About this Abstract |
Meeting |
2023 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
Symposium
|
Mechanical Behavior of Nuclear Reactor Materials and Components III
|
Presentation Title |
Modeling Long-term Radiation Effects on the Concrete Biological Shield |
Author(s) |
Amani Cheniour, Yann Le Pape, Eva Davidson, Mehdi Asgari, Benjamin Spencer, Tara Pandya, Mark Baird, Benjamin Collins, Andrew Godfrey |
On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Amani Cheniour |
Abstract Scope |
The concrete biological shield (CBS) surrounding the reactor pressure vessel in light water reactors (LWRs) is exposed to neutron and gamma radiation. Concrete aggregates swell due to the amorphization of their minerals under neutron irradiation. Different minerals expand at different rates, which causes significant mismatch strains. Consequently, at high radiation doses, fracture is likely to occur at interfaces between mineral grains as well as in the cement paste due to its lower strength, which deteriorates the concrete’s mechanical properties. In this work, radiation damage in concrete is modeled at the structural scale to assess the extent of damage in the CBS and its long-term structural integrity in the perspective of subsequent license renewals of LWRs. We use the finite element-based code Grizzly, aided by radiation transport data from VERA-Shift, to model the evolution of radiation-induced expansion, creep, and damage in concrete with neutron fluence and temperature in 3D. |
Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Modeling and Simulation, |