Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology

ISSN: 0022-3131 (Print) 1881-1248 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tnst20

Design of a Spacer Grid Using Axiomatic Design

Ki-Jong PARK , Byung-Soo KANG , Kee-Nam SONG & Gyung-Jin PARK
To cite this article: Ki-Jong PARK , Byung-Soo KANG , Kee-Nam SONG & Gyung-Jin PARK (2003)
Design of a Spacer Grid Using Axiomatic Design, Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology,
40:12, 989-997
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18811248.2003.9715444

Published online: 07 Feb 2012.

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Journal of NUCLEAR SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY, Vol. 40, No. 12, p. 989997 (December 2003)

ORIGINAL PAPER

Design of a Spacer Grid Using Axiomatic Design

Ki-Jong PARK1 , Byung-Soo KANG2 , Kee-Nam SONG3 and Gyung-Jin PARK4,*
1

Department of Machine Design and Production Engineering,

Hanyang University, 1271 Sa-1 dong, Ansan, Kyunggi-do, 425-791, Korea
2
Center of Innovative Design Optimization Technology, 17 Haengdang-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 133-791, Korea
3
Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 150 Dukjin-dong, Yusong-gu, Taejon, 305-353, Korea
4
Division of Mechanical and Information Management Engineering,
Hanyang University, 1271 Sa-1 dong, Ansan, Kyunggi-do, 425-791, Korea

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(Received March 3, 2003 and accepted in revised form July 30, 2003)
Recently, much attention is focused on the design of fuel assemblies in the Pressurized Light Water Reactor (PWR).
The spacer grid is one of the main structural components in a fuel assembly. It supports fuel rods, guides cooling
water, and maintains geometry from external impact loads. In this research, a new shape of the spacer grid is designed
by axiomatic approach. The Independence Axiom is utilized for the design. For the conceptual design, functional
requirements (FRs) are defined and corresponding design parameters (DPs) are found to satisfy corresponding FRs in
sequence. Overall configuration and shapes are determined in this process. Detailed design is carried out based on the
sequence from axiomatic design. For the detailed design, the system performances are evaluated by using linear and
nonlinear finite element analyses. The dimensions are determined by optimization. Some commercial codes are utilized
for the analysis and design.
KEYWORDS: axiomatic design, independence axiom, decoupled design, design parameter, functional requirement, impact load, shape optimization, contact pressure, PWR type reactors, nuclear fuel rod support grid

I. Introduction
The nuclear fuel assembly in Fig. 1 is used in a PWR. It is
composed of a top end piece, a bottom end piece, guide thimbles, fuel rods, and spacer grids. The slenderness ratio of the
fuel rod is so high that several spacer grids need to support
the rod in order to prevent its unstable structural behavior.
The actual supporting parts in the spacer grid are the springs
and dimples as illustrated in Fig. 2. Structural performance
of these supporting parts is critical for stable support of the
fuel rod.17) Moreover, in an abnormal operating environment
such as in an earthquake, most of the external impact loads
are mainly applied to the spacer grids supporting the fuel
rods. Control rods normally reside outside of the spacer grids.
Under an abnormal operating environment or when controlling the core power, control rods must be quickly inserted in
the nuclear reaction zone through the guide thimbles that are
fixed to spacer grids via sleeves or welding. Therefore, deformation of spacers needs to be limited to safely maintain the
guide thimbles.811)
The spacer design has to consider many complex engineering aspects such as structural aspects, metallurgy, thermalhydraulics, manufacturing limitations, etc. In this research,
the design of a spacer grid is conducted from structural viewpoints. Other complex aspects are indirectly considered with
the results of previous researches47) in the design process.
The conceptual design process is proposed by the axiomatic
approach.1217) The proposed process is reasonable and systematic compared to the conventional design process based
on experience and sophisticated analysis methods.
Two axioms exist in axiomatic design. One is the Indepen

