On Ballooning and Burst Behavior of Nuclear Fuel Clad Considering Heating Rate Effect: Development of a Damage Model, a Burst Correlation and Experimental Validation
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Nuclear fuel clad are thin-walled tubes containing fuel pellets generating heat during operation of reactor, and also during dry storage due to decay heat. The clad is subjected to high temperature and high pressure environment during various postulated accident scenarios. As the fuel clad acts as a barrier to radioactive release, the clad burst becomes a critical criteria for its integrity assessment. Clad burst experiments have been carried out by various researchers for various combinations of internal pressure and heating schemes. Several empirical correlations are reported in literature for prediction of clad burst stress as a function of burst temperature. These empirical correlations do not account for variation in heating rates on clad burst behavior. In this work, a new damage model has been used to predict the burst behavior of fuel clad for various heating rates. A new correlation has been proposed which takes into account of the heating rates. It was observed that by increasing the heating rate, the burst temperature gets elevated as the time for accumulation of material damage becomes less. The correlation has also been validated with experimental data from literature. This new correlation can be used in severe accident analysis codes to predict the fuel pin burst phenomenon accurately.
Source: Solids
Authors: A. Syed, M.K. Samal
Institutions: Homi Bhabha National Institute, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,207
Funder: Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
OpenAlex ID: W4414629470