The goal of this thesis is to demonstrate a capability to do design by analysis for pressure vessels, i.e., design based on a 3D nonlinear coupled holistic macroscopic analyses.

This thesis represents a robust methodology for optimization of the GEN IV reactor core that is time-efficient and reasonably capable to do accurate nonlinear thermal/stress analysis. The optimized design of Canadian SCWR provided by parametrization of different parts of the plenum are presented.

Also, the optimized profile of temperature and pressure for start up and shut down cycles was investigated with
respect to an objective function to minimize the effective plastic strain. The optimized value of effective plastic strain for the case that pressure is a function of saturated temperature was determined.