NUCLEAR HEAT GENERATION

Many of the reactor physics and heat transfer calculations are based on the phenomena
that occur in a typical unit cell in the core. By arranging the fuel in the form of a lattice
of rods or plates it is possible, in fact, to achieve an increase in the infinite multiplication
factor [3], mainly as a result, for a thermal reactor, of the gain in the resonance escape
probability. On the other hand, the use of rod or plate fuel elements in a reactor provides
a convenient design to permit removal of the heat by circulating a coolant through the
core. It is usually possible to neglect heat conduction and neutron diffusion in the axial
direction, because these are much smaller than in the radial direction. The most frequently
encountered arrangement consists of a large region containing many regularly spaced
cylindrical fuel rods on a square or triangular lattice. The coolant flows in the outer
region of the rod; in thermal reactors it acts as moderator to slow down fast fission
neutrons (this occurs, for instance, in the light water reactors operating nowadays). In
the treatment of uniform heterogeneous systems, it is convenient to divide the lattice
into a number of identical unit cells, and to assume that the actual cross section can be
replaced by a circular cross section of the same area. The equivalent unit cell will then
be a long cylinder with the fuel rod at the center; the radius is such that the circle has
the same area as the unit cell upon which the lattice is based. To determine the neutron
distribution in the cell, it is usually assumed for the sake of simplicity that the diffusion
approximation is applicable. More rigorous transport theory methods could be used, but
the treatment would be much more complex by far. On the other hand, the diffusion
approximation is adequate if the neutron-scattering mean free path is small in comparison
to the dimension of the system and if absorption is relatively weak [4J; this is generally
the case for thermal reactors using slightly enriched uranium. In addition, only thermal
neutron flux contributes to some extent to the fission process, and thus to heat generation,
 380 M. SPIGA AND G. SPIGA

so that we must study and solve only a monoenergetic, or one-group, neutron diffusion
equation in the multi-region system of the unit cell, with an appropriate source term,
taking into account all neutrons entering the thermal energy range. Such a source is of
"internal" character-that is, it is generated by the reactor itself. It must be regarded
as an additional unknown of the problem, and a suitable equation for its determination
should be developed. In a Fermi-age description of neutron slowing-down and thermali-
zation, the thermal neutron source would be represented by the slowing-down density-
that is, the number of neutrons becoming thermal per unit volume and time-and would
be provided by the solution to the age equation, coupled in turn to the thermal diffusion
equation, since fast neutrons arc generated by fissions due to thermal neutrons. In a multi-
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group description of the neutron energy spectrum instead, the source for the thermal
group would be proportional to the scattering reaction rates in the fast groups, and again
there would be coupling between diffusion equations in different groups. In any case,
only the moderator matrix is capable of generating thermal neutrons, so that the thermal
neutron source turns out to be almost vanishing in all regions but the moderator.A further
approximation is usually introduced at this point: the "internal" source of thermal
neutrons is constant throughout the moderator, and zero elsewhere [5]. This is a quite
accurate and very reasonable assumption provided that the separation of the fuel rods is
not too large in comparison with the slowing-down distance, and again this actually
occurs for thermal light water reactors.
The unit cell will be considered here as a three-region system, with an internal,
very long cylindrical fuel rod, surrounded by a thin cylindrical shell of cladding material,
imbedded in a larger cylindrical channel of water, working both as moderator and coolant.
Subscripts f, c, w refer to fuel, cladding, and water regions, whose outer radii arc denoted
by ~r, ~c, ~w. If <I>, D, La' and q stand, respectively, for the thermal neutron flux, the
diffusion coefficient, the inverse absorption mean free path, and the slowing-down
density, the diffusion equations for the thermal group in the cell are given by

i = f', C, W

These are to be solved with the appropriate boundary conditions, namely, that there is
continuity of neutron flux and current density at any interface between different materials,
and that there is no net flow of neutrons at the outer boundary of the unit cell, since just
as many neutrons diffuse into any given cell as diffuse out ofit [6l.lnvoking Fick 's law
and the previously stated assumptions. and scaling the radial coordinate ~ by the typical
geometrical dimension ~r, in order to get a dimensionless radial abscissa r with r = I at
the boundary of the fuel region, we end up with the set of ordinary second-order linear
differential equations