Corresponding author, Tel. +82-31-400-5246, Fax. +82-31-4070755, E-mail: gjpark@hanyang.ac.kr

Fig. 1 Nuclear fuel assembly

dence Axiom and the other is the Information Axiom. The

Independence Axiom is employed to design the spacer grid.
After the conceptual design, detailed design is performed to
solve each problem indicated by the design matrix of the axiomatic approach. The detailed design includes three structural analysis problems. They are evaluations of the inner
strap strength using non-linear dynamic analysis, the contact behavior between the fuel rod and the grid spring using
non-linear static analysis, and the strength of the grid spring
arms using linear static analysis. The finite element method is
adopted for the analyses.18) Some commercial software systems are utilized. LS-DYNA3D,19) an explicit dynamic analysis software system and ABAQUS/Standard20) an implicit
analysis software system, are used for nonlinear dynamic
analysis and nonlinear static contact analysis, respectively. To
determine the final shape of the grid spring arms, numerical
structural optimization is employed by using a commercial

989

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K.-J. PARK et al.

Figure 3 is a graphical interpretation of the general mapping process between the functional domains and physical domains. Consider the following design equation to understand
the implications of the Independence Axiom:
{FRs} = [A]{DPs},

Fig. 2 Unit spacer grid structure

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software system called GENESIS21, 22) which is capable of

structural optimization with linear static analysis.

II. Axiomatic Design15)

Design is a continuous interplay between what to achieve
and how to achieve it. The designer determines what to
obtain by defining the design objectives from the Customer
Attributes (CAs). The what to achieve items are the functional requirements (FRs). The answer to the question, how
to achieve them is obtained by the definition of design parameters (DPs) in the physical domain. In the axiomatic approach, a design is the creation of the solutions that can obtain
stated objectives through mapping from FRs to DPs through
the proper selection of DPs that satisfy the FRs. Then, it is
the obligation of the designer to select the appropriate FRs
and their corresponding DPs. If a completed design does not
satisfy perceived needs or prescribed FRs, the designer must
create a new idea to change the DPs or FRs. This process
is repeated until the designer gets reasonable FRs and corresponding DPs.
The Independence Axiom in axiomatic design suggests that
one DP influences only a corresponding FR in the mapping
process between the functional domain and the physical domain; i.e. it suggests one-to-one mapping of FRs and DPs.

(a) General process

(1)

where {FRs} is the vector of the functional requirements,

{DPs} is the vector of the design parameter, and [A] is the design matrix that identifies the relationship between {FRs} and
{DPs}. The design matrix consists of three types as follows:
Coupled design

X X X DP1
FR1
FR2 = X X X DP2 ,
(2)

DP3
FR3
X X X
Decoupled design

X
FR1
FR2 = X

FR3
X

O
X
X

O DP1
O DP2 ,

X
DP3

Uncoupled design

X
FR1
FR2 = O

FR3
O

O
X
O

O DP1
O DP2 ,

X
DP3

(3)

(4)

where X means an FR and a DP have a certain relationship

and O means they have no relationship.
In Eq. (2), DP1, DP2, and DP3 are to be determined simultaneously to satisfy FR1. However, even though they satisfy FR1, they cannot be guaranteed to satisfy FR2 or FR3.
Therefore, many trials and errors are needed to find the correct values of all DPs. It is possible to conduct a sequential
design in the case of Eq. (3). That is, we can determine the
design parameters in the sequence of DP1, DP2, and DP3. In
Eq. (4), an FR corresponds exclusively to only one DP. A
designer can treat one FRDP set regardless of the remaining
two FRDP sets. Therefore, when a variation exists in a certain FRDP set, there is no influence from the variation over
the other FRDP sets. That is, each FR is independent of the
other FRs.
The Independence Axiom recommends the uncoupled design as shown in Eq. (4). In this design, the relationship be-

