TY - CONF A1 - Wosniok, Aleksander A1 - Krebber, Katerina T1 - Distributed fiber optic radiation sensors N2 - In this work, we present our results achieved in several research activities for development of distributed fiber optic radiation sensors using glass and polymer optical fibers. The findings show that both the measurement of the radiation-induced attenuation (RIA) along the entire sensing fiber and the accompanying change in the refractive index of the fiber core can be used for distributed radiation monitoring. T2 - safeND CY - Online meeting DA - 10.11.2021 KW - Distributed fiber optic radiation sensors KW - Radiation-induced attenuation KW - Optical fiber sensor KW - Incoherent optical frequency domain reflectometry PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-537531 DO - https://doi.org/10.5194/sand-1-15-2021 VL - 1 SP - 15 EP - 16 AN - OPUS4-53753 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Wosniok, Aleksander T1 - Fibre optic sensors for monitoring tasks in a radiation environment N2 - The topic of the presentation are distributed fiber optic measurement techniques that can be used for long-term monitoring of strain, temperature and radiation distribution in the radiation environment. The fiber optic sensors applied to the surface of waste packages provide detection and localization of cracks. T2 - Workshop WP7.3 EU project PREDIS CY - Online meeting DA - 15.11.2021 KW - Distributed sensing KW - Fiber optic sensor KW - Radiation sensing fibers KW - Brillouin distributed fiber sensor KW - Distributed acoustic sensing PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53751 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Wosniok, Aleksander T1 - Distributed fiber optic radiation sensors N2 - In this work, we present our results achieved in several research activities for development of fiber optic dosimeters. The findings show that both the measurement of the radiation-induced attenuation (RIA) along the entire sensing fiber and the accom panying change in the refractive index of the fiber core can be used for distributed radiation monitoring in the kGy and MGy range, respectively. Depending on the fiber type and material the RIA shows varying response to dose rates, environmental temperatures and the wavelength of the laser source used. T2 - safeND CY - Online meeting DA - 10.11.2021 KW - Distributed sensing KW - Fiber optic radiation sensor KW - Radiation sensing fibers KW - Radiation-induced attenuation PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53752 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Simbruner, Kai T1 - Embrittlement of Spent Fuel Claddings – Fracture Mechanical Evaluation and Failure Criteria N2 - The BAM research project BRUZL (Fracture mechanical analysis of spent fuel claddings during long-term dry interim storage) evaluates results of quasi-static Ring Compression Tests (RCT). Due to its simple realisation, the RCT is an established method for characterising the mechanical behaviour of fuel cladding, where a small tube sample is subjected to a compressive load and the relation between load and displacement is obtained. During tests at room temperature, unirradiated ZIRLO® samples with a distinct extend of radial hydrides have shown high susceptibility to sudden, brittle failure at relatively small loads. Hydride morphology and radial hydride metrics have been an integral part of the characterisation of degradation mechanisms of cladding. A software tool for the analysation of metallographic micrographs was developed. The program allows the automated calculation of hydride lengths, detection of continuous hydride structures, their statistical evaluation and visualisation. Numerical models have been established to reproduce experimental RCT results featuring an elastic-plastic material model, which was derived from inverse finite element analyses of as-received RCT samples. A cohesive zone model (CZM) is introduced to the model to reproduce load drops in the linear regime of the load vs. displacement curve. Using a traction-separation approach for the CZM, the cohesive parameters are fitted to match numerical and experimental results yielding the fracture mechanical material properties. Combining the three key aspects hydride morphology, fracture mechanics and RCT stress-state a failure criterion can be established as a result of the BRUZL project. