Demonstration and Verification of Thermo-Mechanical Bowing in a Limited Free-Bow SFR Concept Using MOOSE

As part of the development of a MOOSE-based multiphysics capability for modeling core bowing in liquid metal-cooled fast reactors, MOOSE-based thermomechanical tools are being verified against IAEA duct bowing verification problems. IAEA VP4 was modeled with a symmetric sector meshed model using MOOSE Solid Mechanics and Contact modules. Computed deformations and contact forces were verified against the IAEA report results, demonstrating MOOSE's capability to accurately model the temperature driven bowing and contact phenomena while load pads and restraint ring are present Future work will study IAEA verification problem 5 which includes the impact of irradiation creep and swelling effects.