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Effect of mechanical properties in the weld zone on the structural analysis

results of a plate-type heat exchanger prototype and pressurized water
reactor spacer grid

Article in Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology · September 2012

DOI: 10.1080/00223131.2012.713571

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 Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology
Volume 49, No. 9, September (2012) pp. 947–960
http://www.tandfonline.com

ARTICLE

Effect of mechanical properties in the weld zone on the structural analysis results of a plate-type
heat exchanger prototype and pressurized water reactor spacer grid
Kee-nam Songa*, Sung-deok Honga, Sang-hoon Leea and Hong-yoon Parkb
a
Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, P.O. Box 105, Yusong, Daejeon 305-600, Korea; bAD-Solution Co., Ltd., #1101 Hanjin
Downloaded by [Korea Atomic Energy Res Inst], [Kee-nam Song] at 01:20 21 August 2012

Officetel, 535-5, Bongmyoung-dong, Yuseon-go, Daejeon 305-301, Korea

(Received 28 March 2012; accepted final version for publication 13 July 2012)

The mechanical properties in a weld zone are different from those in the base material owing to their
different microstructures. A process heat exchanger in a nuclear hydrogen system is a key component
to transfer high heat generated in a very high-temperature reactor to a chemical reaction that yields a
large quantity of hydrogen. A spacer grid in pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel is a structural
component with an interconnected and welded array of slotted grid straps. Previous research on the
strength analyses of these components was performed using base material properties owing to a lack
of mechanical properties in the weld zone. In this study, based on the mechanical properties in the
weld zone of components recently obtained using an instrumented indentation technique, strength
analyses considering the mechanical properties in the weld zone were performed, and the analysis
results are compared with previous research.
Keywords: mechanical properties; weld zone; crush strength; spacer grid; PWR fuel; instrumented
indentation technique; process heat exchanger; plate-type heat exchanger; nuclear hydrogen

1. Introduction required to have sufficient crush strength under lateral

Researches demonstrating the massive production
of hydrogen using a very high-temperature reactor
(VHTR) designed for operation at up to 9508C have
been actively carried out worldwide. In the intermedi-
ate loop of a nuclear hydrogen program, as shown in
Figure 1, a process heat exchanger (PHE) is a key
component to transfer high heat generated in a VHTR
to a chemical reaction that yields a large quantity of
hydrogen. Recently, the Korea Atomic Energy Re-
search Institute (KAERI) designed and assembled a
small-scale gas loop [1] for the performance test of
VHTR components, and manufactured a welded
small-scale plate-type heat exchanger prototype made
of Hastelloy1-X alloy.
A PWR fuel assembly consists of spacer grids, fuel
rods, a top nozzle, a bottom nozzle, guide tubes, and
an instrumentation tube, as shown in Figure 2. Among
them, the spacer grid is a structural component, which
is an interconnected array of slotted grid straps and is
welded at intersections to form an egg-crate structure.
From a structural point of view, the spacer grid is
loads so that nuclear fuel rods are maintained in a
coolable geometry, and the control rods can be inserted
[2]. The capacity of a spacer grid to resist lateral loads
is usually characterized in terms of its crush strength,
and it was reported [3] that the lateral crush strength of
the spacer grid is closely related with the welding
quality of the spacer grid.
Welding is a very convenient and widely used
method to join simple metallic parts into a complicated
structure through the use of adhesive and cohesive
attractive forces between metals [4]. Microstructures in
the weld zone, including a weld (or fusion zone) and a
heat affected zone (HAZ), are different from those in a
base material, as shown in Figure 3 [4]. Consequently,
the mechanical properties in the weld zone are different
from those in the base material to a certain extent
owing to different microstructures and residual welding
stress. When a welded structure is loaded, the
mechanical behavior of the welded structure might be
different from the case of a structure with homoge-
neous mechanical properties. Nonetheless, mechanical