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) under contract no. 1501561. T2 - 5th GRS Workshop on Safety of Extended Dry Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel CY - Online meeting DA - 09.06.2021 KW - Ageing Management KW - Cladding Embrittlement KW - Extended Storage KW - Ring Compression Test KW - Spent Nuclear Fuel PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53779 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Prabhakara, Prathik T1 - Simulation and construction of a focussing borehole probe for ultrasonic investigations at sealing structures for radioactive waste repositories N2 - A novel ultrasonic borehole probe is developed for the quality assurance of sealing structures in radioactive waste repositories using existing research boreholes. The aim is to analyse the sealing structures made of salt concrete concerning potential cracks, delamination, and embedded objects. A first prototype of the probe uses 12 individual dry point contact (DPC) shear horizontal wave transducers separated by equidistant transmitter/receiver arrays, each consisting of six individual transducers. It is operated with a commercial handheld ultrasonic testing device used in civil engineering. In order to increase the generated sound pressure of the borehole probe, the number of transducers will be increased to 32 for the novel probe. In addition, a time-controlled excitation of the individual probes is used to steer a focused sound beam to a certain angle and focus on a certain distance based on calculated time delays. Hence, the sensitive test volume is more limited, and the signal-to-noise ratio of the received signals improved. This paper presents the validation of the newly developed phased array borehole probe by beam simulation and experimentally on a half-cylindrical test specimen to investigate the directional characteristics. In combination with geophysical reconstruction method, an optimised radiation characteristic of the probe, an improved signal quality and thus an increased reliability of the results in imaging is expected. This is of great importance to construct safe sealing structures needed for radioactive or toxic waste disposal. T2 - NDT UT-Online 21 CY - Online meeting DA - 01.11.2021 KW - Borehole probe KW - Engineered Barrier System (EBS) KW - SealWasteSafe KW - Phased array technique KW - Monitoring PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-54500 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - THES A1 - Erenberg, Marina T1 - Analyse des Brandverhaltens von Stoßdämpfern für Behälter zum Transport radioaktiver Stoffe N2 - Stoßdämpfer, die zum Schutz von Behältern zum Transport radioaktiver Stoffe eingesetzt werden und welche häufig aus von Stahlblech ummantelten, geschichtetem Holz bestehen, reduzieren bei einem etwaigen Unfall die auf den Behälterkörper wirkende mechanische Belastung erheblich. In Zulassungsverfahren muss die Sicherheit der jeweiligen Behälterkonstruktion nachgewiesen werden, wobei u. a. der Nachweis erbracht werden muss, dass die Behälter definierten Prüfbedingungen widerstehen. Diese beinhalten Aufprallsequenzen aus verschiedenen Höhen und Positionen sowie ein anschließendes das Versandstück 30 min lang allumhüllendes Feuer bei 800°C. Falls Stoßdämpfer infolge der 30-minütigen Feuerbeanspruchung in Brand geraten, dürfen diese unter den Prüfbedingungen nicht gelöscht werden. Die Auswirkungen auf die Sicherheit des Behälters sind hierbei zu untersuchen. Das ist die Basis für die in dieser Arbeit durchgeführten Untersuchungen zum Brandverhalten von stahlblechumkapselten Holzstrukturen mit dem Ziel der Bewertung der daraus resultierenden zusätzlichen thermischen Belastung auf den Behälter. Ein wesentlicher Bestandteil war die Durchführung eines Großbrandversuchs, bei dem ein originalgroßer Stoßdämpfer auf dem Brandprüfstand während einer 30-minütigen Feuerphase entzündet wurde. Der Stoßdämpfer hatte ein Volumen von 3m³ und war mit aus den Prüfbedingungen resultierenden Vorschädigungen versehen. Es wurde ein Prüfstand zur Messung der variablen Wärmeleistung des brennenden Stoßdämpfers entwickelt. Die Wärme wird dabei in den Energieaufnahmebehälter (EAB) eingetragen. Aufgrund der entwickelten Temperaturregelung konnte die Wärmeleistung mit geringen Messfehlern bestimmt werden. Dabei wurde der EAB um maximal 10 K erwärmt. Im Großbrandversuch wurde gezeigt, dass der vorgeschädigte Stoßdämpfer 72 h lang brannte und dass eine signifikante Wärmeleistung in den EAB eingetragen wurde. Die während des Stoßdämpferbrands erzeugte Energie betrug ein Vielfaches im Vergleich zur Wärmeleistung, die allein durch das IAEA-Feuer eingetragen