Theoretical Research on Effective Thermal Conductivity of TRISO Particle

TRISO (tri-structural isotropic) fuel particle consists of a fuel kernel in the center coated with four layers, with good fission product retention capability. The effective thermal conductivity of TRISO fuel particle is an important basis for calculating the effective thermal conductivity of dispersed fuels. In the present work, the theoretical model of the effective thermal conductivity of TRISO particle is built based on the theory of the effective thermal conductivity in multiphase solids in the framework of spherical coordinate and then the effective thermal conductivity of metal matrix microencapsulated fuel (M3) is analyzed combined with the Chiew-Glandt model which is the effective thermal conductivity model for solid-solid binary composite. The results show that the present model provides an excellent prediction of the thermal conductivity of TRISO particle. Finally the effective thermal conductivity of fully encapsulated fuel (FCM) is presented.