Nuclear Engineering and Design 238 (2008) 33213330

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Nuclear Engineering and Design

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On the geometry of the fuel rod supports concerning a fretting wear failure
Hyung-Kyu Kim , Young-Ho Lee, Kang-Hee Lee
Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Innovative Nuclear Fuel Division, 1045 Daedeokdaero, Yuseong, Daejeon 305-353, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 19 April 2008
Received in revised form 1 August 2008
Accepted 14 August 2008

a b s t r a c t
Geometrical conditions of spacer grid springs and dimples of a light water reactor fuel assembly are
studied in this paper concerning a fuel rods fretting wear failure. In this framework, the springs/dimples
are categorized from the aspects of their orientation with respect to the fuel axis and the contact types.
Possible motions on the contacts between the springs/dimples and fuel rods are estimated by conducting
a ow-induced vibration test. Features of the wear scar and depth are investigated by independent fretting
wear tests carried out with spring and dimple specimens of typical contact geometries. It is also attempted
here to apply the contact mechanics theory to a fuel fretting wear analysis such as the prediction of a wear
depth prole and its rate, which is inuenced by the contact shape of the springs/dimples. It is shown that
the theory can be applied to a dimensional control of a coining for the springs/dimples, which is usually
carried out in a thin plate fabrication. From the results, the necessary conditions for a spring/dimple
geometry for restraining a fretting wear failure are discussed.
2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Spacer grid is one of the key components of a light water reactor (LWR) fuel assembly. The most important function of it is to
hold the fuel rods to maintain the distance between the fuel rods
inside a fuel assembly. It has often been required, for a fuel of a
higher performance, that the grids enhance the coolant ow mixing around the fuel rods so that the thermal margin can increase.
LWR fuel rod is composed of a thin tube in which uranium dioxide
pellets are stacked. Its slenderness ratio is extremely high since its
length is around 4 m and its diameter is around 1 cm. Therefore,
it can vibrate like a string as the coolant passes through the fuel
assembly, which is termed as a ow-induced vibration (FIV). This
vibration is restrained by its contact with the springs and dimples
(termed supports afterwards) of a spacer grid.
The design requirement for the contact force between the supports and fuel rods should be sufcient enough to hold the fuel rods
but it should be less than that allowing an axial slip of a fuel rod
at the contacts during a thermal and irradiation growth. So, a slipping is inevitable at the contacts as long as the fuel rods vibrate.
This implies that a fuel fretting wear cannot be eliminated completely. The most severe case of a wear is a perforation of a thin
(around 0.6 mm) fuel rod tube. If it happens, radioactive ssion
gases, trapped inside the fuel rods during a reactor operation, are
released into the coolant, which increases the radioactivity level of

Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 42 868 2111; fax: +82 42 863 0565.
E-mail address: hkkim1@kaeri.re.kr (H.-K. Kim).
0029-5493/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2008.08.010

it. Even when a perforation does not occur, a thickness reduction

due to a wear can decrease the strength of the fuel rods. Therefore,
it is required to minimize the wear damage to achieve a fuel with
a higher reliability.
Solutions to the fuel fretting wear are not obtained by simply
applying the ordinary tribological remedies such as a lubrication,
hard coatings, material change, etc. due to the special requirements
of a nuclear fuel. For instance, foreign lubricant should be strictly
prohibited for a purity control of a reactor coolant, the heat transfer capability should not be deteriorated which could happen due
to a coating, the neutron economy is one of the most important
properties for the fuel rod tube material and so on. Alternatively,
an improvement of the support shape can provide a solution. Since
a wear occurs when there is a contact and a slip, it can be reduced
by controlling the contact force and slip displacement. In general,
the vibration amplitude can be decreased if a contact force is larger,
that results in a less slip.
The contact force by the supports is a product of a stiffness
and a deection. A deection is a compressed distance (called
interference) of the supports when a fuel rod is inserted into
a spacer grid. While, the stiffness is inuenced by the geometry related as well as the material-related parameters. Since
the spacer grid material is very much conned (usually, nickelbased or zirconium-based alloys) due to the neutron economy
and strength, the geometry-related parameters such as the support shape, dimension, orientation and so forth would need to be
considered.
If some wear of a fuel rod is inevitable, the focus has to be given
to the degree (amount) of wear until the end of a fuels life. As for the

