Fracture of Graphite Fuel Bricks

先进气冷堆（AGR）的石墨堆芯为燃料冷却和停堆/控制棒插入提供了通道。损伤容限评估需要确定为燃料的完整性和安全系统的正确行为留有足够的裕度。对于英国现有的电厂，石墨砖的开裂是有关寿命管理决策的关键问题。对于下一代核电厂，它对预期寿命和投资计划有影响。本提案的目的是通过补充数值和实验方法，对石墨组件中的断裂有很好的理解和评估。将开发一种先进的建模工具，可以自动模拟石墨砖中的裂纹扩展，并将其转让给行业最终用户。一个创新的实验方法将详细说明，以验证这些模型。对整个堆芯的力学行为进行评价。

The graphite core in nuclear Advanced Gas cooled Reactors (AGRs) provides channel for fuel cooling and shutdown/control rod insertion. Damage tolerance assessments need to determine that adequate margins remain for theintegrity of the fuel and the safety systems proper behaviour. For UK existing plants, graphite bricks' cracking is a keyquestion regarding lifetime management decisions. For the next generation plants, it has an influence on expected lifetimesand on investment plans.The objective of this proposal is to gain a good understanding and evaluation of fracture in graphite components bycomplementary numerical and experimental approaches. An advanced modelling tool allowing to simulate automaticallycrack propagation in graphite bricks will be developed and transferred to industry end-users. An innovative experimentalmethod will be elaborated to validate these models. Uncertainties on the whole core mechanical behaviour will beassessed.