Vibration Analysis of Beam Supported by Springs Considering a Contact

접촉해석이 연계된 스프링 지지보의 진동해석

The fuel rods in the pressurized water reactor are continuously supported by a spring system called a spacer grid which is one of the main structural components for the fuel rod cluster (fuel assembly). The fuel rods are vibrating within the reactor due to coolant flow. Since the vibration, what is called flow-induced vibration(FIV), can wear away the surface of the fuel rod, it is important to understand the vibration characteristics of it. In this paper, the vibration analyses and the tests for the dummy rods supported by New Doublet(ND) spacer grids are described. A new FE model which reflects the contact area between the rod and ND spacer grid spring is developed to replace the previous one by which a good agreement could not be obtained with the vibration test. The natural frequency and mode shape calculated by both the previous FE model and the new one are compared with those of experiment fur a single-spanned rod supported by two ND spacer grids. The results by the new model show good agreement to experiment as compared with the ones by previous model. In addition, the new FE model is applied to the vibration analysis fur the dummy rod of 2.19 m tall continuously supported by five ND spacer grids. It is also obtained that the analysis results by the new FE model well agree to experiment ones as the single-spanned rod.