I d
- - [r<I>f(r)]- Xl<l>r(r) = 0 O';;;r';;;l (Ia)
r dr

I d 2(1>
--Ir<I>.(r)]-x
. c C C (r)=O
(Ib)
r dr
 NUCLEAR AND THERMOMECHANICAL ASPECTS IN FUEL ROD DESIGN 381

I d 2 2
- - [r<l>w(r)]- Xw <pw(r) + q~f ID w = 0 ( Ie)
r dr

and boundary conditions

lim <l>r(r) < 00 (20)

r-O

Df d<l>f
- } {d<l>c}
=D - (2b)
{ dr c dr
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r=l r=1

D d<l>c}
- =D {d<l>w}
- (2e)
C
{ dr r=r W dr r=rc
c

d<l>w}
{- =0 (2d)
dr r= rw

where

2 ~f2 ~ai ~j
Xi = - - i=f,c,w r·=- j=c,w (3)
Di J ~f

All parameters entering Eqs. (I) and (2) are known except q, which cannot be determined
by reactor calculations and is merely proportional to the power per unit volume at which
the reactor is operated. It must thus be regarded as a free multiplicative constant, unavoid-
able from a reactor physics point of view and determined in practice by reactor operation.
Of course, the value of q must not exceed well-defined upper bounds imposed by thermal
and mechanical aspects of the whole design.
The general solution to Eqs. (I) can be explicitly found in terms of modified Bessel
functions of the first and second kind:

(40)

(4b)

(4c)

in which condition (20) is easily seen to require Br = O. The remaining five constants can
be evaluated by imposing the conditions (2b), (2e), and (2d). The result is a set of five
linear algebraic equations, which may be solved with respect to Al to yield
 382 M. SPIGA AND G. SPIGA

where

VI = DwXwKO(Xcrc) III(Xw rc)K I(Xw rw) - KI(Xwrc)II(Xwrw))

(6)
+ DcXcK,(Xcrc) IIo(xwrc)KI(Xwrw) + KO(Xwrc)I,(Xwrw))

~nd

V2 = DwXw lo(XcrJ [f1(Xw rc)KI(xw r",) - KI(Xwrc)I,(Xwr",)1

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(7)
-DcXc ',(Xcrc) lIo(Xwrc)K1(x",rw) + KO(X",fc)ll(x", r",)]

The constants for the neutron flux in the cladding and moderator region follow finally
from

(8)

(9)

(10)

( II)

and arc, of course, all proportional to q/~aw.

The heat generated in nuclear reactors is directly or indirectly derived from the
energy released in the nuclear fissions. More precisely, in any fuel element the volumetric
thermal source-and consequently the heat generated-is proportional to the product
of the macroscopic fission cross section and the neutron flux and is given simply by

Q(r) = G~r(I'r(r) ( 12)

Calculation of the heat generation rate in structural materials is an extremely complicated

process from a physical point of view. The basic problem is to obtain the energy spectra
of both neutron and gamma radiation fluxes in the region where the heating is to be
found, considering that during the attenuation of the original fluxes other radiations
arise through collisions with electrons and atoms. This aspect must be considered carefully
in reactor shielding, whereas the cladding is not subjected to appreciable internal heat
gcncrution because the material does not significantly attenuate the radiations causing
the heating; hence the power density in the cladding is assumed null.
 NUCLEAR AND THERMOMECHANICAL ASPECTS IN FUEL ROD DESIGN 383

TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION

The basic procedure for determining the temperature in the fuel rod consists in solving
the heat-conduction equations in the fuel and the cladding [7-81. The two adjacent
media must be considered simultaneously; it is therefore necessary to specify a coupling
condition that expresses the temperature and the heat nux along the boundary of one
medium in terms of the corresponding quantities at the boundary of the other medium.
Under steady-state conditions in which heat sources are present. Eq. (l2)-the general
Fourier equation for the fuel in cylindrical coordinates-reduces to the Poisson form
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(13)

For the cladding, the temperature must satisfy the Laplace equation

(14)

The temperatures T and T are defined by

(15)

The solu tion of the heat-conduction equations requires the following boundary conditions:

(160)

zk dTc ) -{dTf} (16b)

{- -
dr r~1 dr r~1

(16c)

where

(17)

Bi = h~f (18)
Kc

Equations (160) and (16b) state the continuity of temperature and heat nux in the
 384 M. SPIGA AND G. SPIGA

discontinuity interfaces of the different bodies, and Eq. (l6e) is the heat balance between
the cladding surface and coolant. The solution to Eqs. (13), (14) is found in the form

d
XfrlO(Xf r) =- rll(Xf r)
dr

I dlo(Xfr)
'I(Xf r) =- - -
XI' dr
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and is obtained as