*Corresponding author. Email: knsong@kaeri.re.kr

ISSN 0022-3131 print/ISSN 1881-1248 online

Ó 2012 Atomic Energy Society of Japan. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2012.713571
 948 K.-n. Song et al.
properties in the welded structure have been neglected
in many structural analyses [5–10] of nuclear compo-
nents, such as a spacer grid and plate-type heat
exchanger prototype, owing to a lack of mechanical
properties in the weld zone. Usually, the best way to
obtain the mechanical properties in the weld zone is by
taking tensile test specimens in the fusion zone and
HAZ, and performing a standard tensile test. However,
when the weld zone is very narrow and the interfaces
are not clear, it is difficult to take tensile test specimens
in the weld zone. The reason for this is that the
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Figure 1. Nuclear hydrogen system.
Note: IHX: Intermediate Heat Exchanger; IS: Iodine Sulfur.
Figure 2. PWR fuel assembly and spacer grid.
mechanical properties in the base material are usually
used in the structural analyses of the welded structure.
As an aside, it has been recently determined that the
ball indentation technique has the potential to be an
excellent substitute for a standard tensile test, particu-
larly in the case of small specimens or property-
gradient materials such as welds [11–13].
In this study, to investigate the effect on the
mechanical behavior of the plate-type heat exchanger
prototype and the spacer grid when using weld
mechanical properties, strength analyses considering
the weld mechanical properties recently obtained [14]
by an instrumented indentation technique are per-
formed, and the analysis results are compared with
previous research using the base material properties.
The weld mechanical properties used in this study thus
include the effect of different microstructures as well as
residual welding stress, as they were obtained from the
weld specimen of the spacer grid and plate-type heat
exchanger prototype.
2. Nuclear components
2.1. Plate-type heat exchanger in a VHTR
Figure 4 shows the overall dimensions and each
part of a small-scale plate-type heat exchanger [15]
prototype, which was designed for operation at up to
8508C in a small-scale gas loop at KAERI. All parts of
the plate-type heat exchanger prototype are made of
Hastelloy1-X alloy. Grooves 1.0 mm in diameter are
machined into the flow plate for the primary coolant
 Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, Volume 49, No. 9, September 2012
(nitrogen gas), as shown in Figure 5(a). Waved
channels are bent into the flow plate for the secondary
coolant (SO3 gas), as shown in Figure 5(b). Twenty
flow plates for the primary and secondary coolants are
stacked on top of each other, and are bonded along the
edge of the flow plate using a solid-state diffusion
bonding method. After stacking and bonding the flow
plates, the outside of the plate-type heat exchanger
prototype is covered with a Hastelloy1-X alloy plate
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Figure 3. Microstructure near the weld.
Figure 4. Overall dimensions and parts of the plate-type heat exchanger prototype.
949
3.0 mm in thickness, and is welded along its edges
using gas tungsten arc welding with argon as a
shielding gas.
2.2. Zircaloy spacer grid in PWR fuel
Zircaloy is the prevailing material of a spacer grid
because of its low neutron absorption characteristic
and extensive successful in-reactor use. A Zircaloy
spacer grid and a weld bead at the intersections of the
straps are shown in Figure 2. Spot welding by a laser
beam welding technique is used prevalently by most
Zircaloy spacer grid manufacturing vendors, for the
purpose of a smaller bead size and a deeper weld
penetration at the welding parts. Generally, a spacer
grid with a smaller bead size leads to a smaller pressure
drop of the coolant flowing along the nuclear fuel
assembly, which consequently leads to a reduction in
the load on the reactor coolant pump [5]. In addition, a
spacer grid with a deeper weld penetration results in a
larger crush strength of the spacer grid. The diameter
of the weld bead is about 2 mm and the width of the
HAZ is just below 1 mm for a Zircaloy spacer grid
strip 0.457 mm thick. That is, the weld zone including
the weld bead (or fusion zone) and HAZ is very
narrow, and the interfaces are not very clear. Thus, it is
usually difficult to obtain the mechanical properties in
the weld zone from a conventional tensile test
specimen.
 950 K.-n. Song et al.

3. Measurement of mechanical properties in weld zone
3.1. Instrumented indentation method
Indentation is known to be a remarkably flexible
mechanical test to obtain properties including hard-
ness, Young’s modulus, yield stress, and tensile
strength with minimal specimen preparation [11,12].
The additional advantage of indentation is the ability
to obtain the mechanical properties in a narrow or
inaccessible region through other methods such as uni-
axial tension or a compression test. An instrumented
indentation method continuously measures the load
and depth if an indentation is made. The derived
indentation load–depth curve shown in Figure 6 can
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3.2. Welded Hastelloy1-X alloy strip
Hastelloy1-X alloy is an alloy of Ni–Fe–Mo and is
used for the high-temperature structural material of a
nuclear component owing to its high corrosion
resistance and high strength property at high tempera-
ture. Table 2 shows the chemical composition of
Hastelloy1-X alloy [17]. Figure 7 shows one of the
specimens taken from the welded Hastelloy1-X alloy
plate under the welding conditions shown in Table 3
and its indented positions for taking the mechanical
properties of the base material, weld (or fusion
zone), and HAZ of the Hastelloy1-X alloy strip with
a 3 mm thickness. In addition, Figure 8 shows

