核燃料包壳管多层异质膜叠阵多频涡流检测方法OA
A Multiple-Frequency Eddy Current Testing Method for of Multi-Layer Heterogeneous Membrane Stacks Measurement in Nuclear Fuel Cladding Tube
核燃料组件作为核反应堆内的释热部件,是核电站第一道安全屏障,可以有效包容裂变产物,防止放射性物质外泄,保持燃料元件形状并提供结构强度.然而,由于包壳受到冷却剂的冲刷发生氧化反应,生成氧化膜,会严重影响燃料组件的结构强度和韧性,导致核燃料组件功能失效.为精确评估包壳异质膜结构状态,需对其壁厚和电磁特性等多个参数进行高精度测量.针对该问题,该文提出一种核燃料包壳管多层异质膜叠阵多频涡流检测方法.首先,设计由三个同轴线圈组成的叠阵涡流传感器,建立了包含包壳层和氧化膜层的双层介质解析模型,进而推导了叠阵涡流结构的线圈互感表达式;其次,提出核燃料包壳管异质膜多参数分步解耦反演方法,利用高频响应信号对氧化膜层厚度进行反演,同时结合低频响应与线圈阵列特征实现包壳基体厚度与电导率的解耦测量;最后,采用有限元数值仿真与实验对所提方法进行验证.结果表明,基于叠阵涡流趋肤效应,通过多频响应差异可以实现异质膜参数的准确估计,各参数的平均相对误差低于 3.5%,证明了所提方法的可行性与准确性.
Within the extreme operational environment of a nuclear reactor,the fuel assembly functions as the cornerstone of nuclear safety,acting as the first physical barrier against radioactive release.The zirconium alloy cladding tube,serving as the pressure boundary,must maintain impeccable structural integrity to effectively contain fission products,prevent the leakage of radioactive materials,and provide long-term mechanical support for the fuel pellets.However,prolonged exposure to high-temperature,high-pressure coolant flow induces persistent thermo-chemical interactions.These interactions lead to oxidation reactions that consume the metallic matrix,resulting in the formation of a heterogeneous oxide film on the outer cladding surface.This corrosion phenomenon not only reduces the effective load-bearing wall thickness but also severely compromises the mechanical properties—particularly the strength and toughness—of the fuel assembly,thereby elevating the risk of functional failure.Consequently,the accurate assessment of the cladding's structural state necessitates the high-precision,non-destructive measurement of multiple coupled parameters,specifically the oxide film thickness,the wall thickness,and the electromagnetic properties induced by irradiation and corrosion.Traditional single-frequency eddy current testing(ECT)methods are fundamentally limited in this context,as the lift-off,thickness,and conductivity are highly intertwined,creating a complex inverse problem that hinders decoupled measurement. To surmount these limitations,this paper proposes a novel multi-layer heterogeneous film characterization methodology utilizing a stacked-array multiple-frequency eddy current testing technique.The core innovation lies in the synergistic integration of a bespoke sensor architecture and an advanced inversion algorithm.First,a specialized stacked-array eddy current sensor was designed and fabricated,comprising three coaxial coils arranged in a compact,layered configuration.This unique geometry optimizes the spatial sensitivity distribution,enabling the simultaneous acquisition of electromagnetic responses at varying penetration depths.Correspondingly,an analytical forward model was established based on the electromagnetic theory of a two-layer composite medium,representing the conductive metallic cladding substrate and the relatively non-conductive oxide film layer.By solving Maxwell's equations under quasi-static conditions,the mutual inductance expressions governing the interactions between the excitation and pickup coils were rigorously derived.These formulations establish the complex mathematical relationship between the measured coil impedance and the target material parameters—namely,oxide thickness,cladding thickness,and electrical conductivity—across a broad spectrum of excitation frequencies. Subsequently,a multi-parameter stepwise decoupling inversion method was developed to resolve the ambiguities inherent in the coupled signals.This strategy strategically exploits the frequency-dependent skin effect:high-frequency eddy currents are confined primarily to the surface region,rendering them highly sensitive to the oxide film but insensitive to the substrate,whereas low-frequency currents penetrate deeper,carrying information about the metallic matrix.Specifically,the high-frequency response signals are first utilized to invert the thickness of the surface oxide film layer,effectively isolating surface effects from the underlying substrate.Once the oxide thickness is accurately determined,the low-frequency response signals are processed in conjunction with the spatial sensitivity characteristics of the coil array.This allows for the subsequent decoupled reconstruction of the cladding thickness and the conductivity.This stepwise approach transforms a traditionally ill-posed multi-variable optimization problem into a sequence of stable,single-variable estimations,significantly enhancing the robustness of the inversion process. Finally,the proposed method is validated through finite element numerical simulations and experiments.Parametric FEM simulations are conducted to analyze the sensitivity coefficients of various frequencies to the target parameters,confirming the theoretical basis for frequency selection.Furthermore,experimental tests are performed on zirconium alloy cladding tube specimens with artificially prepared oxide layers with varying thicknesses.The results demonstrate that accurate estimation of all three heterogeneous film parameters can be achieved by analyzing the differential multi-frequency responses based on the eddy current skin effect in stacked arrays.Quantitative analysis indicates that the average relative error for the oxide film thickness,cladding thickness,and electrical conductivity was maintained below 3.5%.This level of precision effectively proves the feasibility and accuracy of the proposed method,offering a robust technical solution for the in-situ,high-precision evaluation of fuel cladding degradation and contributing significantly to the predictive maintenance and safety assessment of nuclear power plants.
黄璞;韩正;彭丽莎;闻映红;黄松岭
北京交通大学自动化与智能学院 北京 100044清华大学电机工程与应用电子技术系 北京 100084清华大学电机工程与应用电子技术系 北京 100084北京交通大学自动化与智能学院 北京 100044清华大学电机工程与应用电子技术系 北京 100084
信息技术与安全科学
核燃料包壳管叠阵涡流多频测量壁厚电导率解析理论模型
Nuclear fuel cladding tubesstacked array eddy currentsmultiple frequency measurementswall thicknesselectrical conductivityanalytical theoretical models
《电工技术学报》 2026 (13)
4434-4445,12
国家自然科学基金(U23B20113,52507011)、博士后资助计划(GZB20250848)和博士后基金资助项目.
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