Development of multi-physics numerical simulation model to investigate thermo-mechanical fatigue crack propagation in an autofrettaged gun barrel

In this research,a detailed multi-physics study has been carried out by numerically simulating a solid fractured gun barrel for 20 thermo-mechanical cycles.The numerical model is based on thermal effects,mechanical stress fields and fatigue crack mechanics.Elastic-plastic material data of modified AISI 4340 at temperatures ranging from 25 to 1200℃and at strain rates of 4,16,32 and 48 s^(-1) was acquired from high-temperature compression tests.This was used as material property data in the simulation model.The boundary conditions applied are kept similar to the working gun barrel during continuous firing.A methodology has been provided to define thermo-mechanically active surface-to-surface type interface between the crack faces for a better approximation of stresses at the crack tip.Comparison of results from non-autofrettaged and autofrettaged simulation models provide useful information about the evolution of strains and stresses in the barrel at different points under combined thermo-mechanical loading cycles in both cases.The effect of thermal fatigue under already induced compressive yield due to autofrettage and the progressive degradation of the accumulated stresses due to thermo-mechanical cyclic loads on the internal surface of the gun barrel(mimicking the continuous firing scenario)has been analyzed.Comparison between energy release rate at tips of varying crack lengths due to cyclic thermo-mechanical loading in the non-autofrettaged and autofrettaged gun has been carried out.

Improvements in methodology to determine feedback reactivity coefficients

The reactivity of a nuclear reactor is the most important safety and operating parameter. Due to short reactor period, the Light Water Reactor(LWR) designs require the compensations of rapid unfavorable reactivity increases. The increase in fuel or moderator temperature leads to compensate the reactivity jumps as inherent safety characteristics. The safe and reliable reactor operation requires the accurate assessment of these reactivity changes. This paper highlights the improvements in the methodology to determine the feedback reactivity changes in IAEA MTR benchmark. This method incorporates the reactivity effects of fuel temperature in moderator regions and vice versa. For this purpose, a detailed 3D model of the IAEA 10 MW MTR benchmark reactor is developed employing OpenMC computer code. OpenMC is a probabilistic computer code for neutronic calculations. This work uses temperature-dependent JEFF 3.2 cross-sectional library. The model is validated against the reference results of eigenvalues for control rods(inserted and in fully withdrawn position), control rod reactivity worth, averaged thermal flux in the central flux trap, and power fraction for each fuel element at beginning of life. The validated model is applied to simulate the feedback reactivity coefficients against the conventional reference results. In order to improve the methodology, the effect of the moderator temperature and void on fuel is incorporated to obtain a more realistic value of the fuel temperature coefficient.Similarly, the moderator temperature coefficient and void coefficient are improved by incorporating the coupling effects of fuel temperature on moderator. This methodology can be applied to improve the LWR designs.