Non-linear damping of sodium fast reactor fuel pins: Experimental analysis and numerical modelisation

Thomas Catterou (1) , Victor Blanc (1) , Guillaume Ricciardi (2) , Stéphane Bourgeois (3) , Bruno Cochelin (3)

1 DEC - Département d'Etudes des Combustibles
2 LTHC - Laboratoire d'essais de Thermohydraulique et d'Hydromécanique analytique du Coeur et des circuits
3 LMA - Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique [Marseille]

The fuel pins are the first containment barriers of a sodium fast reactor, and their integrity have to be preserved during dynamical loads, like earthquake events but also during the transport and handling of fuel sub-assemblies. The purpose of this paper is to understand the dynamical behavior of the fuel pins. A dedicated test bed has been used. Three different regimes of damping, dry or viscous depending of the displacement amplitude, are identified during the tests on fuel pins and explained by a simple analytical model. A complex finite element model is proposed and confronted to the experiment and lead to a better comprehension of the fuel pin non linear damping.

Keywords: Structural dynamic; Contact; Fuel subassembly; Finite elements

Domains: Engineering Sciences [physics]; Acoustics [physics.class-ph]; Humanities and Social Sciences; Business administration; Physics [physics]; Nuclear Experiment [nucl-ex]; Chemical Sciences; Material chemistry; Chemical Sciences; Analytical chemistry

Thomas Catterou, Victor Blanc, Guillaume Ricciardi, Stéphane Bourgeois, Bruno Cochelin. Non-linear damping of sodium fast reactor fuel pins: Experimental analysis and numerical modelisation. Nuclear Engineering and Design, 2020, 364, pp.110643. ⟨10.1016/j.nucengdes.2020.110643⟩. ⟨cea-03132475⟩