(19)

(20)

The three integration constants can be obtained through the boundary conditions; they are

AI'' = lo(X)'}
2
+ II(Xf)(_I_ + I )
. n rc (2Ia)
XI' zkXf rc BI

(2Ib)

(2Ie)

The quantity T is pointed out in the temperature distribution equations (19) and (20),
it is dependent on the nuclear properties of the materials, whereas the dimensionless
r.
quantities A A~, B~ are dependent only on the parameter XI' and the heat-transfer
properties of the materials.

THERMOELASTIC BEHA YIOR

The most significant difference in the stress analysis and mechanical design of nuclear
power reactors and more conventional heat-transfer equipment is the emergence of the
thermal stresses as the dominant design feature, particularly with respect to the fuel and
the cladding, where severe temperature gradients exist normal to the direction of coolant
flow 191. The design of structural parts and shieldings, where in general thermal stresses
are due to temperature gradients in the direction of coolant flow, is, on the contrary,
determined primarily by the load stresses. Hence the main task of the designer is to
minimize the thermal stresses in the fuel element. Limitations on the power output and
efficiency of nuclear reactors therefore result from the limitations on the thermal stresses
 NUCLEAR AND THERMO MECHANICAL ASPECTS IN FUEL ROD DESIGN 385

that can be safely sustained by the materials, as well as on the maximum level of operating
temperatures. The higher the operating temperature, the lower the strength of the com-
ponent (for intergranular cracking, embrittlement, strain-aging, and other effects). Con-
ventional stress analysis is based on the assumption of linear reversible deformational
response of the material. Deviation from elastic behavior of real materials at elevated
temperatures and consideration of creep as an important characteristic of thermal design,
however, do not make unfounded the assumptions of linear elasticity. The principal
reason for this reluctance to replace the linearity assumption by a more realistic assump-
tion is the difficulty in introducing the stress-strain relations containing inelastic strain
components. The hypothesis of linear elasticity of the materials at the high operating
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temperatures in nuclear reactors is justified only as an approximation, but it can be shown

that the introduction of inelastic strain components, while only moderately affecting
the stresses due to the applied loads, reduces the level of thermal stresses 110). At present,
high-temperature design is generally based on elastic solutions, and elastic thermal stresses
and fuel-cladding constraints are regarded as the best available approximation; moreover.
they represent an upper limit of the real stresses and constraints. Their use in design will
result in an increase of the safety of the structure, and the analysis based on elasticity
remains the standard procedure. The strain-stress relations in the form suitable for thermal
stress are obtained from the consideration that the total strain components are due to the
stresses and to the temperature change. The Hooke's law, so deduced for both fuel and
cladding, can be simplified by noting that the temperature distribution is a function of
radial distance r only and that the shearing strains are zero because of the symmetry of
temperature. Resorting to the equilibrium conditions [II) and assuming plane strain
conditions, the radial displacements and stresses in the fuel and cladding are given by [12)

I "
ur = (I + vr)-I [Tr(r) - Tr(l)]r dr + C,(I -vr!r (220)
r • 0

(22b)

I .,
sr'=-'2IITr(r)-Tr(I)]rdr+CI (22c)
r • 0

(22d)

where the following parameters are introduced:

, oJI -vr)
S:
I
= <l'rTS· =
I E i = f, c (23)
r

<l'c I -Vr
zCI'=--- (24)
<l'r I - Vc
 386 M. SPIGA AND G. SPIGA

These solutions include the symmetry condition for radial displacements,

ur(O) = 0 (25)

Thc constants C" C 2 , C 3 depend on the boundary conditions

(260)

(26b)
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(26c)

which represent, respectively, the radial congruence and the equilibrium condition at the
fuel/cladding interface, and the external boundary condition for thermal radial stress.
Equations (26) constitu te a linear algebraical system of three equations with unknown
C 1, C 2 , C 3 , whuse solution, introducing the temperature determined in Eqs. (19) and (20),
provides

where

(30)