(b) The hierarchy and zigzag mapping

process for this research

Fig. 3 Concept of domain, mapping and decomposition

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Design of a Spacer Grid Using Axiomatic Design

tween the FR and the DP is one-to-one. If it is impossible

to achieve this design, the next best is a decoupled design as
shown in Eq. (3). The coupled design in Eq. (2) is not desirable from the viewpoint of axiomatic design. In this case, the
designer must create new ideas for FRs or DPs to achieve a
decoupled design or an uncoupled design.
The Information Axiom is used to select the best design
out of several designs that satisfy the Independence Axiom.
According to the Information Axiom, the best design among
those satisfying the Independence Axiom is the one with the
least information content. The axiomatic design research
group says that the information content may be inversely proportional to the probability of achieving design goals. In this
work, the design of a spacer grid is carried out by using only
the Independence Axiom because multiple design candidates
are not extracted.
The FRs and DPs are decomposed to make a hierarchy
and a zigzag mapping process is used during the decomposition.1217) The process is illustrated in Fig. 3. The FRs for a
design problem are decomposed into a hierarchy, and the total design description at any level of the hierarchy consists of
the engineering aspects needed to satisfy the stated objectives.
Thus, the FRDP mapping process takes place over a number
of levels of abstraction, but a given set of FRs must be successfully mapped to a set of DPs in the physical domain prior
to the decomposition of the FRs. Iterations between FR-toDP mapping and functional decomposition need zigzagging
processes between the functional and physical domains. Actually, when the hierarchy arrives at the bottom leaves, the
design is completed.

III. Design of a Spacer Grid Using the Independence

Axiom
1. Description of the Problem
As mentioned earlier, the spacer grid in Fig. 2 is a part of
the fuel assembly that supports the fuel rod. Here are the
general features that a spacer grid must have.47) First, it must
make the fuel rod stationary. Second, it must supply a cooling
flow path that encourages heat transfer from the hot fuel rod to
the coolant. Third, it must protect the control rod guide path
in any abnormal operating environment. A designer needs to
consider the above features in designing a spacer grid; the
third feature, the design for consistent safe operation such as
safe shutdown of the reactor in an emergency is especially
important.
The above general features are related to various complex
engineering fields such as structural mechanics, metallurgy,
thermal-hydraulics and manufacturing. In reality, it is extremely difficult to consider all the disciplines simultaneously
even in modern engineering. Therefore, when a component is
designed by using a certain discipline, data from other disciplines are generally assigned fixed values. By the same
token, some values are fixed as constants from other disciplines47) or some aspects are ignored due to simplification of
the model. For example, the finite element (FE) model utilized in this research is illustrated in Fig. 4 and it has 5 by 5
grids. Actually, the real full model has 16 by 16 grids. The
simplified spacer assembly model without the thimble sleeve

VOL. 40, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2003

Fig. 4 Applied boundary condition for impact FE analysis model

of 5 by 5 cell grid

and fuel rod is enough to grasp the design trend at the conceptual design stage because their effects are not large.47)
Welding spots are modeled by merging the nodes and they are
tuned by experiments. And several parameters such as strap
thickness, material property, etc. are also not considered in the
design process. These parameters have been determined from
other disciplines such as structural mechanics and thermalhydraulics. Thus, this work is limited to those boundaries.
In an abnormal operating environment such as in an earthquake, lateral impact loads are applied to the spacer grids
as illustrated in Fig. 5. The spacer gird must protect the
guide path of the control rod against these lateral impact
loads. Therefore, the spacer grid must have sufficient strength
against this load.
A fuel rod contacts with the spring because the spring sup-

Fig. 5 Unit spacer grid under impact load

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Fig. 6 Contact between a nuclear fuel rod and a spring

