Strength-deformation considerations of a reactor core support structure

• Published in: Nuclear engineering and design 1969, Vol.9 (1), p.45-62
• Main Author: Marchertas, A.H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0029-5493; 1872-759X
• DOI: 10.1016/0029-5493(69)90049-1

A method is presented for the strength-deformation solution of a typical nuclear reactor core support structure. The structure under consideration consists of two axisymmetric multiregion plates, located one above the other, and interconnected by concentric rings of tubes. This main body of the structure is supported at the outer circumference or at some intermediate radius by circular cylindrical shells. Loading of the structure may be twofold: static transverse pressure on the plane of the plates or the shell walls, and steady state temperature gradients, both along the radius and across the plates, their individual regions and the separate shells. Plates with perforations of triangular configuration may also be included in the list of region properties to be considered. Solution to this composite structure problem is obtained by mathematical superposition of elementary thin plate, circular cylindrical shell, and ordinary beam problems. This is accomplished by the matrix inversion procedure to solve the resulting simultaneous equations. Analytical results are presented in the form of a matrix, giving the expressions for the coefficients in terms of the design variables. The proposed analytical method is also incorporated into a computer program. This program thus makes the stress-deflection solution of the composite support structure readily available to the designer.