VITRAN: an Advance Statistic Tool to Evaluate Fretting-wear Damage

Abstract

A non-linear vibration model (called VITRAN for VIbration TRansient Analysis-Nonlinear) of the dynamic response of a nuclear fuel rod and its supports has been developed and integrated to a fretting-wear analysis method to predict the performance of fuel assemblies. The approach includes the hydraulic, structural and tribological effects considered to be of sufficient importance. A general description of the software and an example of application are provided in this paper.