Research on Thermo-Mechanical Response of Solid-State Core Matrix in a Heat Pipe Cooled Reactor

Xintong Peng, Cong Liu, Yangbin Deng (), Jingyu Nie, Yingwei Wu and Guanghui Su
Additional contact information
Xintong Peng: Department of Nuclear Science and Technology, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Cong Liu: Department of Nuclear Science and Technology, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Yangbin Deng: Department of Nuclear Science and Technology, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Jingyu Nie: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Advanced Nuclear Energy and Technology, School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Yingwei Wu: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Advanced Nuclear Energy and Technology, School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Guanghui Su: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Advanced Nuclear Energy and Technology, School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-21

Abstract: Due to its advantages of simple structure and high inherent safety, the heat pipe cooled reactor (HPR) could be widely applied in deep-sea navigation, deep-space exploration and land-based power supply as a promising advanced special nuclear power equipment option. In HPRs, the space between the components (fuel rods and heat pipes) is filled with solid matrix material, forming a continuous solid reactor core. Thermo-mechanical response of the solid core is a special issue for HPRs and has great impacts on reactor safety. Considering the irradiation and burnup effects, the thermal and mechanical modeling of an HPR was conducted with ABAQUS-2021 in this study. The thermo-mechanical response under long-term normal operation, accident transients and single heat pipe failed conditions was simulated and analyzed. The whole core presents relatively good isothermality due to the high thermal conductivity of the solid matrix. As for the mechanical performance, the maximum stress was about 300 MPa, and the maximum displacement of the matrix could be as high as 3.7 mm. It could lead to significant variation of the reactor physical parameters, which warrants further attention in reactor design and safety analysis. Reactivity insertion accidents or single heat pipe failure has obvious influence on the thermo-mechanical performance of the local matrix, but they did not cause any failure risks, because the HPR design eliminates the dramatic power flash-up and the solid-state core avoids the heat transfer crisis caused by the coolant phase transition. A quantitative evaluation of thermo-mechanical performance was completed by this research, which is of great value for reactor design and safety evaluation of HPRs.

Keywords: heat pipe cooled reactor; solid core matrix; thermo-mechanical response (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/6/1423/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/6/1423/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:6:p:1423-:d:1611368

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().