Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Effective thermal conductivity model of porous polycrystalline UO2: A computational approach

  • Yoon, Bohyun (Department of Nuclear Engineering, Kyung Hee University) ;
  • Chang, Kunok (Department of Nuclear Engineering, Kyung Hee University)
  • Received : 2021.05.10
  • Accepted : 2021.10.27
  • Published : 2022.05.25
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Abstract

The thermal conductivity of uranium oxide (UO2) containing pores and grain boundaries is investigated using continuum-level simulations based on the finite-difference method in two and three dimensions. Steady-state heat conduction is solved on microstructures generated from the phase-field model of the porous polycrystal to calculate the effective thermal conductivity of the domain. The effects of porosity, pore size, and grain size on the effective thermal conductivity of UO2 are quantified. Using simulation results, a new empirical model is developed to predict the effective thermal conductivity of porous polycrystalline UO2 fuel as a function of porosity and grain size.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (NRF-2017M2B2B1072806). This work was also supported by the "Human Resources Program in Energy Technology" of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), granted financial resources from the Ministry of Trade, Industry Energy, Republic of Korea (No. 20214000000070).

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