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degree, the wear volume or depth is concerned. In the case of a thin

tube like a fuel rod, the wear depth may be more critical than the
volume due to the concern of a perforation. The wear depth varies
inside the worn area since the contact stress and slip displacement
are different depending on their location inside the contact area.
The contact stress is directly inuenced by the contact shape, i.e.,
the end prole of the contacting bodies (Hills et al., 1993). This
gives a clue as to how to solve a fuel fretting wear from a mechanical design viewpoint such as changing the shapes of the spring
and dimple. Many different shapes have been developed by fuel
vendors. However, it may be said that this development has often
relied on a designers insight and experience. During and after such
a development, the performance of their wear resistance has been
investigated through small-scale experiments and full-scale simulation tests. Nevertheless, a systematic study on the relationship
between a support shape and wear behaviour is rarely found.
In this paper, it is attempted to correlate the contact shape of
springs/dimples with a wear behaviour and characteristic. At rst,
the support shapes, mostly used in the current LWR fuel assembly,
are categorized with respect to their end proles and orientations. Fretting wear experimental results are investigated from the
viewpoints of the contact conditions and wear characteristics. An
application of the contact mechanics for the present study is presented as well. Present results and ndings may be used as one of
the guidelines as well as an initial step for a systematic procedure
to restrain a fuel fretting failure in a support design improvement.
2. Categorization of the spacer grid spring/dimple shape
Spacer grid springs and dimples are generally fabricated by
punching (deforming) a thin plate (around 0.5 mm) to form a protrusion that will be compressed by some amount when they contact
with a fuel rods surface. So a contact (i.e., supporting) force is produced on the contacts between the fuel rods and supports. The
fuel rod supporting force is the product of the compressive displacement and the support stiffness, which depends on the shape,
dimension and material properties. Fretting wear damage of a fuel
rod is directly inuenced by the supporting force. On the other
hand, the protruded spring and dimple block a coolant passage,
which increases the pressure drop of a fuel assembly.
Therefore, it is necessary that the geometry of a spring and a
dimple be determined to decrease the fretting wear damage and
pressure drop problems. So far, various shapes of springs and dimples have been developed in the nuclear industry to satisfy the
above requirements. Those may be classied into three categories:
the orientation of the supports with respect to the fuel axis; contact type between the support and the fuel rod and number of
plates composing a single grid strap. These are explained in detail
as follows.
2.1. The orientation of a spring/dimple with respect to the fuel rod
axis
2.1.1. Longitudinally orientated type (L-type)
As shown in Fig. 1(a), the spring and dimple are aligned vertically to coincide with the fuel rod axis. They look like the letter I.
The left and right sides of the supports are sheared off from the
grid plate. In general, the contour along the longitudinal direction
consists of smooth curves. The product of the width and the height
of the supports becomes a blocking area in the ow passage. It is
referred to as an L-type in this paper.
2.1.2. Transversely orientated type (T-type)
It is a horizontal I shape, whose direction is perpendicular to
the fuel rod axis as shown in Fig. 1(b). The top and bottom sides of

Fig. 1. Categorization of the fuel rod supports with respect to the orientation (a)
longitudinally oriented type (L-type) and (b) transversely oriented type (T-type).
Fuel rod axis is in the vertical direction.

the supports are sheared off from the plate. Therefore, a longitudinal ow passage can be formed through the cavity region between
the supports and the plate parts. It is referred to as a T-type in
this paper.
2.2. Contact types between spring/dimple and fuel rod
2.2.1. Complete and incomplete contacts
Complete and incomplete contact types are considered at
rst. A complete contact means that the contact dimension is
independent of the contact force, while an incomplete contact
depends on it. In other words, it is a complete contact if the dimension of a contact area does not alter regardless of a variation of the
contact force. If not, it is an incomplete contact.
For instance, the above I shape spring with a convex contour
can constitute an incomplete contact since the contact length
increases due to a deformation corresponding to a contact force
increase. In the case of a complete contact, a deformation due to
a variation of the contact force is sometimes accommodated in the
support parts (e.g., supporting arms) other than the contact region.
2.2.2. Conformal and non-conformal contacts
Besides the above contact types, conformal and nonconformal contact types are to be considered. The classication of
these two types is related to the relative magnitudes of the contact
dimensions and characteristic dimensions of the contacting bodies.
If a contact dimension is sufciently smaller than the characteristic
dimensions of the contacting bodies (such as radius or thickness), it
is termed as a non-conformal contact. In this case, contacting bodies can be assumed theoretically as semi-innite. Oppositely, if the
contact dimension is comparable to the characteristic dimensions
of the contacting bodies, it is regarded as a conformal contact.

