Effect of Water Height for Modal Characteristics of the Fuel Channel and Stiffness Analysis Using Modal Test Results

A fuel channel, which is the major structure of a nuclear reactor, is excited by the flow of cooling water during the operation of the nuclear reactor. This flow of cooling water can cause excessive vibration of the structure by the resonance. So, in the design process of a nuclear structure, the exact evaluation of the effect of water to modal characteristics and stiffness characteristics is very important to generate an exact analysis model. In this study, the effect of water height for modal characterisics of the fuel channel is investigated and the stiffness evaluation of that is conducted using the modal test results.