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Fig. 7 Unit inner strap in a spacer grid without the spring

ports the fuel rod as illustrated in Fig. 6. Thus, there must be

contact pressure on the contact surface. Flow induced vibration from the coolant also causes the fretting phenomenon,
which results in wearing down of fuel rods and leakage of
radioactive products. Therefore, wearing down of the fuel
rod should be prevented. When a fuel rod is inserted into the
spacer grid, most deformation occurs not in the dimple, but
in the spring because the dimple is stiffer. Generally, the deformation behavior is elasto-plastic. The grid spring loses its
strength due to irradiation-induced relaxation and creep-down
of fuel rod diameter. Consideration must be made at the design stage to keep the supporting reaction force throughout
the lifetime of the reactor. Therefore, plastic deformation in
the spring must be minimized and the grid spring must support the fuel rod with the proper initial force. Based on these
observations, FRs and DPs are defined from a zigzagging process and decomposition.
2. Conceptual Design by Definition of the Design Equation
A spacer grid must have sufficient strength to protect the
guide path of the control rod against lateral impact loads. The
spacer grid assembly is composed of inner and outer straps,
fuel rods, thimble sleeves, etc. As mentioned earlier, thimble
sleeves and fuel rods have little influence on strength of the
structure. Thus, they are not considered in the analysis and
design process. Therefore, the main components responsible for the strength of the spacer grid are the outer and inner
straps as illustrated in Fig. 5. The strength of the outer strap
is mainly dependent on its thickness. But the thickness of the
outer strap is fixed to 0.664 mm because the simplified model
of 5 by 5 grid cells is used in this work. Actually, the outer
strap is located around the edges of the 16 by 16 full model.
Thus, we can only control the strength of the inner strap to
resist the impact load. The main part of the inner strap which
resists the impact load is illustrated in Fig. 7. Therefore, FR1
and DP1 are defined as follows:
FR1: Control strength of the inner strap
DP1: Dimension l in Fig. 7.
The spacer grid must safely support the fuel rod. Thus, FR2
and DP2 are as follows:
FR2: Support fuel rod safely
DP2: Supporting part for the fuel rod (spring).
The type of the design matrix is determined by the relation-

ship between FRs and DPs. In this work, the supporting part
for the fuel rod is placed at the center of the inner strap as
illustrated in Fig. 7. Therefore, after the strength of the inner
strap (FR1) is determined, the space for the supporting part
can be fixed. The design is a decoupled design as




FR1
X O DP1
=
.
(5)
FR2
X X DP2
The supporting part needs to prevent leaking of radioactivity caused by wearing due to contact pressure and the fretting
phenomenon. Also, it needs to reduce the plastic deformation
to maintain the required spring force. Thus FR2 is decomposed into the following two functional requirements:
FR21: Reduce the contact pressure on the contact surface
FR22: Reduce the maximum stress of spring under a specific spring force.
Once the contact force is introduced, the contact pressure
is determined by the contact area. Thus the contact area can
control the contact pressure. The spring force and the strength
of the spring are the result of the shape and thickness of the
spring. The thickness of the spring cannot be designed due
to restrictions in the manufacturing process. Thus the shape
of the spring controls the spring force and the stress in the
spring. Therefore, the above second level FRs are mapped to
the following second level DPs:
DP21: The shape of the contact part of the spring
DP22: The shape of the spring arms.
The fixed shape of the contact area of the spring imposes
a small restriction on the shape change of the spring so that
FR21 is hardly related to DP22. The design equation for the
second level is as follows:




FR21
X O DP21
=
.
(6)
FR22
X X DP22
As design matrices in Eqs. (5) and (6) indicate, the spacer
grid is designed in the sequence of DP1, DP21 and DP22.
3. Detailed Design of the Design Parameter Dimensionl
Prior to decision of DP1, it is necessary to define the critical impact load of a spacer grid from experiments as follows.
In an experiment, the magnitude of impact load is gradually
increased and applied to a spacer grid. If the maximum reaction force of the spacer grid does not increase any more at
the ith step, then the impact load applied at the (i1)th step
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Design of a Spacer Grid Using Axiomatic Design