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Fig. 3. Schematic view of a grid strap composed of two thin plates.

Fig. 2. Schematics of contact type: (a) complete, (b) incomplete, (c) conformal and
(d) non-conformal.

For instance, if a support surface has a concave contour to surround a fuel rods surface, a conformal contact is constituted
so that an area contact can be formed. However, an area contact can hardly be achieved, due to the tolerances of the fuel rod
diameter and ovality, and those of the dimensions of the grid supports although a conformal contact is attempted between the fuel
rods and supports. Each contact type is schematically illustrated
in Fig. 2.
2.3. Number of plates composing a grid strap
Mostly, a grid strap is made of a single plate with forming
(punching) springs and dimples in it. However, two thinner plates
as a stack may constitute a grid strap. When each plate is deformed

to have springs/dimples, and after stacking the two plates by an

appropriate pasting technique (e.g., welding), a ow passage can
be formed between the plates. Usually, springs and dimples are
not apparently distinguishable in this case. This is schematically
illustrated in Fig. 3.
3. Fuel rod motion and contact conguration during an FIV
It is almost impossible to detect an actual motion of a vibrating fuel rod subjected to a reactor coolant ow. However, it
may be presumed from an FIV test, which was conducted in
this work. Figs. 4 and 5 show a schematic view of the presently
used ow-induced vibration tester (FIVPET) and the fuel rod
traces obtained during an FIV test with a 5 5 partial assembly, respectively. The test conditions were 6 m/s, 24 C, 0.306 MPa
(Reynolds number, Re = 78,300), and 10.5 m/s, 25 C, 0.661 MPa
(Re = 138,400).
As shown in Fig. 5, the rod motion during the FIV is irregular
as expected. It can be anticipated that the actual fuel rod motion

Fig. 4. Schematic view of the ow-induced vibration tester (FIVPET).

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Fig. 6. Seesaw and oar motions during a ow-induced vibration of a fuel rod.
Fig. 5. Trace of a fuel rod motion at the center of a span between adjacent grids
obtained during 50 s in the ow-induced vibration test.

3.1. Axial slip case

inside the reactor would be similar. A critical ow velocity in the uidelastic instability, a vortex shedding frequency and a turbulence
induced structural excitation are considered in the FIV analysis.
Details of the FIV phenomenon on the nuclear components can be
found in a recent review (Pettigrew et al., 1998).
From the wear damage concern, a ow condition that causes
a fuel rod to have a considerable vibration amplitude is primarily brought into focus. When the vibration amplitude increases, it
is readily regarded that the wear increases since the slip distance
between the support and the rod increases. In this regard, the severity of a wear can be varied depending on the support shape since a
wear occurs when there is a frictional shear stress occurring during
a slipping of the contact surfaces, and the stress is affected by the
contact shape. The direction of a slip (e.g., axial and transverse) during a fuel rod vibration needs to be considered as well. Therefore,
the resultant wear would be different depending on the contact
shape of the support as well as the rod motion even under the same
ow conditions.
As the rod vibrates, it is bent repeatedly in a reciprocating manner. It may be thought that the rod moves like a seesaw with a hinge
located at the support and a fuel rods contact. An axial slip is constituted during a repeated bending. Simultaneously, a transverse
slip is constituted on the contacts perpendicular to those where
the axial slip occurs. It is referred to as an oar motion in this paper.
Those are illustrated in Fig. 6. The shear stresses on the contacts
alter depending on the support shape and orientation in combination with the slip direction. Resultantly, the wear characteristics are
also affected by those.

