Preliminary thermomechanical analysis of the ALFRED fuel element – Part 2

As a prosecution of the activities on the advancement and refinement of the ALFRED (Advanced Lead-cooled Fast Reactor European Demonstrator) core design, a new line of activities was launched to tackle the thermomechanical aspects of the design. Being a long-term plan, for the first year the activities are focused on the vibrational analysis of the ALFRED fuel pin, with the final aim of developing a sound approach for driving the design and positioning of spacer grids along the bundle of fuel pins so as to prevent detrimental effects possibly due to flow-induced vibrations. The present report describes the dynamic behavior of a single pin immersed in liquid lead, aimed at investigating possible resonances with the vibrations induced by the fluid. The study was then extended to a group of seven pins immersed in lead, in order to highlight the mutual influence when they are submitted to a dynamic load. This work is the continuation of the work presented in ADPFISS - LP2 - 140