An Investigation of the Applicability and Limitations of the ORNL Expanded Plug Test

McAfee, Wallace J.¹  Hemrick, James G.¹ 

[1] ORNL

关键词: tensile;    nuclear fuel cladding;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1148329
RP-ID  :  ORNL/TM-2013/557
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1148329
Others  :  R&D Project: NN6001030

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

The expanded plug test technique for measuring the circumferential tensile properties of irradiated nuclear fuel cladding was developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and has been used successfully in several applications. The primary advantage of this technique over other procedures is its simplicity for application in the complex hot cell environment. During the development stage, efforts were made to both qualify the technique as much as possible regarding its experimental application and to develop and validate the data reduction procedures. However, since this is a new technique, the technical community is cautious in adopting a procedure that has not been fully vetted. The purpose of this effort was to address several baseline issues regarding the applicability of the technique and the precision of the use of experimental expanded ring load-deformation data to calculate material circumferential stress-strain properties. The tests performed, in conjunction with the developed data reduction procedures, demonstrate good reliability in the prediction of ring material stress-strain behavior for several materials of widely different strengths.