As a fuel rod moves like a seesaw, the upper and lower regions
of the T-type supports are pressed more than the central region
by a fuel rod. It implies that a fuel rod wear is likely to initiate and
become severer at the locations where the upper and lower regions
of the supports contact. It is necessary to remove the sharp edges
that appear when a plate is sheared off to form the springs and
dimples. To remove such a sharpness, a so-called coining process (similar to the rounding in the machining process) is usually
applied.
The contact stress becomes high at the contact edges during a
seesaw motion. This high stress at the contact edges can also appear
in the case of L-type supports if their contour along the fuel rod
axial direction is at. However, it does not appear if their contour is
convex. The contact stress analysis and the coining effects will be
presented later.
Another concern is the distance between the spring and dimple.
There is usually a pair of dimples (one at the upper and the other at
the lower locations from the spring location) on the opposite side
of a spring. If the fuel rod hits one of the dimples during a vibration,
the rod bounces at the spring as well as at that dimple. So a much
more complicated vibration characteristic may occur at the other
dimple location.
This situation occurs more apparently when a gap is formed
between a support and a fuel rod. In this case, the frequency of
a slipping at the contacts is altered, differently from the rod vibration frequency. In our previous experiment, a more frequent contact
than the applied vibration frequency occurred at one dimple location and a feature of a harmonic vibration appeared (Kim et al.,

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Fig. 7. Typical view of the vibration amplitudes measured at the locations (a) above
and (b) beneath the grid during a fuel rod vibration test with a xed frequency
(30 Hz). The difference in contact frequency is shown due to the different locations
of the spring and dimple (Kim et al., 2004).

2004). A typical example is provided in Fig. 7. It implies that the total

slip distance can increase due to the increased slipping frequency,
and the resultant wear increases.
3.2. Transverse slip case
The contact edges of the L-type supports are of primary concern
in this case, similar to the case of the axial slip of the T-type supports
mentioned above. However, the previously concerned high stress
at the edges hardly occurs due to the circular contour of the fuel rod
surface. So to speak, as long as the spring and dimple are in sound
contact with the fuel rod, the edges of them do not contact with the
fuel rod surface unless the support is twisted. Even in the case of
a gap existence, the fuel rod surface cannot contact with the edges
of the L-type supports as long as the gap size is smaller than a half
of the support width. This is validated from the following simple
geometrical analysis.
When a fuel rod with the center at its origin is transferred by a
gap in both the x- and y-directions, the equation for a circle of the
fuel rods outer surface becomes
(x g)2 + (y g)2 = R02

(1)

where g is the gap size and R0 is the radius of a fuel rod.

The condition for a fuel rods contact at the supporting edges
is obtained by plugging (R0 + g) for x and w/2 for y, where w is the
width of the support, in Eq. (1). Then, the result is g = w/2. Since
the possible gap size is, in general, in the order of one-tenth of a
millimeter and the support width is a few millimeter, the ratio of
the gap size to a half of the support width is certainly less than 2.
So it is readily anticipated that an edge contact hardly occurs in the
case of a transverse slip for the L-type supports.
4. Feature of a wear scar shape and depth
The scar shape and depth of the fuel rod wear are inuenced
by the contact shape of the supports. To examine this, sliding wear
tests have been carried out under air at room temperature environments. Test conditions were a contacting force of 10 and 30 N, and
a reciprocating sliding distance of 50100 m. On the other hand,
the frequency of the sliding cycle and the number of cycles for each
test were set the same, i.e., 30 Hz and 105 cycles, respectively. Fig. 8
shows a schematic diagram of the tester for the present experiment.
The details of the tester can be found in a previous article (Kim et
al., 2001).

Fig. 8. Schematic diagram of fretting wear tester: (1) Servo-motor, (2) eccentric
cylinder, (3) lever, (4) movable hinge, (5) rotating device, (6) biaxial loadcell, (7)
LVDT, (8) water tank, (9) stationary specimen (spring) and (10) oscillatory specimen
(tube).

Fig. 9 shows the schematic drawings of the support specimens

that were in contact with a fuel rod: (a) a spring with an axially
convex and transversely at contour (L-type), (b) a spring with an
axially at and transversely concave contour (T-type) and (c) a dimple with a at contour in both the axial and transverse directions
(T-type). The sheared-off edges (i.e., contact edges when contacted
with a fuel rod) of Fig. 9(b) and (c) were coined. Typical results of
the wear scar and depth are given in Figs. 1012, where the fuel
rod axis is in the horizontal direction. The left and right sides of
each gure are the upper and lower sides of the support specimens
during the experiment, respectively.
In the case of the L-type with a convex contour (Fig. 9(a)),
an ellipse-like scar typically appears as shown in Fig. 10(a). The
contact type of this case is incomplete and non-conformal.
The longer axis of the ellipse corresponds to the fuel rod axis.
One of the features of this ellipse scar was that its length
increased with an increase of the reciprocating sliding distance
even though the contact force was the same (Kim et al., 2002). It
implies that the actual contact length was shorter than the scar
length.
The difference in the contact and scar lengths is attributed to a
third body abrasion (Godet, 1984). As the wear debris is produced
and dispersed from the contact surface, some of it is accumulated in the small clearance region formed just outside the contact
area along the fuel rod axis. The accumulated wear debris plays
the role of a third body that causes additional wear in a region
where the support and the fuel rod are not actually in contact.
Therefore, the scar length increases as the reciprocating sliding
distance increases since more wear debris is produced in relation
to it.
A typical wear depth prole caused by the L-type with a convex contour is shown in Fig. 10(b). Although the wear scar is
expanded along the fuel rod axis due to a third body abrasion,
it is found that the wear at the third body abraded region is
much shallower than that at the other region of an actual contact. The wear depth increases as the distance from the scar edges
increases inwardly and the maximum wear depth occurs at almost

