About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Microstructure-Sensitive Modeling Across Length Scales: An MPMD/SMD Symposium in Honor of David L. McDowell
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| Presentation Title |
E-33: Predicting the Variability in Performance of Zircaloy Clad in Nuclear Reactors Environment |
| Author(s) |
Andrea Rovinelli, Laurent Capolungo |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Andrea Rovinelli |
| Abstract Scope |
Most of the nuclear reactor fleet is reaching the end of their design service life. Because design was conservative there is an opportunity and a drive to extend the operational life of the current fleet and/or to increase the fuel burn-up. Such endeavor is complex due to (i) the limited availability of creep and irradiation experiments under service conditions and (ii) the epistemic uncertainty in the material microstructure. Physics-informed, modeling can help in determining the behavior of the material under conditions for which experiments are not available. In this work we use a physics-based and microstructure sensitive model that explicitly accounts for point defects diffusion, dislocation climb, dislocation glide, irradiation defects evolution to predict the mechanical response (e.g., tensile, creep) of Zircaloy-4. Leveraging the numerical efficiency of the polycrystal simulation code, we then quantify the performance variability of Zircaloy samples and components induced by likely variability in the material microstructure. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Computational Materials Science & Engineering, Mechanical Properties, Nuclear Materials |