thus be used to determine the mechanical properties. In
this study, a continuous indentation tester, a Micro
AIS (Frontics, Inc., Seoul, Korea), was used to
measure the indentation load–depth curve for Zirca-
loy-4 and Hastelloy1-X alloy welded specimens using a
spherical ball. The test conditions using the indentation
tester are shown in Table 1. Based on the load–depth
curve, mechanical properties such as yield stress and
tensile strength are obtained using the algorithm in
Micro AIS [16].
Figure 5. Flow plates. (a) Primary flow plate and (b)
secondary flow plate.
variations in the mechanical properties at the
indented positions. Some data in the weld are not
symmetric to the center of the weld line owing to the
existence of very small voids, which are deleted in
the analysis of the measured data. According to
Figure 8, the mechanical properties are high in the
fusion zone in comparison with those in the base
material, while they are low in the HAZ.
3.3. Welded Zircaloy-4 strip
Zircaloy-4 of zirconium alloy is used as the
structural material of nuclear fuel since it has a
superior combination of neutron economy (low
absorption cross section); high strength to resist
deformation; high corrosion resistance to the coolant,
fuel, and fission products; and high reliability. Table
4 shows the chemical composition of Zircaloy-4 [18].
Figure 9 shows an etched specimen and its indented
positions used for taking the mechanical properties
of the base material, the weld bead (or fusion zone),
and the HAZ of the specimen welded under the
welding conditions in Table 5. Figure 10 shows the
variations of the mechanical properties along lines

Table 1. Test conditions of instrumented indentation.

Control type Displace-controlled test

Maximum indentation depth 6 mm
Number of indentation 6
Unloading rate 50%
Test speed 0.03 mm/min
Equipment Micro AIS
Indenter type Sphere type indenter
Diameter of indenter 0.05 mm

Table 2. Chemical composition (wt%) of Hastelloy1-X

alloy.

Ni Cr Fe Mo Co W C Mn Si B
Figure 6. Schematic representation of indentation load– 47 22 18 9 1.5 0.6 0.1 1 1 0.01
depth curve.
 Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, Volume 49, No. 9, September 2012 951
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Figure 7. Indented positions in welded Hastelloy1-X alloy strip.

Table 3. Welding conditions for the Hastelloy1-X alloy

specimen.

Welding method Gas tungsten arc welding

Welding current (A) 60
Welding voltage (V) 220
Welding speed (m/s) 4.7
Shielding gas 99.95% argon
Flow rate of 10
shielding gas (l/min)
Discharge pressure of 1.0
shielding gas (bar)

Figure 8. Variations of mechanical properties in welded

L1 through L4, as shown in Figure 9. According to Hastelloy1-X alloy strip.
Figure 10, variations in the tensile strength and
yield stress are dominant in the weld zone including
the weld bead and HAZ as compared with the base Table 4. Chemical composition (wt%) of Zircaloy-4.
material. Zn Sn Fe Cr Fe þ Cr
Rest 1.20–1.70 0.18–0.24 0.07–0.13 0.28–0.37

3.4. Analysis of measured data

3.4.1. Welded Hastelloy1-X alloy strip
The average values of the mechanical properties in
the base material, weld, and HAZ of the welded
Hastelloy1-X alloy strip are obtained using the
measured data shown in Figure 8 for the sake of the
simple structural analysis in Section 4.1. Based on the
average mechanical properties in the base material of
the Hastelloy1-X alloy strip, normalizing factors are
obtained in the weld (or fusion zone) and HAZ to be
utilized in the strength analysis later. Table 6 shows the
normalizing factors, in other words, the normalized
mechanical properties of the base material, the weld,
and the HAZ.
3.4.2. Welded Zircaloy-4 strip
The average values of the mechanical properties in
the base material, weld bead, and HAZ of the welded
Zircaloy-4 strip were obtained using the measured
data shown in Figure 10. Based on the average
mechanical properties in the base material of the
Zircaloy-4 strip, the normalizing factors were
 952 K.-n. Song et al.
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Figure 9. Etched specimen and indented positions in welded Zircaloy-4 strip.

