Determination of Fuel-Clad Thermal Gap Conductance by Use of Kalman Filter Methods

Kalman filter methodology has been applied to an in-pile liquid-metal fast breeder reactor simulation experiment to obtain estimates of the fuel-clad thermal gap conductance. A transient lumped parameter model of the experiment is developed. An optimal estimate of the state vector chosen to characterize the experiment is obtained through the use of the Kalman filter. From this estimate, the fuel-clad thermal gap conductance is calculated as a function of time into the test and axial position along the length of the fuel pin.