wird. Temperaturen von bis zu 1100°C wurden erreicht. Im Versuch wurde Flammenschlagen im Stoßdämpferinnern und das Glühen der Stoßdämpferstahlblechummantelung beobachtet. Bewusst dessen, dass ein einzig durchgeführter Brandversuch nur unzulängliche Aussagekraft hat, um das Brandverhalten von Stoßdämpfern zu beschreiben, wurde in weiteren Kleinbrandversuchen die Parameterabhängigkeit beim Brand von stahlblechumkapselten Holzstrukturen untersucht. Dafür wurde das Brandverhalten von 8 zylinderförmigen 0,07m³ großen Probekörpern bei variabler Schadstellengröße getestet. In der Bewertung der Kleinbrandversuche konnte gezeigt werden, dass eine kritische Schadstellengröße existiert und welche Streubreite in den Kleinbrandversuchen vorliegt. Die Kleinbrandversuche können damit Aufschluss darüber geben, welche Abweichungen in weiteren Großbrandversuchen zu erwarten wären. KW - Stoßdämpfer KW - Holz KW - Brand PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:ma9:1-1981185920-397479 DO - https://doi.org/10.25673/39100 SP - 1 EP - 154 PB - Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg CY - Magdeburg AN - OPUS4-54263 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hicke, Konstantin T1 - Monitoring von Strukturverhalten mittels integrierter verteilter faseroptischer Sensorik - Verteilte akustische Sensorik (DAS) N2 - Die verteilte faseroptische akustische Sensorik (DAS) wird vorgestellt, hinsichtlich ihrer Leistungsfähigkeit beschrieben und verschiedenste Anwendungsfelder, z.B. für das Zustandsmonitoring oder für seismische Messungen, beispielhaft gezeigt. Zudem werden mögliche Anwendungsfelder von DAS für den Kontext Kerntechnische Entsorgung (KTE) und Rückbau aufgezeigt. T2 - Online-Workshop „Dauerhafte Verschlussbauwerke für Endlager“ CY - Online meeting DA - 14.02.2022 KW - Verteilte faseroptische Sensorik KW - Verteilte akustische Sensorik KW - DAS KW - KTE KW - Monitoring Endlager PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-54348 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nehrig, Marko A1 - Scheidemann, Robert A1 - Wille, Frank A1 - Ballheimer, Viktor T1 - Investigation of the internal impact during a 9 m drop test of an accident-safe waste package N2 - The safety assessment of packages for the transport of radioactive material follows the IAEA regulations and guidance. The specified regulatory tests cover severe accidents and demonstrate the package containment system integrity. Special attention must be drawn to the behaviour of the content which could move inside the package due to unpreventable gaps caused by the loading procedure and the structure of the content. A possible internal impact of the content which occurs during the drop tests onto the lid system is investigated. The IAEA regulations SSR-6 and the Guidance SSG-26, revised recently, consider input from Germany and France related to the significance of internal gaps. In the context of a waste package design assessment, a model was equipped with a representative content to conduct a drop test with an internal impact. The weight and kinetic impact of this content covered all possible real contents. The objective of the test was to maximize the load onto the lid system and to prove the mechanical integrity by complying with the required leak tightness. The test was conducted conservatively at a package temperature lower than -40 °C at the BAM Test Site Technical Safety. This paper gives an overview of efforts to address internal gaps and their consequences, and the BAM efforts with the implementation of this topic into IAEA regulations and guidance material. The paper then focuses on the conduction of a drop test and investigation of internal component impact. T2 - ASME 2021 Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference (PVP2021) CY - Online meeting DA - 13.07.2021 KW - Internal gaps KW - Drop test KW - IAEA PY - 2021 SN - 978-0-7918-8535-2 DO - https://doi.org/10.1115/PVP2021-60996 SP - 1 EP - 6 PB - American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) CY - New York, NY, USA AN - OPUS4-54742 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nehrig, Marko T1 - Investigation of the internal impact during a 9 m drop test of an accident-safe waste package N2 - The safety assessment of packages for the transport of radioactive material follows the IAEA regulations and guidance. The specified regulatory tests cover severe accidents and demonstrate the package containment system integrity. Special attention must be drawn to the behaviour