Preliminary Analysis of a Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated Fuel Thermal–Mechanical Performance

Ping Chen, Suizheng Qiu, Shichao Liu, Yi Zhou, Yong Xin, Shixin Gao, Xi Qiu and Huaiyu Lu
Additional contact information
Ping Chen: Shanxi Key Lab. of Advanced Nuclear Energy and Technology, School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Suizheng Qiu: Shanxi Key Lab. of Advanced Nuclear Energy and Technology, School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Shichao Liu: Science and Technology on Reactor System Design Technology Laboratory, Nuclear Power Institute of China, Chengdu 610200, China
Yi Zhou: Science and Technology on Reactor System Design Technology Laboratory, Nuclear Power Institute of China, Chengdu 610200, China
Yong Xin: Science and Technology on Reactor System Design Technology Laboratory, Nuclear Power Institute of China, Chengdu 610200, China
Shixin Gao: Science and Technology on Reactor System Design Technology Laboratory, Nuclear Power Institute of China, Chengdu 610200, China
Xi Qiu: Science and Technology on Reactor System Design Technology Laboratory, Nuclear Power Institute of China, Chengdu 610200, China
Huaiyu Lu: Science and Technology on Reactor System Design Technology Laboratory, Nuclear Power Institute of China, Chengdu 610200, China

Mathematics, 2019, vol. 7, issue 5, 1-13

Abstract: In this paper, a two-dimensional characteristic unit was used to simulate the thermal–mechanical performance of a fully ceramic microencapsulated (FCM) fuel pellet, and the criterion of FCM structure integrity was discussed. FCM structure integrity can be reflected though the integrity of the silicon carbide (SiC) matrix or SiC layers because of the excellent fission retention capability of SiC ceramics. The maximum temperature of the SiC matrix under normal conditions of the pressure water reactor (PWR) environment was about 1390 K, which was lower than the decomposition point of SiC. The maximum hoop stress of the SiC matrix, especially the inner part, was up to about 1200 MPa, and the hoop stress of the non-fuel region part was lower than the inner part, which can be attributed to the deformation of tristructural-isotopic (TRISO) particles. The hoop stress of the SiC layers at the end of life was only about 180 MPa, which is much lower than the strength of the chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-SiC. The failure probability of the SiC layer was lower than 9 × 10 ?5 ; thus, the integrity of SiC layers and the fission retention capability were maintained. The structure integrity of FCM fuel was broken because the SiC matrix cracked.

Keywords: FCM fuel; thermal–mechanical performance; failure probability; silicon carbide (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/7/5/448/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/7/5/448/ (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:jmathe:v:7:y:2019:i:5:p:448-:d:232701

Access Statistics for this article

Mathematics is currently edited by Ms. Emma He

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