Study on the Finite Element Modeling of the Mechanical Stresses of the Samples of Nuclear Structural Materials

The evaluation of the structural integrity of the components in the active zone of a nuclear reactor is an essential domain for ensuring their good operation and operation under nuclear security conditions, having applicability from the design, and manufacturing stages and up to the final decommissioning phase of the installation. Through a preliminary investigation of the stress-strain states present in traditional tensile test specimens, the research aims to highlight the behavior of structural materials operating in the active zone of nuclear reactors. To carry out this study, the finite element modeling method will be used, and put into practice with the ANSYS code. The paper describes the main steps required for the simulation and analysis with finite elements (FEA), the steps taken for the realization of some classical tensile specimens, as well as the simulation and analysis of the mechanical demands for these specimens. The novelty of this work consists in the study of the possibility of modeling with the finite element method, the typical stainless steel specimens tensile tested in a molten lead medium to obtain the σ-ε curve (mechanical stress-strain) in the elastic domain. This modeling method applied to the field of mechanical tests has a novelty character concerning the research activities within the Institute, thus contributing to the study of innovative generation IV structural materials.