One-dimensional three-field model of condensation in horizontal countercurrent flow with supercritical liquid velocity

A one-dimensional three-field model was developed to predict the flow of liquid and vapor that results from countercurrent flow of water injected into the hot leg of a PWR and the oncoming steam flowing from the upper plenum. The model solves the conservation equations for mass, momentum, and energy in a continuous-vapor field, a continuous-liquid field, and a dispersed-liquid (entrained-droplet) field. Single-effect experiments performed in the upper plenum test facility (UPTF) of the former SIEMENS KWU (now AREVA) at Mannheim, Germany, were used to validate the countercurrent flow limitation (CCFL) model in case of emergency core cooling water injection into the hot legs. Subcooled water and saturated steam flowed countercurrent in a horizontal pipe with an inside diameter of 0.75 m. The flow of injected water was varied from 150 kg/s to 400 kg/s, and the flow of steam varied from 13 kg/s to 178 kg/s. The subcooling of the liquid ranged from 0 K to 104 K. The velocity of the water at the injection point was supercritical (greater than the celerity of a gravity wave) for all the experiments. The three-field model was successfully used to predict the experimental data, and the results from the model provide insight into the mechanisms that influence the flows of liquid and vapor during countercurrent flow in a hot leg. When the injected water was saturated and the flow of steam was small, all or most of the injected water flowed to the upper plenum. Because the velocity of the liquid remained supercritical, entrainment of droplets was suppressed. When the injected water was saturated and the flow of steam was large, the interfacial shear stress on the continuous liquid caused the velocity in the liquid to become subcritical, resulting in a hydraulic jump. Entrainment ensued, and the flow of liquid to the end of the hot leg was greatly reduced.The influence of condensation on the transition from supercritical to subcritical flow as observed in the experimental data is also predicted with the three-field model. When the injected water was subcooled, condensation on the flow of continuous liquid caused a reduction in the flow of vapor and, consequently, a reduction in the interfacial shear stress. Therefore, the flow of liquid remained supercritical to the end of the hot leg at the upper plenum. The entire flow of injected water flowed to the end of the hot leg at higher flows of steam when the injected water was subcooled than when it was saturated. When the flow of vapor was large enough to cause a hydraulic jump in the subcooled liquid, the rate of entrained droplets was greatly increased. The interfacial surface area of the droplets was several orders of magnitude greater than for the continuous-liquid field, and condensation rate on the droplet field was also several orders of magnitude greater. When the flow of vapor from the upper plenum was at its greatest, most of the flow in the continuous liquid was entrained before reaching the upper plenum. The large flow of subcooled droplets caused three-quarters of the steam to condense.     

Experimental observation of the droplet size change across a wet grid spacer in a 6 × 6 rod bundle

During the reflood phase of a postulated loss of coolant accident in a nuclear reactor, entrainment of liquid droplets can occur at a quench front of reflooding water. It is widely recognized that the behavior of the entrained droplets crucially affects the reflood heat transfer phenomena by decreasing the superheated steam temperature and interacting with a rod bundle and spacer grids. For this reason, various experimental and numerical studies have been performed to examine droplet behavior such as the droplet size, velocity and droplet fraction inside a rod array. In this study, an experiment on the droplet behavior inside a heated rod bundle has been performed. The experiment was focused on the change of droplet size induced by a spacer grid in a rod bundle geometry, which results in the change of the interfacial heat transfer between droplets and superheated steam. A 6 × 6 rod bundle test facility in Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute was used for the experiment. Steam was supplied by an external boiler into the bottom of the test channel, and a droplet injection nozzle was equipped instead of simulating a quench front of reflooding water. The major measuring parameters of the experiment were the droplet size and velocity, which were measured by a high-speed camera and a digital image processing technique. A series of experiments were conducted with various flow conditions of a steam injection velocity, heater temperature, droplet size, and droplet flow rate. The experiments provided the data on the change of the Sauter mean diameter of droplets after collision with a wet grid spacer depending on flow conditions.     

Onset Criterion for Liquid Entrainment in Reflooding Phase of LOCA

Reflooding tests were conducted in a rod bundle geometry at the maximum pres- sure of 12 MPa to investigate thermal-hydraulic behavior during a small break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLOCA) in a nuclear reactor. The test conditions ranged 0.6 ～ 12 MPa for pressure, up to 920 K for rod surface temperature, up to 20 cm/s for bundle inlet flow velocity and up to 2 kW/m for linear power input. The principal objective of this paper is to investigate the onset condition for liquid entrainment by steam flow in the relatively high pressure reflooding phase. Experimental results showed a tendency that the liquid entrainment decreased with increase in pressure when the other parameters such as an inlet flow rate and rod temperature were fixed. A new correlation for the onset criterion for liquid entrainment was derived from the experimental results and an analysis of a force balance for a liquid droplet. Effects of pressure on liquid entrainment in the reflooding phase were made clear from the experimental and analytical results.     