Fig. 8 Schematic diagram for free fall shock machine

Table 1 Material properties of Zircaloy-4

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Elastic

Plastic

E
(GPa)

y
(MPa)

(kg/m3 )

(MPa)

105.15

328.0

6,550

0.294

328.0
443.0

0.0
0.340

is considered as the critical impact load.10)

First the dimension of l is determined so that the critical impact load of the designed spacer grid is higher than or equal
to a nominal value. The nominal value can be obtained from
an experiment with the existing spacer grids that are currently
used in reactor. Experiments with existing ones have been
carried out a few times to get the mean value of the critical
impact load using the free-fall tester as illustrated in Fig. 8.18)
Since the mean value of the critical impact load from the experiments is 4,500N, the nominal value of the critical impact
load is set to 4,500N.
For numerical simulation, the FE model in Fig. 4 is developed.19) The model has a rigid sphere with mass and initial
velocity, a rigid plate and the spacer grid with shell elements
for impact analysis. The impact load is obtained from the
contact force among them. For higher velocity, larger impact
load is developed. The target for this simulation is to find a
value of l for the critical impact load with the nominal value
of 4,500N. Material properties in Table 1 are used in the simulation. As a result of several nonlinear analyses with several candidate values of l, the critical impact load of a spacer
grid with l of 4.374 mm is slightly higher than the nominal
value. Therefore, the dimension of DP1 is determined to be
4.374 mm.
4. Detailed Design of the Shape of the Contact Area
(DP21) and the Shape of the Spring (DP22)
Due to the coolant flow, the fuel rod vibrates with the supports from the springs.5) The relative infinitesimal motion between two bodies causes fretting wear on the contact surfaces
of the fuel rod and spring. A design should be performed
to minimize the wear and it can be achieved through mini-

VOL. 40, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2003

Fig. 9 Contact pressure contour and contact area

Table 2 Contact pressure and area for DP21

Contact pressure (N/mm2 )

Contact area (mm2 )

Original design

Improved design

2,190.0
0.1126

323.0
0.8528

mization and uniform distribution of the local contact pressure (DP21). Improved shapes are searched through many
trials and errors in simulation. The original shape and the
final result are illustrated in Fig. 9 and Table 2. In the new
design, the contact pressure is considerably reduced and the
contact area is larger than that of the original design.
Next, the shape of the spring (DP22) should be determined
to minimize the maximum stress. The spring is deformed by
the manufacturing tolerance of the fuel rod assembly, excessive shipping loads, and the loading condition in the nuclear
reactor. The load applied to the spring in a spacer grid can be
expressed by Eq. (7). Due to the radiation by neutrons in the
reactor, only about 8% of the initial spring force remains after long-term operation. A load with about 2N from the fluid
induced vibration is applied to the spring.9, 11) Therefore, to
support the fuel rod throughout the operating period, the initial spring force of a spacer grid must be greater than 25N as
shown in Eq. (8) which is a brief expression of Eq. (7):
Fspring 0.08 > 2N

(7)

Fspring > 25N after manufacturing of fuel assemblies. (8)

After manufacturing of fuel assemblies, it has been found
that the spring of the spacer grid was deformed by about
0.2 mm due to the insertion of the fuel rod through the spacer

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grid.9, 11) At that very moment, the supporting load of the

spring is equivalent to Eq. (8). It is the initial supporting
condition which the spring must have before operating the
reactor. However, the fuel rod is pulled into each spacer grid
cell and the maximum height difference among grid cells is
0.4 mm. The grid spring has the same deflection during the
manufacturing process as illustrated in Fig. 10. The height
difference is caused by manufacturing tolerances. After insertion of the rod, the performance of the grid spring can be
deteriorated if the excessively deformed spring is not able to
be recovered to the initial displacement of 0.2 mm with 25N.
Generally speaking, considering the above deformation and
height difference, a load of 50N is applied to a linear spring
and the linear spring is deformed by 0.4 mm. That means the
best spring in a spacer grid has the ideal behavior characteristics as illustrated in Fig. 11. However, most of the springs actually exhibit partial plastic deformation at the displacement
of 0.4 mm. Thus, the spring can be nearly linear if the plastic

deformation is minimized in the above force-deflection range.

