| Understanding the behaviour of nuclear fuel during irradiation is a complicated multiphysics problem involving neutronics, chemistry, radiation physics, material-science, solid mechanics, heat transfer and thermal-hydraulics. Due to the complexity and interdependence of the physics and models involved, fuel modeling is typically clone with numerical models. Advancements in both computer hardware and software have made possible new more complex and sophisticated fuel modeling codes.;This model has evolved from previous treatments developed at the Royal Military College. The model has now been significantly advanced to include: a more detailed pellet geometry, localized pellet-to-sheath gap size and contact pressure, ability to model cracked pellets, localized fuel burnup for material property models, improved U02 densification behaviour, fully 2-dimensional model for the sheath, additional creep models, additional material models, an FEM Booth-diffusion model for fission gas release (including ability to model temperature and power changes), a capability for end-of-life predictions, the ability to utilize text files as model inputs, and provides a first time integration of normal operating conditions (NOC) and transient fuel models into a single code (which has never been achieved before for any Canadian fuel performance code).;This thesis documents the theory employed by the model, its implementation, and the results of a proof of concept validation. The validation compared model predictions against both experimental data and results obtained from the ELESTRES and ELOCA fuel performance codes. Overall, the results show excellent model performance except in cases of a strong axial dependence. An analysis of the sensitivity of the model to the uncertainty in input parameters and the material properties is also presented. Finally, this thesis includes a discussion of the limitations, applications, and potential for future development of code.;Key words: nuclear fuel, CANDU fuel, fuel modeling, multiphysics modeling, Comsol.;The Fuel And Sheath modelling Tool (FAST) is a fuel performance code that has been developed for modeling nuclear fuel behaviour under normal and transient conditions. The FAST code includes models for heat generation and transport, thermal expansion, elastic strain, densification, fission product swelling, pellet relocation, contact, grain growth, fission gas release, gas and coolant pressure and sheath creep. These models are coupled and solved numerically using the Comsol Multiphysics finite-element platform. The model utilizes a radialaxial geometry of a fuel pellet (including dishing and chamfering) and accompanying fuel sheath allowing the model to predict circumferential ridging. |
