Sensitivity Investigation of Specimen Shape on Elastic Behaviour of Perforated Plate

There are various types of tube support plates installed in a steam generator according to the component designer’s preference. Most widely used types of tube support plates are BTSP (broached tube support plate), ATSG (advanced tube support grid), and the eggcrate. In this study, trefoil BTSP specimens made of ASME stainless steel are analyzed and tested. This study is to investigate the effect of specimen shape on an elastic behavior of trefoil BTSP through the compression and bending tests. Prior to the compression and bending tests of BTSP specimens, the equivalent elastic properties of BTSP unit cell are analyzed by the finite element analysis according to the different loading orientation as well as size of the model. Autodesk^® Inventor™ software was used to make an analytical model and ANSYS^® software was used for the finite element analysis and post-processing. Five and three different shapes of trefoil BTSP specimens are machined and utilized for the compression and bending (4-point and 3-point side bending) tests, respectively. Through the finite element analyses, compression, and bending tests, the equivalent elastic modulus of trefoil BTSP specimen is suggested to be 6,254MPa (907ksi) and the equivalent Poisson’s ratio as 0.64. Specifically the CS5 type specimen which has a ratio of one-fourth (= width/length) was revealed as an appropriate shape of specimen to show those elastic behavior.