It is noted that the design is a decoupled design as shown
in Eq. (5). Thus DP1 fixes a space for the spring. Moreover,
the shape of the contact part somewhat reduces the room for
designing the shape of the spring as shown in Eq. (6). Under
these circumstances, the problem is defined with the maximum stress as the objective function. The optimization problem is formulated for the spring shape DP22 as follows:
Find

DP22

to minimize maximum stress

subject to

[K ]{} = { f }
max = 0.4 mm,

(9)

where [K ] is the stiffness matrix, {} is the displacement vector, { f } is the external force of the finite element analysis
equation, and max is the deflection at the center of the spring.
When a maximum property is included in the optimization
formulation, the problem can be solved by using an artificial
variable as follows:23)
Find

DP22

to minimize
subject to

[K ]{} = { f }
< (at all the elements of FE analysis)
max = 0.4 mm,

(10)

where is the artificial variable. The artificial variable

is used for the objective function of a min-max problem.
Thus, the artificial variable is minimized while the constraints including all the stresses are satisfied. The shape of
the spring obtained from this formulation minimizes the maximum stress subject to the displacement of 0.4 mm under the
given constant load in the elastic range. For shape optimization,24, 25) a quarter FE model of the spring is utilized as illustrated in Fig. 12 and design variables are indicated in Fig. 13.
DVx is the xth design variable in Fig. 13 and Table 3. That is,
DP22 is a vector which consists of eleven design variables in
Fig. 13. They are the changes of the coordinates on selected
nodal points. Overall shape changes of the FE model can be
obtained by interpolation or extrapolation between them.22)
Fig. 10 Manufacturing process of fuel assembly and schematic diagram

Fig. 11 Ideal forcedisplacement curve for a grid spring

Fig. 12 Initial unit inner strap and its quarter model

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Design of a Spacer Grid Using Axiomatic Design

Table 3 Results of optimization
Design variable
DV1
DV2
DV3
DV4
DV5
DV6
DV7
DV8
DV9
DV10
DV11

The changes of x-coordinate of node a in Fig. 13

The changes of x-coordinate of node b in Fig. 13
The changes of x-coordinate of node c in Fig. 13
The changes of x-coordinate of node d in Fig. 13
The changes of x-coordinate of node e in Fig. 13
The changes of x-coordinate of node g in Fig. 13
The changes of z-coordinate of nodes a and d in Fig. 13
The changes of y-coordinate of node a in Fig. 13
The changes of y-coordinate of node d in Fig. 13
The changes of x-coordinate of node f in Fig. 13
The changes of x-coordinate of node h in Fig. 13

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Objective function

An artificial variable

Initial design

Optimal design

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

6.0749
6.0749
15.0
9.9988
9.9988
0.41806
3.2036
9.0000
3.7836
9.9988
0.41806

2.0

0.47936

Fig. 13 A quarter FE model and design variables

The problem in Eq. (10) is a nonlinear programming problem and solved by a structural optimization system named as
GENESIS.18, 19)
As mentioned earlier, since springs exhibit plastic deformation under the above loading condition, it is necessary to
do a nonlinear analysis to consider plastic deformation. It is
extremely difficult to directly consider nonlinear analysis in
structural optimization. It is desirable to exploit the benefit
of linear static optimization. Therefore, a design process is
defined as illustrated in Fig. 14. The aim of this process is
to achieve 50N reaction while the maximum stress is minimized under plastic deformation of 0.4 mm.9, 11) The given
constant load in Eq. (9) is near 50N. The results of the optimization are shown in Table 3. The maximum stress exceeds
the yield stress of 0.382 GPa. Because some plastic deformation is allowed, the design is considered acceptable. The
design process gives the shape of the spring (DP22) as illustrated in Fig. 15.