Distribution of liquid sodium in the inlet plenum of steam generator in a Fast Breeder Reactor

Experimental and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) investigations have been carried out on a 1/5th scale model of the inlet plenum of steam generator (SG) used in the Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) technology. The distribution of liquid sodium in the inlet plenum of the steam generator strongly affects the thermal as well as mechanical performance of the steam generator. In the present work, flow distribution in a scaled down model has been investigated. Various strategies adopted for obtaining uniform flow distribution have been evaluated. Experiments have been conducted to measure the axial and radial velocity distributions using Ultrasonic Velocity Profiler (UVP) under a variety of geometries. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) studies have been carried out for various geometries. On the basis of these experiments and CFD simulations, various flow distribution devices have been compared.     

AP1000上腔室夹带试验研究

为还原AP1000中上腔室夹带过程,以AP1000为原型按1∶5.6的模化比例建立了试验回路,研究不同蒸汽流量和压力容器液位下上腔室夹带的夹带率。结果表明：蒸汽流量对夹带率的影响很小,夹带率随压力容器液位的升高而增大;在较低液位,夹带率保持稳定,加入堆内构件后,上腔室夹带明显增强。     

Analysis of Reverse Flow in Inverted U-Tubes of Steam Generator under Natural Circulation Condition

In this paper, we report on the analysis of reverse flow in inverted U-tubes of a steam generator under natural circulation condition. The mechanism of reverse flow in inverted U-tubes of the steam generator with natural circulation is graphically analyzed by using the full-range characteristic curve of parallel U-tubes. The mathematical model and numerical calculation method for analyzing the reverse flow in inverted U-tubes of the steam generator with natural circulation have been developed. The reverse flow in an inverted U-tube steam generator of a simulated pressurized water reactor with natural circulation is analyzed. Through the calculation, the mass flow rates of normal and reverse flows in individual U-tubes are obtained. The predicted sharp drop of the fluid temperature in the inlet plenum of the steam generator due to reverse flow agrees very well with the experimental data. This indicates that the developed mathematical model and solution method can be used to correctly predict the reverse flow in the inverted U-tubes of the steam generator with natural circulation. The obtained results also show that in the analysis of natural circulation flow in the primary circuit, the reverse flow in the inverted U-tubes of the steam generator must be taken into account.     

Restrictive Effect of Ascending Steam on Falling Water during Top Spray Emergency Core Cooling

Water spraying experiments were conducted to find out a flow rate of falling water overcoming ascending steam during top spray emergency cooling with an 8×8 type simulated fuel rod bundle of real size. The bundle consisted of 64 rods, each with a diameter of 12.5 mm, arranged in the form of square lattice with a pitch of 16.3 mm. In the experiments the simulated fuel rods were not heated. Instead, steam was injected into the lower plenum vessel simulating bundle-generated steam. As the results, (1) a criterion was proposed to determine the region where the restrictive effect of ascending steam on falling water appears, considering the decrease of a flow rate of ascending steam due to condensation by a spray of subcooled water, (2) the restrictive effect was independent of water head on the upper tie plate and water injection methods, and (3) an analytical model based on the pressure balance at the upper tie plate was proposed to calculate a flow rate of falling water overcoming ascending steam.     

Aerosol retention in the flooded steam generator bundle during SGTR

A steam generator tube rupture in a pressurized water reactor may cause accidental release of radioactive particles into the environment. Its specific significance is in its potential to bypass the containment thereby providing a direct pathway of the radioactivity from the primary circuit to the environment. Under certain severe accident scenarios, the steam generator bundle may be flooded with water. In addition, some severe accident management procedures are designed to minimize the release of radioactivity into the environment by flooding the defective steam generator secondary side with water when the steam generator has dried out.To extend our understanding of the particle retention phenomena in the flooded steam generator bundle, tests were conducted in the ARTIST and ARTIST II programs to determine the effect of different parameters on particle retention. The effects of particle type (spherical or agglomerate), particle size, gas mass flow rate, and the break submergence on particle retention were investigated.Results can be summarized as follows: increasing particle inertia was found to increase retention in the flooded bundle. Particle shape, i.e., agglomerate or spherical structure, did not affect retention significantly. Even with a very low submergence, 0.3 m above the tube break, significant aerosol retention took place underlining the importance of the jet-bundle interactions close to the tube break. Droplets were entrained from the water surface with high gas flow rates carrying aerosol particles with them. However, compared to particle retention in the water close to the tube break, the effect of droplet entrainment on particle transport was small.     