of the content which could move inside the package due to unpreventable gaps caused by the loading procedure and the structure of the content. A possible internal impact of the content which occurs during the drop tests onto the lid system is investigated. The IAEA regulations SSR-6 and the Guidance SSG-26, revised recently, consider input from Germany and France related to the significance of internal gaps. In the context of a waste package design assessment, a model was equipped with a representative content to conduct a drop test with an internal impact. The weight and kinetic impact of this content covered all possible real contents. The objective of the test was to maximize the load onto the lid system and to prove the mechanical integrity by complying with the required leak tightness. The test was conducted conservatively at a package temperature lower than -40 °C at the BAM Test Site Technical Safety. This paper gives an overview of efforts to address internal gaps and their consequences, and the BAM efforts with the implementation of this topic into IAEA regulations and guidance material. The paper then focuses on the conduction of a drop test and investigation of internal component impact. T2 - ASME 2021 Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference (PVP2021) CY - Online meeting DA - 13.07.2021 KW - Drop test KW - Internal gaps KW - IAEA PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-54744 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Simbruner, Kai T1 - Embrittlement of Spent Fuel Claddings - Micromechanically Motivated Cohesive Zone Modelling N2 - Since cladding acts as the first barrier for nuclear fuel, it is key to understand the degrading mechanisms leading to cladding embrittlement. Zirconium alloy based cladding samples subjected to simulated pre-storage drying conditions have shown high susceptibility to brittle failure under the occurrence of hoop stress and low temperature as expected after long-term interim storage. The stress state associated with a compressive pinch-load scenario is reproduced by the Ring Compression Test (RCT), which results in sudden failure at relatively small mechanical loads with high sensitivity to the presence of radial hydrides. As part of the BAM research project BRUZL (Fracture mechanics analysis of spent fuel claddings during long-term dry interim storage), static RCTs were conducted on non-irradiated, pre-hydrided ZIRLO® ring-shaped samples that were subjected to a radial hydride treatment. All samples failed in macroscopically brittle fashion with sudden load drops and severe crack propagation through almost the entire wall thickness. In a post-RCT examination of the fracture surfaces using scanning electron microscopy, radial hydrides could be identified as the weakest link of the structure. However, the microscopic failure mechanism is much more complex due to cracks initiating at different axial positions in depth direction of the ring, overlapping cracks, and arresting cracks. A considerable portion of the fracture surfaces appeared to have undergone plastic deformation of the zirconium matrix resulting in void growth and coalescence associated with ductile failure. The geometry of the ductile patches was measured, and the ductile surface fraction was determined. Based on these observations, a statistical model was developed that can reproduce the composition of the fracture surface as a one-dimensional projection. A micromechanically motivated cohesive zone model (CZM) was implemented in existing RCT finite element analysis (FEA) models with different constitutive laws for brittle hydrides and ductile matrix respectively. In this work, FEA results are presented for non-irradiated ZIRLO® and high-burnup M5® claddings. The impact of varying hydride-matrix combinations is discussed. Acknowledgement: The project was funded by the former Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) under contract no. 1501561. T2 - 6th GRS Workshop on the Safety of Extended Dry Storage of Used Nuclear Fuel CY - Garching, Germany DA - 01.06.2022 KW - Ageing Management KW - Cladding Embrittlement KW - Extended Storage KW - Ring Compression Test KW - Spent Nuclear Fuel PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-55023 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Baensch, Franziska T1 - Charakterisierung von Salzbeton und alkali-aktivierten Material basierend auf der Schallemissionsanalyse N2 - Nach einer kurzen Einführung in die Schallemissionsprüfung und -Analyse wird