The radial displacements and stresses assume the form

( I + vr)lo(Xr) ] 1+ Vf }
uf=(JIfT {r [ 2 +(I-vr)C 1 ---3- II(Xf) (31 )
2Xf xr

1
ue= (JIfT( z,,( 1 + vc)A~ [+1 ~ -1)] + C3r

+ .!.- [Jz,,( I + ve)A~(In re + 1) + C2] } (32)

r
 NUCLEAR AND THERMOMECHANICAL ASPECTS IN FUEL ROD DESIGN 387

_ [It(Xf r) _ lo(xd +c] (33)

srr - UrT 3 2 t
\Xr 2Xr

(34)

In plane strain condition (constant strain along the cylinder axis), considering stress-free
terminal faces and applying Saint Venant's principle, the tangential and axial stresses can
be analogously evaluated and are
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(35)

(36)

Sfz = UfT [Io(x;r) _ 211(~f)] (37)

Xf Xf

(38)

The results deduced by the assumptions underlying the above procedure constitute an
appreciable tool for the design of structural parts for service at elevated temperature.
Nowadays, the development of materials for high temperatures is guided mainly by the
requirement to reduce the creep rate at the expected conditions to acceptable limits.
determined by total deformation and period of service. Such a failure critierion is defined
in terms of a critical stress producing a creep rate which will lead to a limiting total
permanent deformation compatible with the safe operation of the structure and the
fracture strength of the material. The failure critierion under these conditions must be
expressed in the dual terms of a stress producing a limiting creep deformation and a stress
causing fracture, both defined with respect to the expected service life of the designed
structure in terms of an invariant of the stress tensor. The lower of these two stresses
represents the design criterion of failure; an equivalent total stress of materials must not
exceed this limiting stress Slim' Many authors have proposed different definitions of this
equivalent stress based on different criteria; for instance, according to the von Mises
principle, it can be defined in dimensionless form as

I )112
Si,eq = { 2 [(Sir-SiOf + (Sir- Siz)2 + (SiO -Siz)2j i = f, c (39)

This represents the resultant stress in a body without external loads but in the presence
of thermal gradients. The safety requirements impose the condition that the equivalent
stress, due to ex ternal loads and thermal gradien ts, must be lower than slim; if the influence
 388 M. SPIGA AND G. SPIGA

of external loads is negligible, as frequently occurs in nuclear reactor structures, the

safcfty criterion leads to Si,eq';;; sl,lim (i = f', c).

NUMERICAL EXAMPLES

The exposition developed above applies to any water reactor in steady state; Eqs. (19),
(20), and (31) to (39) can be directly used to evaluate the temperature, displacement,
and normal stress distribution in the two regions (fuel and cladding) of a fuel rod while
Eqs. (4) provide the neutron flux distribution in the whole unit cell. The behavior of the
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fuel element in operating conditions is thus immediately definable in terms of every

geometrical, nuclear, thermal, and mechanical parameter. To show a possible utilization
of the results previously deduced, a common power pressurized light water reactor
(PWR) will be considered, and the different behavior of a fuel pin in its core will be
analyzed when varying the enrichment of fissile material. This is justified by the fact
that, in commercial power reactors, the geometrical shape and dimensions and the choice
of materials (that is, thermal and mechanical properties) are nearly standardized, while
the enrichment of fissile material (that is, nuclear properties) in fuel pins is not exactly
standardized, even if it does vary in a well-determined range; moreover, it is variable for
the different regions of the core and during the life of the fuel element. The rod considered
here consists of uranium dioxide clad in zircaloy-4 and cooled by water; the relative
parameters arc shown in Table I. The discussion of the results, however, is quite general.
In Table 2, the minimum and maximum neutron flux in the unit cell [respectively,
<I'r(O) and rl'w(r w)], the maximum temperature in the fuel Tr(O) and cladding Te(l), the
maximum water temperature (or the minimum cladding temperature) Te(r e), and the
slowing-down density are displayed for many different values of the percentage of enrich-
ment of U2 3 5 and for two values of the rod linear power (300 Wjcm and 400 Wjcm).
The general trend of the neutron thermal flux versus the enrichment is easily seen.
lncreasing the percentage of U 2 3 5 in the fuel rod amounts, in fact, to strongly increasing
the absorption rate of thermal neutrons in the fuel, since the microscopic absorption
cross section of U 23 5 is very high (several hundreds of barns). Thus the fuel rod behaves
as a stronger absorber of thermal neutrons and a two-fold effect sets up. First, the absolute
value of the fluxes decreases when the enrichment increases because more absorptions
occur in the unit cell, while the thermal neutron source, namely the slowing-down density

