COMPUTING SYSTEM FOR EVALUATING MATERIAL BEHAVIORS OF ZIRCONIUM-BASE ALLOYS

A computing system for evaluating the micro- and macro-behaviors of zi rconium-base alloys has been developed. The system is composed of thre e independent computing stages; electron micro-structure analysis, mol ecular dynamical analysis, and rate-theory-based analysis of defects. The stages are connected with each other by providing input informatio n for the calculations of the next stage. Here, the calculated results are presented on the electronic structure of zirconium oxides, charac teristic feature of defect clustering and irradiation growth behaviors .