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Fig. 10. Wear scar and depth prole in the case of the contact of convex contoured
spring with a fuel rod (at 10 N and 100 m).

all since such a small clearance is not formed in this case. The scar
shape is just a slender rectangle as shown in Fig. 12(a). However,
Fig. 12(b) shows that the wear depth prole is similar to Fig. 11(b)
(i.e., W). So, here, it is attempted to investigate the contact stresses
to correlate them with the wear depth.

Fig. 9. Schematic drawings of the presently used spring and dimple supports (a)
a spring with an axially convex and transversely at contour (L-type), (b) a spring
with an axially at and transversely concave contour (T-type), (c) a dimple with a at
contour in both axial and transverse directions (T-type). The contacting parts with
the concerned contours are designated with circles. The shaded marks designate
the assumed contact regions when each support is pressured by a fuel rod. The
dimensions shown in (b) and (c) are the lengths (in millimeter) of the at region;
while the dimension in (a) is an overall length of a spring part.

the center of the scar where the highest position of the support
is located. In short, the overall shape of the prole is like the
letter U.
Fig. 11(a) shows a typical wear scar view obtained from the Ttype supports with a concave contour in the transverse direction
(Fig. 9(b)). The wear width at the upper and lower regions is larger
than that at the central region. It is thought that the wider wear scar
is attributed to a third body abrasion since a small clearance region
is formed along the circumferential direction in this case. And, this
phenomenon is more apparent at the upper and lower regions due
to an end effect (i.e., more deformable). Contrary to the L-type with
a convex contour case, the wear is deeper at the upper and lower
regions where a wider scar is found as illustrated in Fig. 11(b). The
maximum depth is found near to the contact edges. So the overall
shape of the depth prole is like the letter W.
It may be anticipated that a third body abrasion contributes to
the depth increase at the upper and lower regions. However, it is
attributed to the inuence of the contact stress rather than that.
For a validation, a wear by the T-type supports with a at contour
(Fig. 9(c)) is referred to. A third body abrasion does not occur at

Fig. 11. Wear scar and depth prole in the case of the contact of concave contoured
spring with a fuel rod (at 30 N and 80 m).

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3327

Fig. 12. Wear scar and depth prole in the case of the contact of at contoured
dimple with afuel rod (at 10 N and 50 m).

5. Application of a contact analysis to a fuel fretting wear

Fig. 13. (a) Geometry of a at contour with rounded edges: 2a = at region,

2b = contact length, R = radius of edge rounding. (b) Normal stress proles when
pressured by an above indenter with a at and edge-rounded contour: P = contact
force, a/b = portion of a at region within the contact.

5.1. Prediction of wear depth prole

A concern of a wear depth rather than a volume in the fuel fretting problem implies that a wear of a smaller area with a larger
depth will be more detrimental to a fuel rod integrity than that of a
larger area with a smaller depth even although each volume is similar. In Section 4, it was found that the support shape inuenced the
wear depth contour. So, it will be useful if the inuence of a contact
shape of the supports on the wear depth can be predicted. This is
attempted here by using the contact mechanics theory.
Following the wear theories, a wear is interpreted as a frictional
energy dissipation from a contact surface. The term energy is the
product of the contact force and sliding distance. It can be correlated
with the wear volume. When the wear depth is brought into focus,
the contact stress rather than force is to be used. This is because the
contact stress varies depending on its location within the contact
area similar to the wear depth. From the contact mechanics theory,
the relationship between the contact stress and the end prole of
the contacting bodies is described as the following singular integral
equations (Johnson, 1985):
E dh(x)
1
=
2 dx

p()
d q(x)
x

(2)

where p(x) and q(x) are the normal and tangential (shear) stresses
on the contact, respectively. h(x) is the combined normal displacement and g(x) is the relative tangential one of the contacting bodies.
And, L is the contact domain, E* and are the combinations of
material properties dened as follows:
E =

