Viscoelastic modelling of Zircaloy cladding in-pile transient creep

In fuel behaviour modelling accurate description of the cladding stress response is important for both operational and safety considerations. The cladding creep determines in part the width of the gas gap, the duration to pellet-cladding contact and the stresses to the cladding due to the pellet expansion. Conventionally the strain hardening rule has been used to describe the creep response to transient loads in engineering applications. However, it has been well documented that the strain hardening rule does not describe well results of tests with load drops or reversals. In our earlier work we have developed a model for primary creep which can be used to simulate the in- and out-of-pile creep tests. Since then several creep experiments have entered into public domain. In this paper we develop the model formulation based on the theory of viscoelasticity, and show that this model can reproduce the new experimental results. We also show that the creep strain recovery encountered in experimental measurements can be explained by viscoelastic behaviour.