| A fundamental code for predicting CANDU nuclear fuel thermomechanical behaviour in normal operating conditions was developed with the use of the Comsol Multiphysics finite element modelling environment. The code predicts the thermal response of the fuel, fuel thermal expansion, irradiation-induced densification, fission product swelling, fission gas release, and elastic and plastic deformation of the fuel and cladding. The evolution of the fuel-to-clad gap was predicted using the overall deformation of the fuel and sheath. The code was able to predict the behaviour of fuel under normal operating conditions and has been benchmarked against the industry-standard ELESTRES-IST fuel performance code. |