Table 5. Welding conditions for the Zircaloy-4 spacer grid carried out. For the sake of simplicity and an
specimen. understanding of the overall mechanical behavior of
Peak power (kW) 3.20 the plate-type heat exchanger prototype, the FE model
Pulse width (ms) 6 used for the structural analysis is composed of 911,012
Repeat 17 three-dimensional linear solid elements made of
Number of shot 6
830,304 brick elements, 80,348 wedge elements, and
360 tetrahedron elements. The weld zone including the
weld bead and HAZ of the prototype were modeled as
obtained in the weld and HAZ. Table 7 shows the shown in Figure 11, where the weld bead along the
normalizing factors of the base material, weld, and edges of the prototype and the HAZ of the inner weld
HAZ. According to Table 7, the mechanical proper- bead are represented. However, the chamfering (or
ties of the weld bead (or fusion zone), HAZ, and base rounding) along the edge of the prototype is not
material differ to a certain some extent, and thus considered in the FE model for the sake of simplicity.
might affect the structural behavior and crush Thus, the peak stress occurring around the edges in the
strength of the spacer grid. FE model will decrease to some extent when
considering the chamfered edges, since the edges of
the prototype are in reality chamfered. However, in
4. Strength analysis and discussion this study, only the degree of exceeded yield stress is of
4.1. Finite element analysis great consequence, while yielding around the edges is
of little consequence. By multiplying the base material
4.1.1. Plate-type heat exchanger
properties [17] with the normalizing factors in Table 6,
4.1.1.1. Finite element modeling. A finite element (FE) the mechanical properties in the weld and HAZ are
modeling using the commercial code, I-DEAS, was generated.
 Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, Volume 49, No. 9, September 2012 953
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Figure 10. Variations of mechanical properties in welded Zircaloy-4 strip.

Note: YS: Yield stress; UTS: Ultimate tensile strength.

Table 6. Normalized mechanical properties of Hastelloy1- data shown in Figure 12, a thermal analysis on the
X alloy weld strip. prototype is carried out using I-DEAS/TMG Ver. 6.1
Yield stress Ultimate tensile strength [19]. Figure 13 shows the thermal analysis results of the
prototype under the test condition of the small-scale
Base material 1.000 1.000 gas loop. According to Figure 13, the temperature
HAZ 0.962 0.998
Weld 1.094 1.120 distribution is nearly symmetrical along the vertical
axis, and the maximum temperature of the outside is
about 837.158C [9].

Table 7. Normalized mechanical properties of Zircaloy-4 4.1.1.3. Structural analysis using base material
weld strip. properties. Based on the thermal analysis results, a
Yield stress Ultimate tensile strength high-temperature structural analysis on the prototype
was performed using the base material properties of
Base material 1.000 1.000 Hastelloy1-X alloy and imposing the displacement
HAZ 1.167 1.163
Weld 1.373 1.492 constraint conditions [20] considering the pipeline
stiffness of the gas loop as shown in Figure 14. A
structural analysis of the prototype was carried out
using ABAQUS Ver. 6.8 [21]. Figure 15 shows the
4.1.1.2. Thermal analysis. Figure 12 shows the input stress distribution at the pressure boundary of the
data of the primary/secondary flow plates for a thermal prototype using the base material properties
analysis under a gas loop test condition of 8508C [9,10]. determined from an elastic analysis. A maximum
Table 8 shows the material properties extracted from local stress of 272.33 MPa occurs around the edge
the Hastelloy1-X alloy website [17]. Based on the input between the top plate and side plate, which exceeds
 954 K.-n. Song et al.
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Figure 11. FE model in the weld zone.

Figure 12. Boundary conditions of primary/secondary coolant for thermal analysis.

 Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, Volume 49, No. 9, September 2012 955

Table 8. Material properties of Hastelloy1-X alloy.

Temperature Modulus of Poisson’s Thermal Specific Coefficient of thermal

(8C) elasticity (GPa) ratio conductivity (W/m8C) heat (J/kg K) expansion (1076/8C)
20 211 0.3 13.4 419 –
100 206 0.3 14.7 440 11.6
200 201 0.3 16.3 465 12.6
300 194 0.3 – – –
400 188 0.3 19.3 515 13.6
500 181 0.3 – – –
600 173 0.3 22.5 561 14.0
700 166 0.3 – – –
800 149 0.3 25.5 611 15.4
900 148 0.3 – – –
1,000 141 0.3 28.7 662 16.3
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Figure 13. Temperature contours of the outside prototype.

the yield stress of the base material (239.7 MPa at

7468C) [16] by 13.6%.

