Mathematical Modeling of the Contact Interaction of the Fuel Element Section, Including up to 100 Pellets, Taking into Account Creep

Abstract

An algorithm for solving axisymmetric contact problems of thermoelasticity taking into account creep processes is considered. To account for the contact interaction of bodies, the mortar method was used, and the modified Jacobi method was used to solve the resulting system of linear equations. For the numerical solution of the problem simulating the creep process, time discretization based on the implicit Euler method was applied, and the Newton method was used to linearize the resulting system of equations. An algorithm with automatic step selection based on obtaining an estimate of the local error of the method is proposed. The results of applying the proposed algorithm to a demonstration problem simulating thermomechanical processes in a section of a fuel element comprising from 1 to 100 fuel pellets are presented.