ELESTRES: Performance of Nuclear Fuel, Circumferential Ridging and Multitaxial Elastic-Plastic Stresses in Sheaths

Abstract

The finite element code ELESTRES models the two-dimensional axisymmetric behaviour of a CANDU fuel element during normal operation. The main focus of the code is to estimate temperatures, fission gas release, and axial variations of deformations/stresses in the pellet and in the sheath. Thus the code is able to predict details like stresses/strains at circumferential ridges. This paper describes the current version of ELESTRES. The emphasis is on a recent addition: multiaxial stresses in the sheath near circumferential ridges. For accuracy in the critical region, a fine mesh is used near the ridge. To keep computing costs low, a coarse mesh is used near the midplane of the pellet. Predictions of ELESTRES show good agreement with about 80 measurements of fission-gas-release. In this paper, we also present ELESTRES predictions of hoop strains in sheaths, for two irradiations: element ABS and bundle GB. For both irradiations, predictions compare favourably with measurements. An illustrative example shows that near circumferential ridges, bending contributes to multiaxial stresses in the sheath. This can have a significant effect on sheath integrity, such as during stress-corrosion-cracking due to power-increases, or during corrosion-assisted-fatigue due to power-cycling.