| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2025 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Microstructural, Mechanical, and Chemical Behavior of Solid Nuclear Fuel and Fuel-Cladding Interface II
|
| Presentation Title |
Comprehensive Fracture Property Analysis of High Burnup UO2 Fuels Using Multiscale Phase-Field Fracture Modeling |
| Author(s) |
Merve Gencturk, Nicholas Faulkner, Abdurrahman Ozturk, Mohammed Abdoelatef, David Andersson, Michael WD Cooper, Larry Aagesen, Wen Jiang, Jason Harp, Karim Ahmed |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Merve Gencturk |
| Abstract Scope |
The U.S. nuclear industry targets higher burn-up limits to increase fuel efficiency. It is well-established that fuel fragmentation and pulverization occur at high burnup, and the size of fragments is strongly dependent on the burn-up value. These issues are significant barriers to increasing burn-up limits further. Nonetheless, a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of the fracture properties under high burn-up (HBU) conditions is still elusive. To investigate these complex processes, we employ a microstructure-informed phase-field fracture model of microcracking, parameterized from atomistic simulations. The model is able to directly account for the effects of different microstructural features of HBU UO2 on its mechanical behavior. We account for the bubble density, pressure, size distribution, morphology, and volume fraction. The results highlight a significant correlation between UO2 microstructures and its fracture properties. We also discuss how these results can inform pellet-scale simulations of fuel fragmentation. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Modeling and Simulation, Nuclear Materials, Ceramics |