A series of experimental and numeric studies are being carried out to support the safety assessment of a new potential low-enriched uranium fuel for high power research and test reactors. A set of experiments designed to provide a database of high-fidelity data was obtained on a curved test plate at the University of Missouri flow loop over velocity sweep ranging from a nominal 2 m/s to a nominal 4.3 m/s. The data suggested that there was a hysteresis over the course of the velocity sweeps that could not be explained by pure mechanical arguments. Temperature measurements of the water flowing through the test section indicated that the circulating pump increased the reservoir temperature by about 7 oC over the course of the 120 minute experiment. Numeric simulations of the thermal expansion suggested that plate deflections on the order of 0.025 mm (1 mil), similar to those seen during the flow experiments, were possible at the leading edge of the test plate. Therefore, it is necessary to correct experimental data for thermal expansion if the temperature of water flowing through the test section does increase.