Reliability-based robust design optimization of gap size of annular nuclear fuels using kriging and inverse distance weighting methods

In this study, the design optimization of the gap size of annular nuclear fuels used in pressurized water reactors (PWRs) was performed. For this, thermoelastic–plasticity–creep (TEPC) analysis of PWR annular fuels was carried out using an in-house code to investigate the performance of nuclear fuels. Surrogate models based on the kriging and inverse distance weighting models were generated using computational performance data based on optimal...