Finite Element Modeling for Inspection of CANDU® Steam Generators

S. G. Mokros[1], P. R. Underhill[2], J. Morelli[1], T. W. Krause[2]
[1]Department of Physics, Engineering Physics & Astronomy, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
[2]Department of Physics, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, ON, Canada
Veröffentlicht in 2014

Steam generators (SGs) are used in CANDU® nuclear reactors as heat exchangers to convert water into steam using heat generated in the reactor core. Ferrous trefoil broach support structures prevent excessive vibration of thousands of SG tubes. A probe that uses pulsed eddy current (PEC) technology has been designed for inspection of support structures, from within SG tubes, to detect and characterize degradation and fouling.

The PEC probe signal was simulated using COMSOL Multiphysics® software to observe the effects of various stages of support structure degradation. The modeled results demonstrated potential for PEC to detect broach support wall reductions.