Analyses of pellet-cladding mechanical interaction behaviour of different ABB atom fuel rod designs Original Research Article

In this paper the results of numerical computer simulations performed by the code stav-t to study the pellet-cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI) behaviour of different ABB Atom fuel rod designs are reported. The fuel rod designs considered are the boiling-water reactor pins the SVEA-64 and SVEA-96/100 designs. In particular the cladding stresses and strains induced by pellet-cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI) during reactor power ramps are calculated. In addition, the influence of ramp rate and its response to cladding stresses is analysed. The paper includes brief descriptions of some ABB PCI ramp tests, the models used for calculations, rod design features and transient PCMI analysis.