Table I

tr= 0.55 em z" = 1.58 xr = 0.55(Er/ Dr}'"

'e= 1.15 zE = 1.05 l:ae = 0.0068 cm "
Jw = 1.7 vr = 0.25 Dc = 0.980 em
zk = 4.8 v e = 0.32 Xc = 0.046
IIi = 6 l:f= 12.49<:1..:01- 1 l:aw= 0.0195em-'
G = 200 MeV l:ar= 0.0596 + 14.6hem-' Ow = 0.17gem
"r= 1.3 X 10-SoC' Dr = 1/(1.225 + 0.125c)em xw=0.181
 NUCLEAR AND THERMOMECHANICAL ASPECTS IN FUEL ROD DESIGN 389

Table 2

q'

e, <1>[\0), <l>w(rw), T reO), Te(l), Te(re), q,

10"n/(em',s) 10"n/tem' -s) °C °c °c 10" n/tem', s)

% 300 400 300 400 300 400 300 400 300 400 300 400

1,0 7,83 10,43 8.32 J 1,09 1320 1760 141 187 72 95 12,11 16,15
I,5 5.20 6.93 5.64 7.52 1318 1757 141 187 72 95 10.56 14.07
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2.0 3.89 5.18 4.30 5.74 1316 1755 141 187 72 95 9.78 13,03
2,5 3.10 4.13 3.50 4,67 1314 1752 141 187 72 95 9.31 12,41
3,0 2.57 3,43 2.97 3.96 1312 1749 141 187 72 95 9,00 12.00
3.5 2.20 2.93 2.59 3,45 1310 1747 141 187 72 95 8,77 11.70
4.0 1,92 2.56 2.30 3.07 1308 1744 141 187 72 95 8,61 11,48
4.5 1.70 2.26 2.08 2.77 1306 1742 141 187 72 95 8.48 11,30
5.0 I,52 2,03 1.90 2,53 1304 1739 141 187 72 95 8.37 11.16
5.5 1.38 1,84 1.75 2.34 1302 1736 141 187 72 95 8.29 11.05
6,0 1.26 1,68 1,63 2,17 1300 1734 141 187 72 95 8.22 10.96
6.5 1.16 1.55 1.53 2.04 1298 1731 141 187 72 95 8.16 10.88
7.0 1.07 1.43 1.44 1.92 1296 1729 141 187 72 95 8.11 10.81
7.5 1.00 1.33 1.36 1.82 1295 1726 141 187 72 95 8.06 10.75
8,0 0,93 1.24 1.30 1.73 1293 1724 141 187 72 95 8,02 10,70
8.5 0,87 1.17 1.24 1.65 1291 1721 141 187 72 95 7,99 10,65
9,0 0,82 1.10 1.19 1.58 1289 1718 141 187 72 95 7.96 10.61
9,5 0.78 1.04 1.14 1.52 1287 1716 141 187 72 95 7.93 10.57
10.0 0,74 0.98 1.10 1,46 1285 1713 141 187 72 95 7.91 10,54

q, decreases because the number of neutrons produced by fission remains constant.

Second, the relative flux variation (related to the disadvantage factor) in the cell increases
with increasing enrichment E, since now the fuel rod is more black for thermal neutrons.
The ratio <l>r(O)/<l>w(rw) is about 94% for E = 1%, but falls to about 67% for E = 10%,
for q' = 300W/cm. It must be noticed that the total fission rate is constant throughout
Table 2, so that the average thermal flux in the fuel rod is determined by the fact that
2:r is a linearly increasing function of E. As regards temperatures, it is remarkable that
the total power generated by fission is always the same, but differently distributed,
Since the most critical region is in the middle of the rod, the most favorable situation is
the one in which <Pr(O)/<I>w(rw) is minimum. The higher temperature decreases, in fact,
about 3SoC passing from a 1% enrichment to a 10% enrichment, for q' = 300W/cm. The
temperatures in the cladding do not suffer the consequences of the changes in enrich-
ment, because in these hypotheses the amount of heat removed to water is the same; the
cladding thermal gradient remains unchanged and so, consequently, does the temperature
distribution (being the water temperature invaried]. The stress distribution follows the
trend of temperatu re gradients; hence, in the cladding it does not change when the
enrichment changes. while in the fuel it is more prominent for small values of E. The same
considerations are valid for the case q' = 400 W[cuv; in this situation the fission rate and
consequently the heat removed to water are greater; hence all the related quantities in
 390 M. SPIGA AND G. SPIGA

