1

FUEL PERFORMANCE
#7 CLADDING DEFORMATION
MWd/kgU 3 BU 1 . 2 ) BU ( 08 . 0
MWd/kgU 3 BU ) BU ( 3 . 0 ) BU ( 8 . 1 (%)
V
V
2
fp
> =
< + =
|
.
|

\
|

radiation
densification
Solid fp swelling
Due to the accumulation of fission products dissolved in fuel
Burnup, MWd/kgU
Oxide Fuel
2
Swelling of hydride fuel
0
4 8 12 16 20 24
Burnup, MWd/kgU
Slope = 0.08
3
Cladding properties
Type (Zry-2, Zry-4, ZIRLO, M5)
Fabrication: cold-worked or stress-relieved-annealed
Surface roughness
Texture factor (fraction of grains of hcp Zr with basal
planes parallel to the tube axis usually small)
Fill-gas type and pressure (usually He at ~ 10 atm)
or liquid-metal bond
Plastic and thermal creep properties
Irradiation hardening and irradiation creep
4
Stresses in cladding
forces acting on the cladding arise from:
- fuel swelling (closed gap, or hard PCMI)
gas pressure p
gas

u
u
o = o
o = o
2
1
z
C C gas

; / R ) p p ( tubes, wall - thin

: gap Open
o
C

R
C

) 5 # Memo (
/ R ) p p (
z
C C i
u
u
o = o
o = o
- fission-gas and system pressure
p
gas

5
Open gap - gas pressure (He + fg)

=
i i
i
gas
T / V
n R
p
i = void region in fuel element
- plenum
- gap
- cracks
R = gas constant
n
i
= moles gas in region i
V
i
= volume of region i
T
i
= temperature of gas in region i
See Memo #3
for details
6
Plastic behavior
deformation is incompressible:
c
r
+ c
u
+ c
z
= 0
| |
2 / 1 2
r z
2
r
2
z
2
1
) ( ) ( ) ( * o o + o o + o o = o
u
u
Equivalent uniaxial stress:
Deviatoric stresses:
solid does not deform under hydrostatic stress
( )
( )
( )
z r
3
1
r dev , r
z r
3
1
z dev , z
z r
3
1
dev ,
o + o + o o = o
o + o + o o = o
o + o + o o = o
u
u
u u u
7
Prandtl-Reuss Flow Rule
dev , r pl , r dev , z pl , z dev , pl ,
*
*
*
*
*
*
o
|
.
|

\
|
o
c
= c o
|
.
|

\
|
o
c
= c o
|
.
|

\
|
o
c
= c
u u
| | T ) (
cr ,
pl , r z
E
1
tot ,
A o + c + c + o + o v o = c
u
u u u
| | T ) (
cr , z pl , z r z
E
1
tot , z
A o + c + c + o + o v o = c
u
Constitutive relations (elastic + plastic + creep + thermal):
reversible:
elastic and
thermal
irreversible:
plastic and
creep
c-/o- is obtained from uniaxial tests
| | T ) (
cr , r pl , r z r
E
1
tot , r
A o + c + c + o + o v o = c
u
8
Plastic
strain
Irradiation effect
Uniaxial tensile tests
o-=K(c-)
n

9
Plastic properties of Zry
(MATPRO p 4.9-9)
Strain-hardening exponent:
T<1100 K: n = -0.095 + 1.17x10
-3
T 2x10
-6
T
2
+9.6x10
-10
T
3

1100<T<1600 K: n = -0.23 + 2.5x10
-4
T
T>1600 K: n = 0.17
Strength coefficient (in Pa):
T<750 K: K = 1.18x10
9
+ 4.5x10
5
T 3.3x10
3
T
2
+ 1.7T
3

750<T<1090 K: K = 2.52x10
6
exp(2.85x10
6
/T
2
)
1090<T<1250 K: K = 1.84x10
8
1.43x10
5
T
T>1250 K: K = 4.3x10
7
-6.7x10
4
T + 37.5T
2
7.3x10
-3
T
10
Compressive creep of Zry
(from MATRPO, Vol. IV, p. 4.8-14)
( )
Bt
cr ,
e 1 A

u
= c
Nearly all creep data are from tensile tests, very little
compressive creep data available
creep is slow deformation due to applied stress below or
above the yield stress
In reactor, the system pressure causes cladding
creepdown while gap is open
Compressive thermal creep (positive for creepdown):
2 7
2 3
) 5 . 14 / ( 10 x 6 . 7 B
) 5 . 14 / ( 10 x 3 . 5 A
u

o =
o =
o
u
= hoop stress, MPa (positive in compression)
t = time under stress, s
11
Application to open gap
(in FRAPCON only creep acts)
Compressive
loading (p - p
gas
)
Azimuthal stress (o
u
)
creep strain: c
u,cr
= (AR/R)
creepdown
Time increment
Cladding radius-
to-thickness ratio
12
Gap closure & PCMI
Open gap - hot but intact pellet
Initial cracking & relocation
a fraction ~ 0.5 of initial hot gap is
converted to void volume inside cracks
Soft PCMI fuel first contacts
cladding no interfacial pressure
Hard PCMI void volume eliminated
from fuel high interfacial pressure
13
Post-PCMI cladding strain
At hard PCMI, the stress in the cladding changes from
compressive to tensile; it passes through a state of zero
stress, which is the reference state
Creepdown is replace by outward plastic deformation
driven by fission-product swelling of fuel


ref
fp fp
C
C
pl , z
z
z
z
z
I I =
A
=
A
= c
no-axial-slip condition
ref
fp fp
C
C
pl ,
R
R
R
R
I I =
A
=
A
= c
u
By volume conservation, the cladding becomes thinner:
pl , pl , z pl , pl , r
2 ) (

= + =
1 slide on plot from
V
V
3
1
fp
fp
=
|
.
|

\
|
A
= I
the strains follow the
rigid pellet approximation:

14
Cladding deformation (cont)
only plastic deformation is considered
From Prandtl-Reuss rules
( )
( ) 0 : axial
) tensile ( : azimuthal
z r
3
1
z dev , z
2
1
z r
3
1
dev ,
= o + o + o o = o
o = o + o + o o = o
u
u u u u
dev , z pl , z dev , pl ,
*
*
*
*
o
|
.
|

\
|
o
c
= c o
|
.
|

\
|
o
c
= c
u u
Deviatoric stresses:
from previous slide, c
u,pl
= c
z,pl
, so o
u,dev
= o
u,dev
and: o
u
= o
z
(note difference from open-gap case: o
u
= o
z
)

From Memo #5:
p
i
= p + E(o
C
/R)
o
u
= E p
E = 3K (I
fp
I )
n

ref
fp
(K & n from slide 9)
15
Example: T
C
= 625 K, n = 0.1, K = 600 MPa
Suppose PCMI starts at 40 MWd/kgU when I = 1
ref
fp
At 60 MWd/kgU, I
fp
= 2.5% so E = 395 MPa
For p = 7 MPa and o
C
/R = 0.14, p
i
= 62 MPa & o
u
= 387 MPa
What to compare this to? MATPRO suggests the
burst strength: o
burst
~ 1.36K = 820 MPa
Since o
u
< o
burst
by a good margin, the cladding is safe