TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION AND THERMAL STRESSES IN RADIATION-COOLED CIRCULAR CYLINDERS. Technical Report ME-7

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Abstract
An investigation was undertaken to study the thermal stresses in a cylindrical NAP fuel rod. The study consisted of two phases, one analytical and the other experimental. In the analytical phase, a mathematical model of a fuel rod was developed in which the rod is considered to be a long solid circular cylinder cooled by emission of thermal radiation. A closed form of solution for the temperature distribution could not be obtained, so numerical results for the temperature and stress distnlbutions were obtained by finite difference methods. The results predict that relatively small stresses are produced when the fuel rod is cooled in a temperature range in which brittle fracture can reasonably be expected. The experimental phase, which is not yet complete, was undertaken to verify the predicted temperature and stress distributions. Rather than using an actual fuel rod in the experimental program, which would present formidable safety and security problems, a modeling technique is being used. The theory of similitude will be employed to relate the results obtained from the physical model to those which one would expect to obtain from a fuel rod. An embedded strain gage technique is being used to measure internal strains. (auth)

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