Cooling mechanism during transient reflooding of a reactor fuel bundle after loss of coolant

Cooling efficiency during transient reflooding under loss of normal coolant conditions has been examined with a 7 × 7 simulated fuel rod bundle and jet pump bypass. The bundle contains 49 electrically heated rods with 3600 mm heated length and a pseudo cosine axial power distribution. Water is injected into the lower plenum and the superheated bundle is reflooded from the bottom with some flow diverted to the simulated jet pump bypass. The results show that effective cooling can be maintained.     

基于RELAP5的高温棒束通道再淹没数值模拟研究

基于ABB Atom 3×3棒束再淹没实验,运用RELAP5建立其实验装置的定流量再淹没计算模型,通过与实验结果做比对验证模拟的有效性,研究在高、低两种注水流量下从底部再淹没高温棒束通道时的不同骤冷现象,分析期间的流动形态、传热特性,液位进程,先驱冷却效果差异等。模拟结果表明:低流量下主液位落后于骤冷前沿,高流量下骤冷前沿明显落后于主液位;通过对比发现在高流量下的高液位为高温壁面带来更强的先驱冷却,使壁面温度更快的降到再湿温度,而低流量下几乎匀速上升的液位变化进程对前沿下游的高温壁面冷却较慢,需要更长的时间才能降到再湿温度。这些分析将为研究此模型下的重力注水打下坚实的基础。     

Particle deposition and fouling in PWR steam generators

Commercial PWR steam generators have experienced reliability problems within the first decade of operation associated with material degradation, one of the causes of which is particle deposition and tube fouling. As a result steam generators often require costly outages for inspection and cleaning of fouling deposits. Knowledge of locations where sludge has accumulated in the steam generator can aid in planning and targeting locations for cleaning and removal of deposits. A particulate deposition model has been developed and implemented in the three dimensional thermal hydraulics computer code, ATHOS3 to calculate sludge and fouling regions within the steam generators during operation. This transient particle deposition model uses the thermal hydraulic field calculated by the ATHOS3 code, and the concentration of magnetite particles entering the steam generator to calculate the particle distributions and deposition on vertical and horizontal surfaces within the steam generator. Results of some simulations of operating steam generator designs are presented in this paper. These results show that preferred regions for deposition include hot side upper bundle and a kidney shaped region on top of the tube sheet.     

Effects of Particle Confinement and Recycling on Thermally Stable Regions in D-T Tokamak Plasma

The water accumulation phenomena in the upper plenum of a PWR was investigated by using the data of the Cylindrical Core Test Facility (CCTF) test.

When the liquid inventory in the upper plenum is small, the liquid carryover rate from the upper plenum was governed by the liquid inlet flow rate. After some amount of the water was accumulated in the upper plenum, the liquid carryover rate was governed by the steam up-flow rate and the liquid inventory in the upper plenum. The liquid carryover rate was higher with the higher steam up-flow rate and the larger liquid inventory. This trend on the liquid carryover rate was also observed in small scale model test.

Based on the CCTF data, the empirical correlation on the liquid carryover rate was obtained.     

A new LMR steam generator free from SWR with a double tube bundle configuration

This paper describes the activities made at KAERI to develop an advanced liquid metal reactor (LMR) steam generator which is free from a sodium water reaction (SWR) to resolve the concern of the SWR possibility and improve the economic features of the LMR. The steam generator design houses two tube bundles that are functionally different and its tube bundle region is radially or vertically divided into two. The SG is equipped with hot and cold fluid tube bundles, a medium fluid and a pump. It prevents the occurrence of the sodium water reaction while sodium is still used as the coolant for the primary heat transport system. The feasibility of using the SG with a double tube bundle for an actual use in a LMR plant is evaluated by setting up the skeleton of the NSSS for various possible configurations of the SG tube bundles.Analysis was made for various types of the new steam generator with a double tube bundle. Since the heat transfer in the SG is made among three different fluids, it has unique heat transfer characteristics. The analysis showed the possibility of the occurrence of an undesirable reversed heat transfer not only in the integrated single-region bundle type but also in the integrated double-region bundle type. The performance analysis revealed practical performance characteristics for the various bundle configurations. Also the feasibility study for the various NSSS configurations with the new SG is described.     

