Vibration Correlation for Maximum Fuel-Element Displacement in Parallel Turbulent Flow

Fuel elements have been observed to vibrate in turbulent parallel flow. Available data describing the fluctuating pressure in a turbulent boundary layer is used to calculate fuel-element response to boundary-layer turbulence. The disparity between calculated and experimental response is attributed to an incomplete description of pressure fluctuations in the test facilities. A coefficient is obtained which correlates available fuel-element vibration data with the theory.