VOL. 40, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2003

Fig. 14 Design process for DP22

Fig. 15 Designed unit inner strap

IV. Discussion
Nonlinear dynamic analysis is done to evaluate the critical impact load of the designed spacer grid. Results of the

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K.-J. PARK et al.

a structural viewpoint. But the real working environment of

spacer grids should be analyzed from various viewpoints such
as thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, structural dynamics, and
nuclear engineering. If these are considered, the functional requirements might be changed or even conflict with those from
non-structural dynamics considerations. These days, multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) is being developed
to consider multiple disciplines in the optimization process.
Therefore, it is necessary to employ an MDO method in future studies.

Acknowledgments

Fig. 16 Forcevelocity curve of the designed spacer grid

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vspace*-3pt

FE analysis are illustrated in Fig. 16. To save analysis time,

two spacer grids are selected, without the spring illustrated in
Fig. 7, and with the spring illustrated in Fig. 15. Compared
to the spacer grid without the spring, the critical load of the
product with the spring is slightly higher by 100N. Thus, it is
not exactly true that the supporting part (DP2) does not affect
the strength of the inner strap (FR1) as mentioned in Eq. (5).
However, the influence of DP2 upon FR1 is sufficiently small.
Therefore, the spring effect is considered to be negligible for
the strength of the inner strap, and the design matrix is a decoupled one as shown Eq. (5). This consideration is backed up
by a theorem which implies that if the amount of the effect by
a DP on an FR is less than the designer specified tolerance in
an element of design matrix, that element can be neglected.15)
The design matrix of the spacer grid in this work is a decoupled one. Thus, if change is required for the strength of
the inner strap, the shape of the spring should be redesigned.
And if the loading condition of the spring is to be changed,
only the shape of the spring can be changed, not the strength
of the inner strap.

V. Conclusions
A conceptual design process was proposed for a spacer
grid using the Independence Axiom. Functional requirements
were defined and mapped onto appropriate design parameters.
A functional requirement of the first level was decomposed
into two functional requirements of the second level. The design was found to be decoupled and detailed designs were
carried out based on the sequences that the design equations
indicated. In the detailed design, finite element analyses and
numerical optimizations were employed. The performance of
the new design was significantly improved. The research was
conducted for a simplified model with 5 by 5 grids while the
full model has 16 by 16 grids. Currently, design work with 16
by 16 grids is being performed with a larger number of design
variables and the same method explained in this paper.
The functional requirements in this work were defined from

This research was supported by the high performance

spacer grid structure program of the Korea Atomic Energy
Research Institute. This research was also supported by the
Center of Innovative Design Optimization Technology, Korea
Science and Engineering Foundation. The authors are thankful to Mrs. MiSun Park for her correction of the manuscript.
References
1) L. A. Walton, Zircaloy spacer grid design, Trans. Am. Nucl.
Soc., 32, 601602 (1979).
2) J. G. Larson, Optimization of the Zircaloy spacer grid design,
Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc., 43, 160161 (1982).
3) I. G. Jang, Optimal Design of a Nuclear Fuel Rod Support
Structure Based on Contact Stress Analysis, M. S. Thesis,
Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, (1999).
4) Y. H. Jung, K. N. Song, et al., Development of Advanced
LWR Fuel: Development of Fuel Performance and Thermal
Hydraulic Technology, KAERI/RR-2015/99, Korea Atomic
Energy Research Institute (KAERI), (1999), [In Korean].
5) K. N. Song, et al., Development Status and Research Directions on the Structural Components of the Fuel Assembly,
KAERI/TR-865/97, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute
(KAERI), (1997), [In Korean].
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