Abstract
The oxidation of Zircaloy-4 in steam at 1,173 to 1,773 K has been modeled by solving the oxygen diffusion equation numerically to predict the oxidation rate of the Zircaloy-4 at high temperature. A fully implicit finite difference method was employed to solve the diffusion equation for a one dimensional cylindrical geometry. The influence of the heat flux on the isothermal oxidation rate has been considered to show its effect on the oxide-metal interface temperature and the acceleration of the oxidation rate. The results obtained were found to be in good agreement with experimental data reported in the literature.