About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Verification, Calibration, and Validation Approaches in Modeling the Mechanical Performance of Metallic Materials
|
| Presentation Title |
Microstructure-Informed Constitutive Modeling
of Fuel Cladding: A Fast-Execution Framework
for Performance Assessment and Uncertainty
Quantification |
| Author(s) |
Andre P. Ruybalid, Laurent Capolungo |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Andre P. Ruybalid |
| Abstract Scope |
Accurate assessment of nuclear fuel rod performance requires mechanical simulations that capture the evolving microstructure of cladding materials under operational and off-normal conditions. This work integrates microstructure-sensitive constitutive models into finite element analyses to resolve component-scale responses driven by material evolution.
Mechanistic viscoplasticity models for ferritic/martensitic steels and Zircaloy-4 are used in polycrystal-level simulations to generate datasets across key internal variables—such as dislocation density and precipitate content—under creep, cyclic, and irradiation loading. These datasets inform surrogate models that preserve microstructural sensitivity while enabling fast evaluation.
The surrogates are embedded in the BISON fuel performance code to simulate fuel–cladding mechanical interaction across reactor cycles and accident scenarios. This enables rapid parametric studies and uncertainty quantification, linking microstructural variability to fuel rod integrity. The approach supports decision-making in nuclear fuel design and licensing by bridging microstructural mechanisms with system-scale performance outcomes. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Computational Materials Science & Engineering, Nuclear Materials, Modeling and Simulation |