Thermal liners, which are consist of co-axial cylinders with free top edge, are adopted for the reactor vessel wall cooling system of the demonstration fast breeder reactor (DFBR) in Japan. During plant operation, these thermal liners are exposed to thermal loads caused by both sodium surface level and temperature changes. Large compressive circumferential membrane stress is appeared in a cylinder wall when sodium surface moves to free edge with temperature elevation (hot front condition), and is known to cause accumulation of strain and thermal buckling of free edge based on experimental observation. Based on thermal - buckling analyses, the condition on which thermal buckling occurs is discussed in this paper.
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