The study on grid-to-rod fretting wear models for PWR fuel

The fretting wear is found to be generated at grid-to-rod contact areas by flow-induced vibration. This flow-induced grid-to-rod fretting wear may be initiated at a certain critical grid-to-rod gap that strongly depends on the extent of flow-induced vibration and grid spring designs. Three fretting wear excitation mechanisms acting on the grid-to-rod fretting wear are summarized. In order to examine the impact of grid spring designs on the fretting wear rate, the fretting wear tests for three kinds of grid spring designs were carried out for 500 h, simulating the reactor flow conditions. In parallel, three grid-to-rod fretting wear models that include constant work rate model, constant work density rate model and linear work density rate model have been developed. The three fretting wear models were used to predict the fuel rod perforation times with the use of the fretting wear test results. It is said that the constant work density rate model or the linear work density rate model is quite effective in predicting the grid-to-rod fretting-induced rod failure time observed in commercial nuclear power plants. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.