1 12
E1

1 22
E2

1
2

{(1 21 )/G1 } {(1 22 )/G2 }

{(1 1 )/G1 } + {(1 2 )/G2 }

where the subscripts 1 and 2 designate the two contacting bodies.

 is the Poisson ratio and E is the elastic modulus of the contacting
material. If the materials of the supports and the fuel rod tube are
the same (zirconium alloy, in general), E* = 2(12 )/E and = 0.
In the case of a contact between the surfaces of a fuel rod and a
spacer grid spring or a dimple, the width of the contact area is very
small but its length is comparatively larger as aforementioned. Eq.
(2) is used for the present contact problem since the shape of the
contact normal stress prole is almost maintained although the
condition of a semi-inniteness may not hold especially along a
fuel rods axial direction.
To solve Eq. (2) for the contact types of the presently considered
supports, a at contoured indenter with rounded edges is used as a
generalized shape that is illustrated in Fig. 13(a). The corresponding
normal stress proles (p(x)) along the axial direction are evaluated
and the results of some example cases are given in Fig. 13(b). Since
the indenter is a square punch with a xed width consisting of a
at region of 2a and a full radius R at both corners, the at region
decreases as R increases and vise versa. Two limiting cases are a = 0
(a cylinder contact, i.e., a convex contour) and R = 0 (a square punch
contact, i.e., a at contour with a sharp corners of right angle), which
are written alternatively as a/b = 0 and 1 (where b is a half contact
length), respectively.
From Fig. 13(b), the peak of p(x) becomes greater as a/b increases
(R decreases). In theory, the peak stress increases to innity when

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R = 0. It decreases considerably as R increases and nally, a semielliptical shape of the stress prole (the Hertz pressure) is obtained
when the contour of the indenter is a semi-circle. Even though the
convex contour of the present spring specimen (Fig. 9(a)) was not
a perfect semi-circle, it consisted of smooth curves of parabolas. So
it is expected that the contact stress prole is also a smooth convex
curve similar to that in Fig. 13(b).
On the other hand, p(x) of a at with rounded edges case can be
applied to a at contoured (in the axial direction) spring (Fig. 9(b))
and dimple (Fig. 9(c)) case. Since those are coined, it is supposed
that a small radius region is formed at their sheared-off edges. It
should be noted that a contact normal stress at the central region
is always lower than the two peaks occurring apart from the center
in the case of a at contour with rounded edges.
The shear stress proles will be the same as the normal ones if
we adopt the Amonton friction law and a gross slip regime is prevailing on the contact surface so that q(x) = p(x), where  is a
friction coefcient. It is shown in Fig. 13(b) that the stress increases
in the vicinity of the contact edges if the contour is at with rounding at both edges, but at the highest location of the supports if the
contour is convex. When we compare the stress proles with the
depth proles, it may be said that the depth prole of the convex
contoured spring (Fig. 10(b)) is similar to the convex stress prole in Fig. 13(b); the depth proles of the at contoured specimens
(Figs. 11(b) and 12(b)) are similar to the stress proles of the at
with rounded edges in Fig. 13(b). It shows that the wear depth
prole can be estimated from the contact stress evaluation.
In the case of the T-type supports, the magnitude of the peak
stress in the vicinity of the upper and lower contact edges depends
on the radius formed at the edges. A sharp edge needs to be removed
during the support forming process not only to, basically, prevent
the fuel rods from being scratched during their insertion into the
grids but also to decrease the contact stresses, which is a primary
concern here.
5.2. Guideline for a grid spring/dimple dimension control
Present analysis may also be applied to establish a fabrication and quality control guideline for the contour dimension of
T-type supports. The coining causes a plastic deformation so that a
plate material is transferred rather than removed. The grid plate is
deformed in the thickness direction and will have protruded parts
after the coining process. The protruded parts become a stress raiser
when the spring or the dimple contacts with the fuel rod. It is necessary to make the surface as at as possible in order to distribute
the stress widely for decreasing the wear. Although a perfectly at
surface cannot be obtained, it is helpful if a permissible range of the
protrusion height for an almost at surface can be estimated. Parametric calculation of Eq. (2) can generate the dimensional guideline
for the protruded parts as given below.
In the case of the axially at and transversely concave contoured
spring (Fig. 9(b)), a surface prole along the axial direction was
measured by using a surface roughness tester. Fig. 14(a) depicts a
typical result. The protruded parts are apparently observed at the
edges where the plate is pressed by a coining punch, and the central
region is slightly recessed. So the overall contour can be regarded as
a combination of three arcs of two different radii such as R1 for the
radius of the central region and R2 for the left and right protruded
regions (symmetry is assumed) as illustrated in Fig. 14(b).
This contour shape is plugged into h(x) in Eq. (2) to obtain the
contact normal stress. For the calculation, a recently developed
technology (Ciavarella and Demelio, 1999) for the contact contour
of multiple parabolas can be used. In turn, the normal stress p(x) of
the coined contour (Fig. 14(b)) is compared with that of the at with
R2 at both corners (Fig. 13(a) by replacing R with R2 ). As a result, it