Study on Pb-Bi-water direct contact boiling two-phase flow and heat transfer

For the development of 45w%Pb-55w%Bi cooled direct contact boiling water small fast reactor (PBWFR), Pb-Bi-water direct contact boiling two-phase flow loop has been fabricated and operated. The loop consists of a Pb-Bi flow loop (four heater pin bundle, a chimney, an upper plenum, a level meter tank, an air-water cooler, and an electromagnetic flow meter) and a water-steam flow loop (a pump, a preheated, an injection nozzle, the chimney, the upper plenum with mist separators and dryers, a condenser, a buffer tank, and an air-water cooler). At the rated operating condition system pressure is 7 MPa. The sub-cooled water was injected into a Pb-Bi flow in the chimney. A power of the heater pin bundle was controlled to obtain the inlet and outlet temperatures of the heater bundle. The Pb-Bi and steam flows were simulated analytically using one-dimensional models of frictional and form losses and a drag force. The Pb-Bi-steam two-phase frictional pressure loss was calculated by means of the two-phase flow multiplication factor of Lockhart-Martinelli model. It was found that Pb-Bi temperature decreased quickly in the chimney due to high heat transfer rate of Pb-Bi-water direct contact boiling. The volumetric overall heat transfer coefficient was 60–310 kW/m³K, and decreased with the superheat.     

Development of a multidimensional model for the premixing phase of a fuel-coolant interaction

A transient, three-dimensional, four-field model is under development to deal with the premixing of large amounts of molten corium falling down in the lower plenum of a PWR. This paper presents the main features of the code, written in as mechanistic a manner as possible, in order to provide best-estimate results. Calculations with a two-dimensional, three-field version of MC3D of two FARO tests are presented.     

Mixed convective flow penetration in vertical channels

The primary purpose of the study is to investigate the factors relevant to the decay heat removal system in pool-type liquid metal reactors which are designed to remove decay heat in a passive way utilizing natural circulation. The reactor geometry is simulated by a vertical rod bundle channel connected to an upper plenum. Penetration of cold fluid from the upper plenum into the rod bundle channel is investigated experimentally and analytically with water as a working fluid. Three correlations to predict the onset of penetration, the penetration depth, and the ratio of penetrating to forced flowrate were developed. The correlations were found to agree well with experimental results for the range of Reynolds number in which experimental data were obtained.     

Flow distribution in the inlet plenum of steam generator

The flow distribution in a 1/5th and 1/8th scale models of inlet plenum of steam generator (SG) has been studied by a combination of experiments and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The distribution of liquid sodium in the inlet plenum of the SG strongly affects the thermal as well as mechanical performance of the steam generator. Various flow distribution devices have been used to make the flow distribution uniform in axial as well as tangential direction in the window region. Experiments have been conducted to measure the radial velocity distribution using Ultrasonic Velocity Profiler (UVP) and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) under a variety of conditions. CFD modeling has been carried out for various configurations to give more insight into the flow distribution phenomena. The various flow distribution devices have been compared on the basis of a non-uniformity index parameter.     

立式倒U型管蒸汽发生器倒流现象及初步分析

文章涉及中国核动力研究设计院自然循环实验装置单相稳态自然循环实验过程中立式倒U型管蒸汽发生器(UTSG)模拟体一次侧流体的流动特性。实验观察到：1)UTSG模拟体进口腔室压力低于出口腔室压力；2)UTSG模拟体入口腔室温度较热段温度有一陡降。通过对该实验现象的分析可以判定，在单相自然循环工况下，UTSG模拟体中某些传热管内出现了倒流。实验结果表明，倒流的出现使UTSG模拟体自然循环工况下的流动阻力系数较强迫循环工况下的明显增大。      

Modeling and validation of a mechanistic tool (MEFISTO) for the prediction of critical power in BWR fuel assemblies

Westinghouse is currently developing the MEFISTO code with the main goal to achieve fast, robust, practical and reliable prediction of steady-state dryout Critical Power in Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) fuel bundle based on a mechanistic approach. A computationally efficient simulation scheme was used to achieve this goal, where the code resolves all relevant field (drop, steam and multi-film) mass balance equations, within the annular flow region, at the sub-channel level while relying on a fast and robust two-phase (liquid/steam) sub-channel solution to provide the cross-flow information. The MEFISTO code can hence provide highly detailed solution of the multi-film flow in BWR fuel bundle while enhancing flexibility and reducing the computer time by an order of magnitude as compared to a standard three-field sub-channel analysis approach.Models for the numerical computation of the one-dimensional field flowrate distributions in an open channel (e.g. a sub-channel), including the numerical treatment of field cross-flows, part-length rods, spacers grids and post-dryout conditions are presented in this paper. The MEFISTO code is then applied to dryout prediction in BWR fuel bundle using VIPRE-W as a fast and robust two-phase sub-channel driver code. The dryout power is numerically predicted by iterating on the bundle power so that the minimum film flowrate in the bundle reaches the dryout criteria. Predicted dryout powers (including trends with flow, pressure, inlet subcooling and power distribution) and predicted dryout locations (both axial and radial) are compared to experimental results, using the entire Westinghouse SVEA-96 Optima3 dryout database, and are shown to yield excellent results.