4.1.1.4. Structural analysis using mechanical

properties in the weld zone. The stress distribution at
the pressure boundary of the prototype using the
material properties in the weld zone is the same as in
Figure 15 owing to the use of the same elastic
modulus in the elastic analysis. The maximum local
stress of 272.33 MPa around the edge between the
top and side plates exceeds the yield stress of the
weld material (269.5 MPa at 7468C) by only 1.02%.
The degree of exceeded yield stress in the weld
(fusion zone) is decreased for the analysis using the
weld material properties. The reason for this is
attributed to a larger yield stress in the weld than in
the base material.
Figure 16 shows the stress distribution on the weld
bead and in the HAZ from an elastic–plastic analysis.
In the HAZ, the maximum local stress of 235.47 MPa
exceeds the yield stress of the weld material (226.51
MPa at 749.228C) by 3.96%, as shown in Figure 16, Figure 14. Boundary conditions for structural analysis.
 956 K.-n. Song et al.
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Figure 15. Overall elastic stress contours using the base material properties.

Figure 16. Stress contours in weld zone from an elastic–plastic analysis with weld material properties.

while the maximum stress of 239.17 MPa exceeds the

yield stress of the base material (237.68 MPa at
749.228C) by only 0.63%. The degree of exceeded
yield stress in HAZ is increased for the analysis using
the base material properties. This is attributed to a
smaller yield stress in the HAZ than in the base
material.
An interesting observation was found from these
analysis results. When considering the mechanical
properties in the weld zone, the degree of exceeded yield
stress becomes smaller or larger owing to the different
yield stresses of the weld material. As a result, the
structural integrity may differ from previous analyses.

4.1.2. Spacer grid

4.1.2.1. Spacer grid test specimen. When performing a
crush strength test and analysis on a full-sized spacer Figure 17. Full-sized (16 6 16 array) spacer grid specimen.
 Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, Volume 49, No. 9, September 2012 957

grid (16 6 16 array) as shown in Figure 17, too much

time and cost are required to fabricate and model a
full-sized spacer grid specimen. Previous research [5,7]
reported that, when estimating the crush strength, a
sub-sized spacer grid specimen (7 6 7 array)

Figure 19. Line welding along the intersection of straps.

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Figure 18. Sub-sized (7 6 7 array) spacer grid specimen.

Table 9. Geometric data for the sub-sized (7 6 7 array)

spacer grid specimen.

Strap thickness (mm)

Specimen
(7 6 7 type) Outer strap A Outer strap A Inner strap
0.664 0.457 0.457 Figure 20. FE model of the sub-sized (7 6 7 array) spacer
grid for crush analysis.

