The Bowing of Solid Breeder Rods in a Pin-Type Fusion Reactor

The bowing of circular solid breeder pins is studied using standard beam theory. Deformations caused by thermal gradients, swelling gradients, and gravitational forces are included in the investigation and swelling is found to cause the most severe pin bowing. The bowing of Be multiplier rods is found to be insignificant when swelling is not considered. In all cases it is found that adding internal supports can reduce the rod deflections to acceptable levels without increasing the stresses beyond design limits