ein Versuchsstand vorgestellt, der im Rahmen des Themenfeldprojektes Seal Waste Safe installiert wurde. Schwerpunkt des Vortrages sind die Schallemissionsmessungen an einem 150 l Demonstrator aus Salzbeton und einem weiteren aus alkali-aktiviertem Material. Neben der konventionellen Schallemissionsanaylse mit Aktivitäts- und Intensitätsparametern der Zeitsignale, werden auch frequenzbasierte Parameter zur Analyse andiskutiert. N2 - After a brief introduction to acoustic emission testing and analysis, an experimental test setup is presented, which was part of the Seal Waste Safe project (internal BAM project 2019-2022). Herein, the acoustic emission measurements of a 150 l demonstrator made of salt concrete and another one made of alkali-activated material are focused. In addition to the conventional acoustic emission analysis regarding the activity and intensity parameters of the detected time signals, also frequency-based parameters were discussed for analysis. T2 - Dauerhafte Verschlussbauwerke für Endlager CY - Online meeting DA - 14.2.2022 KW - Acoustic Emission KW - Schallemission KW - Salzbeton KW - Alkali aktiviertes Material KW - Geopolymer PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-54937 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wille, Frank T1 - CASTOR in Warteposition, aber bitte sicher. N2 - CASTOR-Behälter sollen den Auswirkungen schwerster Unfälle standhalten und müssen dabei ihre Sicherheitsfunktionen beibehalten. Dazu zählen der sichere Einschluss des radioaktiven Inventars mit nachgewiesener Behälterintegrität und -dichtheit, die ausreichende Abschirmung der radioaktiven Strahlung, die Ableitung der von den Brennelementen ausgehenden Wärme und der Ausschluss des Entstehens einer nuklearen Kettenreaktion, d.h. die Kritikalitätssicherheit sind zu gewährleisten. Zum Nachweis dieser Fähigkeiten werden die Behälter gegen Stoß, Aufprall, Durchstoßen, Feuer sowie beim Eintauchen in Wasser geprüft. Durch diese Tests werden Beanspruchungen aus potentiellen schweren Unfällen abdeckend simuliert. Die hierfür erforderlichen experimentellen Tests, aber auch die Prüfung und Entwicklung komplexer rechnerischer Simulationen des Behälterverhaltens unter Anwendung der Finite-Elemente-Methode erfolgen bei der Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM). Die Basis bildet das Regelwerk der Internationalen Atom- und Energieorganisation (IAEO) zum sicheren Transport von radioaktiven Stoffen, welches international harmonisierte Schutzziele und Prüfanforderungen definiert. Die seit 60 Jahren praktizierte stetige Weiterentwicklung der Sicherheitsanforderungen trägt aktuellen Erkenntnissen, Erfahrungen und Risikoanalysen Rechnung. Die Brennelementbehälter werden mechanischen Prüfungen sowie Brand- und Wasserdruckprüfungen unterzogen. Hierdurch wird nachgewiesen, dass sie den Auswirkungen eines schweren Unfalls standhalten können. Nur Behälter die zweifelsfrei die kumulativen mechanischen und thermischen Tests und auch die Wasserdruckprüfung mit Erfüllen aller Schutzziele bestehen, bekommen eine Zulassung, die es erlaubt die Behälter zu transportieren. KW - Kerntechnik KW - Radioaktive Stoffe KW - Transport KW - Zwischenlagerung KW - IAEA KW - Fallprüfung PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.26125/73hj-nz53 SN - 1611-9479 VL - 24 IS - 3 SP - 112 EP - 114 PB - Bunsen-Gesellschaft CY - Frankfurt AN - OPUS4-54856 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Feldkamp, Martin A1 - Quercetti, Thomas A1 - Gleim, Tobias T1 - Temperature and Heat Flux Measurements in Fire Testing N2 - Packages for the transport of Spent Nuclear Fuel and high active radioactive waste are designed to withstand severe accidents. Specific mechanical and thermal tests are defined in the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Materials in order to cover these hypothetical severe accidents. The thermal test mainly consists of a 30 minute fully engulfing fire. Components such as the package impact limiters can lead to supplementary energy release during the thermal test as they might continue burning after the fire phase. Local heat flux into the package can occur. Measurement of heat flux into the package is of importance to evaluate component temperatures and review their acceptance. The usability of heat flux sensors and temperature measurement equipment has to be tested to apply them in impact limiter fire testing. Further questions arise such as :“Is the infrared camera a useful tool to determine heat flux at the boundary