Development and Demonstration of a New Testing Capability for Simulating Multiple Fuel Assembly Impact During a Seismic Event

As an important part in both product development and analytical model validation, Westinghouse continues to develop prototype testing capabilities. Towards better understanding fuel assembly’s structural performance during a seismic event, our recent effort was to develop a new testing capability for simulating multiple fuel assembly impact that may occur during a seismic event. The test system was developed by adding a pendulum system to our existing fuel assembly mechanical test stand. Following qualification of the testing system, a prototype fuel assembly was tested using selected pendulum parameters. Fuel assembly displacement, impact loads at various contact locations, and the spacer grid deformation as a function of impact forces were obtained. The test results provided new insights and understanding of the fuel assembly’s structural performance during a simulated seismic event, and are useful for model development and validation.