During the operation of light water reactors, corrosion of nuclear fuel cladding results into the generation of hydrogen. With operation time increase, the hydrogen concentration in the cladding may exceed its terminal solid solubility and brittle zirconium hydrides may precipitate. Indeed hydrides are present in high burnup fuel cladding, which is therefore more susceptible to failure. The Expansion Due to Compression (EDC) test has been developed for the study of irradiated and hydrided cladding failure, under conditions of pellet cladding mechanical interaction, which are expected during a reactivity initiated accident (RIA) or an in-pile test. During the EDC test, a piece of cladding tube is circumferentially loaded in tension due to the expansion of a polymer pellet, axially compressed inside the tube. A finite element simulation of the EDC-test is presented. The objective of the study is: (i) to understand the deformation of the cladding, during the experiment, including the effect of cladding material properties, and (ii) to provide information, necessary for the development of failure criteria. The distributions of important field quantities with respect to the damage of the cladding are derived together with the evolution of their maximum values, during loading. It is shown that, before cladding yielding as well as after substantial plastic deformation, the radial displacement, on the external surface, and the total energy per unit volume, when appropriately normalized, vary along the cladding axis according load-independent distributions. This characteristic of cladding deformation is used for the development of failure criteria.