Table 3

e, 'l'r(O), '<!>w(rw), T e(l), Te(re), q'. q,

% 10" n/(em' . 5) 10" n/(em' . s) °c °c W/em 10" n/(em', . s)

1.0 9.48 10.08 172.0 86.7 363.6 1.47

1.5 6.31 6.85 172.2 86.9 364.2 1.28
2.0 4.72 5.23 172.5 87.0 364.7 1.19
2.5 3.77 4.27 172.8 87.1 365.3 1.13
3.0 3.14 3.62 173.0 87.3 365.8 1.10
3.5 2.68 3.16 173.3 87.4 366.4 1.07
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4.0 2.34 2.81 173.5 87.5 366.9 1.05

4.5 2.08 2.54 173.8 87.7 367.5 1.04
5.0 1.87 2.33 174.1 87.8 368.0 1.03
5.5 1.69 2.15 174.3 87.9 368.6 1.02
6.0 1.55 2.01 174.6 88.0 369.1 1.01
6.5 1.43 1.88 174.9 88.2 369.7 1.00
7.0 1.32 1.78 175.1 88.3 370.2 1.00
7.5 1.23 1.69 175.4 88.4 370.8 1.00
8.0 1.15 1.61 175.6 88.6 371.3 0.99
8.5 1.08 1.53 175.9 88.7 371.9 0.99
9.0 1.02 1.47 176.2 88.8 372.4 0.99
9.5 0.97 1.41 176.4 89.0 373.0 0.99
10.0 0.92 1.36 176.7 89.1 373.5 0.98
TrW) = 1600°C

Table 2 are higher than those pertaining for q' = 300 W!cm and the thermal gradients
are accentuated.
Another potential use of the results obtained consists in imposing a maximum fuel
temperature to analyze the consequent behavior of the rod. In Table 3 the physical
. quantities characterizing the fuel rod are reported for various values of E, pre-establishing
a maximum temperature T r = 1600°C (this means that the real temperature Or is about
1800-1 900°C). When the enrichment increases, the heat generation rate increases because
thc macroscopic fission cross section increases more than the thermal neutron flux
decreases; hence the temperature and the thermal gradients become more considerable
in thc cladding, as expected. On the other hand, the slowing-down density and, in conse-
qucncc, thc neutron thermal flux decrease because more absorptions occur in the unit
cell. If thc design of the fuel rod is based on the assumption that the maximum temperature
is equal to a pre-established value, Table 3 provides directly and immediately the corres-
ponding heat generation rate and the whole thermal behavior of the rod.
Assuming a constant slowing-down density, the trend of the physical quantities
concerning thc fuel element presents an interesting form. In Figs. I to 7 are shown the
spatial distributions of some physical quantities for various values of the enrichment,
with q = 1013 ncutrons/Icm ' . s). The selected values of E are 0.5, 1.0,2.0,3.0,4.0,6.0%;
because q is constant and the macroscopic fission cross section increases with E, the corres-
ponding values of the linear heat rate are 178.7.247.7,306.9,333.4,348.5,365.1 W!cm.
Figure I shows the thermal neutron flux in the unit cell; the minimum value lies in the
center, the maximum in the water region more distant from the fuel. The flux decreases
when E increases because t hc fuel absorbs more thermal neutrons, as previously discussed.
 NUCLEAR AND THERMOMECHANICAL ASPECTS IN fUEL ROD DESIGN 391

..0 -I-----~-~

3.5 .
2..

3.0
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~-_..:---

\.2 1'" \1

Note especially that the different curves get closer as E is raised by the same increment.
In Fig. 2 the fuel and cladding temperature is shown for different values of E, its maximum
being in the rod center. When E increases, the temperature increases and its gradient
becomes steeper because the heat generation rate is greater; from this figure it can also
bc said that small variations in the enrichment have little influence on the temperature
distribution when E is great (for instance E > 6%), while they have a relevant influence
when E is small (for instance, E < 3%).
In Fig. 3, the radial displacement distribu tions are shown for the fuel and the cladding;
the more E increases, the more the radial displacement takes place. because the temperature
increases, In the fuel, Uf reaches a maximum near the outer surface for r = rmax: Imux is
variable because it depends on the parameter Xr (that is, on the parameter E). In fact,
Jrnax is the solution of the equation

Fig. 2 Temperature distribution in the fuel

rod.
 392 M. SPIGA AND G. SPIGA

U
10"

6
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Fig. 3 Dimensionless radial displacement

0 distribution in the fuel rod.