surface?” T2 - Technical Exchange IRSN – BAM Transport & Storage of Packages for Radioactive Material CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 08.09.2021 KW - Heat flux sensor PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-55659 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Linnemann, Konrad T1 - Experimental and numerical investigation of prestressed bolt connections under lateral displacements N2 - The containment system of transport packages for spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste usually includes bolted lids with metal gaskets. The packages are assessed to specific transport conditions which are specified in the IAEA safety standards SSR-6 (IAEA 2018). These transport conditions, especially the so-called accident conditions of transport, imply high dynamic loading on the lids and the bolt connections of the package. The response of the lid systems on the mechanical accident conditions is generally investigated by experimental drop tests or numerically, e.g., by finite element analyses. The interpretation of the drop test results for the verification of the numerical models is often not obvious due to the complex superposition of different effects in the real tests. BAM has started a research project to get a better understanding about the behavior of prestressed bolt connections under loadings typical for these drop tests. In this context an experimental test set-up was developed to investigate the response of a single bolt connection under a prescribed lateral displacement of clamped parts. The bolt is instrumented by strain gauges to get the pretensional, the torsional and the bending stress in the bolt shank. Furthermore, the lateral movement and the tilt of the bolt head is measured during the test. A finite element model of the test set-up has been created in Abaqus FEA (Simulia 2021). The very detailed instrumentation of the test set-up shall give the opportunity to investigate and validate the numerical model. The aim of this paper is to give an overview about the proposed research project and to present first results. T2 - SMIRT26 - 26th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology CY - Potsdam, Germany DA - 10.07.2022 KW - Transport packages KW - Bolt connections KW - Finite element analysis KW - Experimental investigation PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-55426 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Simbruner, Kai A1 - Billone, M. C. A1 - Zencker, Uwe A1 - Liu, Y. Y. A1 - Völzke, Holger T1 - Brittle Failure Analysis of High-Burnup PWR Fuel Cladding Alloys N2 - The general aim of this research is the development of methods for predicting mechanical behavior and identification of limiting conditions to prevent brittle failure of high-burnup (HBU) pressure water reactor (PWR) fuel cladding alloys. A finite element (FE) model of the ring compression test (RCT) was created to analyze the failure behavior of zirconium-based alloys with radial hydrides during the RCT. An elastic-plastic material model describes the zirconium alloy. The stress-strain curve needed for the elastic-plastic material model was derived by inverse finite element analyses. Cohesive zone modeling is used to reproduce sudden load drops during RCT loading. Based on the failure mechanism in non-irradiated ZIRLO® claddings, a micro-mechanical model was developed that distinguishes between brittle failure along hydrides and ductile failure of the zirconium matrix. Two different cohesive laws representing these types of failure are present in the same cohesive interface. The key differences between these constitutive laws are the cohesive strength, the stress at which damage initiates, and the cohesive energy, which is the damage energy dissipated by the cohesive zone. Statistically generated matrix-hydride distributions were mapped onto the cohesive elements and simulations with focus on the first load drop were performed. Computational results are in good agreement with the RCT results conducted on high-burnup M5® samples. It could be shown that crack initiation and propagation strongly depend on the specific configuration of hydrides and matrix material in the fracture area. T2 - 26th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology - SMiRT 26 CY - Potsdam, Germany DA - 10.07.2022 KW - Cladding Embrittlement KW - Cohesive Zone Modelling KW - Spent Nuclear Fuel KW - Ring Compression Test PY - 2022 SP - 1 EP - 10 AN - OPUS4-55434 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -