Matthew W. Ales

Particle Contact Forces in Particle Bed Reactor Fuel Elements

Particle bed interactions with other mechanical parts of the fuel element in the reactor can be evaluated by proper selection of a mathematical model that will simulate the granular material behavior of the particle bed. This paper presents descriptions of the model, its implementation with the finite element program, and the program validation. Also, the requirement to calculate the consistent contact forces between the particles are discussed. The application of the program is demonstrated in a realistic case. It is concluded that these analytical contact forces can be compared to the experimentally determined fuel particle crush load to show the acceptability of the fuel element design.