Figure 21. FE models using the base material properties. (a) P-spot welding, (b) P-9.275 mm, and (c) P-13.28 mm.
 958 K.-n. Song et al.
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Figure 22. FE models using the weld material properties. (a) W-spot welding, (b) W-9.275 mm, and (c) P-13.28 mm.
Figure 23. Stress–strain curve of Zircaloy-4.
represents the crush strength of a full-sized spacer
grid quite well. Thus, as an alternative, a crush
strength test and an analysis on the sub-sized spacer
grid specimen shown in Figure 18 are carried out in
this study. Geometric data on the sub-sized spacer
grid are shown in Table 9. To obtain more data for a
comparison with the test and analysis results, three
kinds of sub-sized spacer grid specimen with different
weld penetrations, namely, one by spot welding and
two by line welding, as shown in Figure 19, have been
prepared. A crush strength test was performed on five
specimens and the average crush strength was
obtained.
4.1.2.2. FE model. An FE model for predicting the
crush strength of a sub-sized spacer grid was
established [5], reflecting a real test environment.
Figure 20 shows the FE model of the sub-sized spacer
grid and the boundary conditions. As shown in Figure
20, a rigid and mass element was used for simulating
the impact hammer, and all degrees of freedom were
fixed at the rigid surface of the bottom side. The
applied boundary conditions were used to simulate
the actual test conditions. The initial impact velocity at
the reference node (at the center of the upper rigid
surface) is applied, and the output accelerations for the
initial impact velocity are obtained at this node.
The four-node shell elements were used for the
inner/outer straps. Since the slot width in the inner
straps is wider than the inner strap thickness, there may
be a gap in the interconnected parts. Thus, surface-to-
node contact elements were used at these intercon-
nected parts to simulate the gap condition. The FE
model is composed of 24,448 two-dimensional linear
quadrilateral shell elements. Three kinds of FE model
with different weld penetrations are formulated for the
base material properties shown in Figure 21 and for
the weld material properties shown in Figure 22. Since
the weld zone by laser beam welding is in reality
narrower than that shown in Figure 22, the weld zone
in Figure 22 is to some extent exaggerated for the sake
of comparison with the previous analysis result [5]
using the models shown in Figure 21.
4.1.2.3. FE analysis. Crush strength analyses were
carried out using a commercial FE code, LS-DYNA
[22]. Figure 23 shows the elastic–plastic stress–strain
curve of Zircaloy-4 from the unidirectional tensile test
[23]. For the crush strength analysis using the base
material properties, the stress–strain curve shown in
 Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, Volume 49, No. 9, September 2012
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Figure 24. (a) Reaction force at each impact velocity and (b) crush load vs. impact velocity.
Figure 25. Crush load vs. impact velocity.
Figure 23 is used for the material properties. On the
other hand, for the crush strength analysis using
the weld material properties, stress–strain curves in
the weld zone including the weld and HAZ are
generated by multiplying the stress–strain curve in
Figure 23 with the normalizing factors in Table 9. The
reaction force of the sub-sized spacer grid at each
impact velocity is evaluated by multiplying the
maximum acceleration of the model with the mass of
the impact hammer. The reaction force, in other words,
the crush load, increases as the impact velocity
increases, as shown in Figure 24. The crush load
increases and becomes saturated to the maximum
values, as the impact velocity increases. The crush
strength is taken as the crush load from this case, where
the linear slope is apparently changed (over 5%). Figure
25 shows the results of crush strength analyses on the
three kinds of FE model for using the base material
properties and weld properties. An interesting
observation can be made from Figure 25. The
maximum crush loads using the weld material
properties for three FE models are 40–50% lower
than those using the base material properties. The
959
Table 10. Comparisons of crush strength ratio.
Analysis/test
Weld line (mm) With base With weld
Spot welding (2.0 mm) 1.935 1.429
Line welding (9.275 mm) 1.929 1.489
Line welding (13.28 mm) 1.900 1.511
reason for this seems to be attributed to the yielding and
deforming that first occurs in the base material with
lower yield stress, while yielding in the weld zone with a
higher yield stress seems to be delayed. The crush
strength is taken from Figure 25 and compared with the
test results. Table 10 shows a comparison of the crush
strength ratios. According to Table 10, the crush
strength ratio, in other words, the crush strength from
using the mechanical properties in the weld zone, closes
the gap in the test results compared to that using the
base material properties.
Generally, the crush strength is influenced by the
total energy of the material before achieving the
maximum load. Also, the strain at the maximum load
of the weld material is changed from that of the base
material. Thus, to evaluate the dynamic behavior such
as the crush strength, not only the load (stress) but also
the displacement (strain) has to be taken into account.
This assumption may be deviated to a certain extent
from the viewpoint of dynamic mechanics. However,
from an engineering point of view, the assumption and
its results appear to be meaningful to degree certain
extent.
5. Conclusion
In this study, to investigate the effects of the
mechanical behavior of a plate-type heat exchanger
prototype and spacer grid when using mechanical weld
properties, strength analyses considering these mechan-
ical weld properties obtained by an instrumented
 960 K.-n. Song et al.
indentation technique were performed, and the analysis
results were compared with previous research using the
base material properties. As a result of the analysis, the
following conclusions are drawn.
(1) The degree of exceeded yield stress differs owing
to the different yield stresses of the weld
material for a strength evaluation of the plate-
type heat exchanger prototype.
(2) The crush load when using the weld material
properties is lower than that when using the
base material properties for a crush strength
analysis of the Zircaloy spacer grid.
(3) The crush strength of the Zircaloy spacer grid
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obtained from the analyses using the weld
mechanical properties closes a gap in the test
results compared to that from the analyses
using the base material properties.
(4) For a more reliable FE analysis, a strength
analysis considering the weld mechanical prop-
erties is needed.
References
[1] Y.W. Kim, K.Y. Lee, J.M. Ro, S.D. Hong, M.S. Cho,
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