Fig. 14. (a) Surface contour in the axial direction measured from an axially at
and transversely concave spring (see Fig. 9(c)) and (b) geometry of contact surface
simulating the actual contour after coining process.

is observed that the contour can be regarded as a at one within an

error range of 5% if the ratio of R1 /R2 is more than 300. This kind
of method can be used to establish a dimensional guideline for a
thin plate component that requires a coining process.
5.3. Wear depth prediction model
The Archard wear equation (Archard, 1953) has often been used
for an adhesive wear. And the workrate model (Frick et al., 1984),
a time derivative of the Archard equation, has been developed and
used for the wear model of nuclear components. A fundamental
concept of the Archard type model is that a wear occurs due to
an energy dissipation from a contact surface. This is described such
that a wear volume is correlated with the work done during a wearing process. The work done in the Archard equation is composed of
a contact normal force and a sliding distance. The contact normal
force may be replaced with a contact shear force while maintaining
the concept, which is more logical physically. Then, the model can
be written as
V = KQS

(3)

where V is the wear volume, Q is the contact shear force and S is

the sliding distance. K is termed as a wear coefcient with a unit of
Pa1 . The larger the K value, the severer the wear is.
However, a wear depth prediction model is more useful than
a volume prediction one due to the concern of a fuel rod perforation. To derive a wear depth prediction model, a three-dimensional
volumetric wear shape is reduced to a two dimensional one by con-

H.-K. Kim et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 238 (2008) 33213330

sidering the cross-section along the center of the wear scar in the
axial direction. It is regarded as plausible since a line contact is
always established between the supports and a fuel rod surface in
the fuel rods axial direction. The deduction procedure is as follows.
If we consider a wear volume at location i, designated as Vi ,
inside the wear scar, it is composed of an innitesimal worn area
and the depth at i, so to speak, Ai and Di , respectively. So we can
rewrite Eq. (3) for an innitesimal wear volume such as
Vi = Ai Di = KQi Si .

(4)

The shear force Qi = qi Ai , where qi is a shear stress at i. When we

divide Eq. (4) by Ai , the depth at location i can be written as
Di = Kqi Si .

(5)

In turn, Eq. (5) is to be rewritten as follows if we assume that the

fuel rod axis lies along the x-axis.
D(x) = Kq(x)S(x)

(6)

where q(x) is the shear stress, and S(x) is the slip distance at a specic point within the contact region. The term q(x)S(x) is interpreted
as a local dissipated energy (or dissipated energy density) due to a
shear stress on a contact. The wear coefcient, K has a unit of Pa1
similar to that in Eq. (3). Again D(x) describes the wear depth prole
along the centerline of a wear scar.
Finally a model for predicting a wear depth increase rate can be
proposed by differentiating Eq. (6) with respect to time, t such that
dD(x)
dS(x)
= Kq(x)
.
dt
dt

(7)

Eq. (7) is valid when a gross slip prevails since q(x) = p(x) in which
 and p(x) are independent of time in that regime. Further details
of the application of Eq. (7) are not presented in this paper since it
is not included in the present scope.
6. Discussion on the spring/dimple geometry for
restraining a wear failure
In this section, the geometrical conditions of a spring and dimple for restraining a fuel fretting wear are considered by reecting
on the fretting wear experiments and contact mechanics theory
stated so far. Since an actual contact conguration is a line (in axial
direction) or a point (in transverse direction) between a fuel rod
and its supports, the contact force should be distributed as wide
as possible along the axial direction in order not to cause a contact stress concentration. The contact contour for such a uniform
contact stress can be obtained as h(x) by integrating Eq. (2) after
replacing p(x) with a constant p, the result is
h(x) =

2p
E

(b + x) ln 1 +

x
b

2

+ (b x) ln 1

x
b

2 

+C

(8)

where C is an integration constant and b is a half contact length.

