MANTECON, JAVIER G.MATTAR NETO, MIGUEL2019-08-022019-08-022019MANTECON, JAVIER G.; MATTAR NETO, MIGUEL. Numerical analysis on stability of nuclear fuel plates with inlet support comb. <b>Nuclear Engineering and Design</b>, v. 342, p. 240-248, 2019. DOI: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2018.12.009">10.1016/j.nucengdes.2018.12.009</a>. Disponível em: http://repositorio.ipen.br/handle/123456789/30013.0029-5493http://repositorio.ipen.br/handle/123456789/30013Many nuclear research reactors use or are planned with cores containing flat-plate-type fuel elements. One of the problems of this fuel element design is the mechanical stability of the fuel plates. High-velocity coolant flowing through the narrow channels that separate the plates can cause large deflections of these plates leading to local overheating, structural failure or plate collapse. In particular, in real fuel elements and experimental tests, flowinduced deflections at the leading edge and along the length of the plates have been detected. Some authors have indicated that the use of a support comb removes the leading-edge static divergence, but it has been also suggested that, even with the comb, there are significant deflections away from the inlet. In this work, a fluid-structure interaction study is conducted to examine the effectiveness of using an inlet comb on the mechanical stability of fuel plates. The system consists of two fuel plates bounded by three-equal coolant channels. The pressure loadings caused by the fluid flow are calculated using a CFD model and the structural response of the plates and the support comb are determined by means of an FEA model. The two-way fluid-structure interaction method was employed for coupling the fluid and solid solvers. The results presented here show that the static divergence at the inlet end is effectively eliminated with the installation of a support comb. Nevertheless, the main contribution of this work is the detection of deformation of the plates along their length and that it was an increasing function of the fluid velocity in the channels. As a consequence, the flow channels could be constricted or completely closed, thus affecting the safe operation of the nuclear reactor. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first numerical analysis reported in the literature that models the fluid-structure interaction phenomenon of adjacent plates with the support comb located at the midpoint of their inlet end.240-248openAccessfuel platesfuel elementscritical velocityfluid-structure interactionsnumerical datanuclear fuelsArtigo de periódico34210.1016/j.nucengdes.2018.12.0090000-0002-2295-1021https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2295-102177.94169.00