Thermoelastic analyses of cladding on beam transient of lead–bismuth cooled accelerator-driven system

The thermoelastic analyses of cladding for lead-bismuth cooled accelerator-driven system (ADS) are conducted for the beam transients. The beam transients are considered to be caused by the abnormal behavior of the accelerator and are peculiar to ADS. The program of the thermoelastic analyses is developed for the evaluation of the stresses of the cladding. This program is intended to analyze a fuel pin of a cylindrical model, and solves the thermoelastic problem by the use of the finite-element-method. The beam transients are analyzed by employing the ADS dynamic calculation code and the program of the thermoelastic analyses for the ADS designed by Japan Atomic Energy Agency. As a result, the transformation of the beam shape does not cause the cladding failure. However, the ductile failure is caused by the beam incident position change in several seconds. These results are also compared with those of the creep analyses conducted in the previous study, and both the creep and the ductile failure are revealed to be caused by the beam incident position change. Consequently, the beam incident position change is concluded to have a high risk of cladding failure.