In short, the stress on the contact between a fuel rod and its
supports becomes uniform if the supports contour in the axial
direction has the form described in the brace of Eq. (8). It is a convex
contour. It may also be used for the axial prole of a punch die for
the supports accommodating a spring back behaviour during a fabrication. On the other hand, it is necessary to make the contour have
rounded parts with radii as large as possible at the contact edges to
decrease the peak stress when it is designed to be at. Moreover,
the protruded region needs to be attened after a coining process
especially for the T-type supports.
It is expected that the contact stress will become lower as the
contact length increases. It may be true as long as the contour in
the axial direction is convex (incomplete contact) since there is

3329

no possibility of a contact with a stress raiser in the transverse

direction.
If it is at, however, a longer contact length does not always
guarantee a decrease in the contact stress. It should be noted that
the fuel rod axis cannot be perfectly parallel to the contact line of
a support due to the tolerances. Only a part of the intended contact length (i.e., the supports length in axial direction) can actually
be in contact with a fuel rod so that the contact force may not be
distributed over the whole length. A seesaw like fuel rod motion
during an FIV can accelerate this phenomenon. Special care is necessary to determine the length especially for the T-type supports
since the contact edges are located where the grid plate is sheared
off. A conrmation test is necessary.
If a conformal contact is used to surround a fuel rod in the case
of T-type supports, the radius of the concave should be larger than
that of the fuel rod when fabricated. It becomes smaller as the fuel
rod is inserted into the grid cell and contacts with the supports.
The amount of this radius decrease depends on the deformation
behaviour of the supports during being pressed by the fuel rod.
If the radius after a deformation is smaller than a fuel rods
radius, two contact lines along the fuel rod axis are constituted
simultaneously and a very tiny region of a non-contact area can
be formed between them. Wear debris can be accumulated in that
region. The resultant wear would be severe although it is a kind of
a third body abrasion phenomenon since the debris in that region
cannot readily escape. This is different from our experimental result
where a third body abrasion occurred in an open area so that the
debris could readily escape because a single contact line was constituted. Again, a test is necessary to conrm the formation of a
contact line and the wear severity.
7. Concluding remarks
In this paper, the contact conguration between a fuel rod and
grid supports (springs and dimples) is considered from the viewpoint of their inuence on the fretting wear failure of a fuel rod. To
this end, the contact shape of the supports was categorized, a feature of wear scar corresponding to a support shape was investigated
and a contact mechanics theory was applied.
It is not necessary for the longitudinally oriented supports (Ltype) with a convex contour to be concerned about a fuel rods
contact with the sheared-off edges of the supports. In addition, a
peak contact stress can be decreased as the contact length increases
and even a uniform stress can be obtained so that a localized severe
wear can be prevented. However, the radius at the contact edges
needs to be as large as possible if the contour is at to restrain a
wear failure.
In the case of the transversely oriented supports (T-type), a coining process may produce a protrusion at the contact edges, which
can be a contact stress raiser. So it is important to lessen the protrusion height to restrain a wear failure. If a conformal contact is
attempted to surround a fuel rod, special care is necessary in determining the radius of the concave region in order not to form a
tiny clearance between two contact lines that may occur when the
radius after a deformation is smaller than that of a fuel rod.
Contact mechanics theory can be applied to provide a tool to
predict a wear depth prole corresponding to a support shape,
to provide a guideline for a dimension control for a coining process and to establish a wear model for predicting a depth increase
rate.
Although the fretting wear failure of an LWR fuel rod cannot be
solved by only considering the spring/dimple geometry, the present
study can provide a general direction for the necessary conditions
for restraining a wear failure, which is the primary purpose of the
present work.

3330

H.-K. Kim et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 238 (2008) 33213330

Acknowledgments
This work has been carried out under the Nuclear R&D Program
supported by the MEST, Korea.
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