'0"

-,

-.
-3

-0

-. Fig. 4 Dimensionless radial stress distri-

bution in the fuel rod.

-.
-0
Fig. 5 Dimensionless tangential stress
r distribution in the fuel rod.
o 0.0 0.6 0.' 1.15
'"
 NUCLEAR AND THERMOMECHANICAL ASPECTS IN FUEL ROD DESIGN 393

•
0

-, \.
-.
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-.
-. 0 0.' 0.' 1,0 1."
r
Fig. 6 Dimensionless axial stress distri-
bution in the fuel rod.

In the cladding the displacement in the inner surface is greater than that in the outer
surface.
In Figs. 4 to 7, the normal stresses are shown for the fuel and cladding. Any stress
distribution (in modulus) increases when e increases as a consequence of increased heat
generation and temperature gradients. The radial stresses (Fig. 4) are always compressions
because of the constraints that the outer annular fibers exert on the inner ones (the
former are cold, the latter hot). At the interface the radial stress is continuous, for the
equilibrium condition, and changes concavity. The tangential stresses (Fig. 5) are com-
pressions in the inner region of fuel, tractions in the outer region; in the cladding they
are always tractions. In fact, the inner annular fibers are constrained by the outer ones.
while the outer fibers are subjected to the radial pressure of the expanding inner fibers.
At the interface there is no continuity since the physical properties of the materials are
discontinuous. The axial stresses (Fig. 6) are compressions in the inner regions and
tractions in the outer regions, in both fuel and cladding. These stresses in the cladding
are much lower than in the fuel, since the two bodies are not considered to be axially

'0

Fig. 7 Dimensionless equivalent stress

.., ... 0.' 0.• 1••
r distribution in the fuel rod.
 394 M. SPIGA AND G. SPIGA

joint. The equivalent stresses, deduced by t he von Mises principle, are shown in Fig. 7.
The fuel is less constrained in the inner than in the outer fibers and presents a point of
minimum stress. In the cladding the radial stresses are low compressions, the axial stresses
are low and only partially tractions, while the tangential stresses are high and totally
tractions. These last are the most dangerous stresses to which the cladding is subjected,
as demonstrated also by Fig. 7, where the cladding equivalent stress distribution is quite
analogous to the cladding tangential stress distribution-that is, the inner cladding is
exposed to greater stresses than the outer cladding.
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REFERENCES
I. C. F. Bonilla, Nuclear Engineering. McGraw-Hili, New York, 1957.
2. M. M. EI Wakil, Nile/ear Heat Transport, In tcmational Text book, Scranton, Pa., 1971.
3. A. M. Weinberg and E. P. Wigner, The Physical Theory of Neutron Chain Reactors, University
of Chicago Press. Chicago, 1958.
4. G.!. Bell and S. Glasstone, Nuclear Reactor Theory, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1970.
5. S. Glassronc and M C. Edlund, The Elements of Nuclear Reactor Theory, Van Nostrand, New
York,1955.
6. R. W. Meghreblian and D. K. Holmes, Reactor Analysis, McGraw-Hili. New York, 1960.
7. E. Lorenzini and M. Spiga, Consequences of a Step Variation in Coolant Temperature on a Fuel
Rod with Cladding, Nucl. Eng. Des.. vol. 44, pp. 323-330, 1977.
8. M. Spiga and E. Lorenzini, Neutron Distribution Influence on the Thermal Design of a Nuclear
Fuel Rod, Nucl. Eng. Des., vol. 60, pp, 353-363, 1980.
9. Z. Zudans, T. C. Yen, and W. H. Steigclmann, Thermal Stress Techniques in the Nuclear Industry,
Franklin Institute Research Laboratories, 1965.
10. W. Novacki, Thermoelosticity , Pergamon, Oxford, 1962.
II. B. A.Boley and J. H. Weiner, Theory of Thermal Stresses, Wiley, New York (1960).
t 2. A. Carpintcri and E. Lorenzini, Thermal Shock in a Nuclear Fuel Element with Cladding, Nucl.
Eng. Des.. vol. 61, pp. 1-12, 1980.

Received November 16, /981

Request reprints from M. Spiga.