Direct validation of numerical twins of nuclear fuel microstructures with the help of micro-tomography
Résumé
The UO2 ceramics under consideration display a more-or-less connected and extended network of intergranules pores. 3D virtual microstructures of these ceramics are under development to capture the dominant effect of this porous network on their effective thermal conductivity (see [1]). These virtual microstructures derive from a morphological model depending on a limited number of parameters (see [2]). In [3], these parameters have first been tuned in order to mimic optical images of the real ceramics and then virtual microstructures have been partially assessed by 2D full-field thermal simulations. To strenghten this validation process, the ceramics under consideration have been imaged in 3D by synchrotron X-Ray micro-computed tomography, with a specific setup adapted to the very strong attenuation of UO2. As expected, these images allow qualitative and quantitative comparisons between observed 3D porous networks and simulated ones. In addition, these images make possible direct comparisons of full field 3D thermal computations between real and virtual microstructures.
Domaines
MatériauxOrigine | Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s) |
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