Structural evaluation of a piping system subjected to thermal stratification

Piping systems in nuclear power plants are often designed for pressure, mechanical loads originating from deadweight and seismic events and operating thermal transients using the equations in the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section III. In the last few decades a number of failures in piping have occurred due to thermal stratification caused by the mixing of hot and cold fluids under certain low flow conditions. Such stratified temperature fluid profiles give rise to circumferential metal temperature gradients through the pipe leading to high stresses causing fatigue damage. A simplified method has been developed in this work to estimate the stresses caused by the circumferential temperature distribution from thermal stratification. It has been proposed that the equation for the peak stress in the ASME Section III piping code include an additional term for thermal stratification.     

Thermal stratification and reactor piping integrity

Thermal stratification, cycling, and striping phenomena have drawn much attention recently because of the incidents at several nuclear plants that raised significant safety concerns. The concerns due to these phenomena relate to thermal fatigue in branch pipes connected to the main coolant piping. Nuclear utility industry is addressing the issue with the aim to understand the mechanisms that lead to fatigue in nominally stagnant piping systems near the reactor coolant piping. Two key results from this effort are described in this paper. First, tests to investigate the interaction between the main coolant piping and the stagnant attached lines by turbulence penetration are described and a working correlation is obtained. Turbulence penetration into unisolable lines, or the transport of turbulence into stagnant piping from the reactor coolant system (RCS) line, represents a mechanism for carrying hot RCS water into regions filled with cold water. The possibility of stratification of the two fluids (and the resultant thermal stresses) is the reason for developing an understanding of the turbulence penetration process. Secondly, results of an evaluation to develop a loading definition for thermal striping are included. Based on this testing several important conclusions relating to fatigue in nominally static reactor coolant systems are reached.     

CFD simulation of Fortum PTS experiment

Detailed simulation of the thermal stresses of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) wall in case of pressurized thermal shock (PTS) requires the simulation of the thermal mixing of cold high-pressure safety injection (HPI) water injected to the cold leg and flowing further to the downcomer. The simulation of the complex mixing phenomena including, e.g., stratification in the cold leg and buoyancy driven plume in the downcomer is a great challenge for CFD methods and requires careful validation of the used modelling methods.The selected experiment of Fortum mixing test facility modelling the Loviisa VVER-440 NPP has been used for the validation of CFD methods for thermal mixing phenomena related to PTS. The experimental data includes local temperature values measured in the cold leg and downcomer. Conclusions have been made on the applicability of used CFD method to thermal mixing simulations in case with stratification in the cold leg and buoyant plume in the downcomer.     

Fluid-structure interaction analysis for pressurizer surge line subjected to thermal stratification

Serious mechanical damages such as cracks and plastic deformations due to excessive thermal stress caused by thermal stratification have been experienced in several nuclear power plants. In particular, the thermal stratification in the pressurizer surge line has been addressed as one of the significant safety and technical issues. In this study, a detailed unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis involving conjugate heat transfer analysis is performed to obtain the transient temperature distributions in the wall of the pressurizer surge line subjected to stratified internal flows either during out-surge or in-surge operation. The thermal loads from CFD calculations are transferred to the structural analysis code which is employed for the thermal stress analysis to investigate the response characteristics, and the fatigue analysis is ultimately performed. In addition, the thermal stress and fatigue analysis results obtained by applying the realistic temperature distributions from CFD calculations are compared with those by assuming the simplified temperature distributions to identify some requirements for a realistic and conservative thermal stress analysis from a safety point of view.     

ADS铅铋自然循环热分层现象研究

为保障加速器驱动的次临界系统（ADS）的安全,采用计算流体力学分析方法,对ADS铅铋自然循环热分层现象进行数值模拟。研究结果表明：铅铋自然循环中,热分层最严重的区域存在于变温段,且在回路中热分层状态不同。回路温差较大时,流速提高,热分层现象较明显。回路管径较大时,流速降低,热分层现象不明显。流速较低时,局部区域热分层现象趋于消失;流速较大时,最大温差截面温差加大。     

升功率工况下波动管热分层数值分析

以CPR1000稳压器波动管为研究对象,采用CFD方法,使用FLUENT软件,对反应堆功率增加瞬态工况下波动管热分层现象进行数值模拟研究,得到了波动管内热分层流体的流场和温度场分布,探讨了涡流效应对热分层分布的影响。结果表明：瞬态工况下波动管热分层与传统观念下的稳态热分层相比有很大不同,最显著的是T型三通区域,由于受到涡流效应的影响,流体热分层呈环形左右分布,而不再是稳态热分层的上下分布。本研究得到的瞬态工况下的温度分布结果可作为瞬态热应力分析的温度载荷,为后续的力学分析和疲劳分析奠定了基础。     

压水堆核电厂稳压器波动管热分层现象数值分析

为分析评价压水堆核电厂稳压器波动管热分层现象对波动管结构完整性的影响,采用计算流体力学(CFD)分析方法,对稳压器波动管热分层现象进行了数值模拟.研究了波动管内的流体流动,得到了稳压器波动管的传热特性、流体流场和温度分布,分析了稳压器波动管波动热分层现象与波动流速之间的关系.研究结果表明:波动流速在一定范围内变化时,管道最大截面温差随着波动流速的增大而增大.并且得到了不同波动流速下管道最大截面温差及其出现的位置,指出了热分层现象发生时波动管的薄弱环节.     

Large-Eddy Simulation study of turbulent mixing in a T-junction

A potential cause of thermal fatigue failures in energy cooling systems is identified with cyclic stresses imposed on a piping system. These are generated due to temperature changes in regions where cold and hot flows are intensively mixed together. A typical situation for such mixing appears in turbulent flow through a T-junction, which is investigated here using Large-Eddy Simulations (LES). In general, LES is well capable in capturing the mixing phenomena and accompanied turbulent flow fluctuations in a T-junction. An assessment of the accuracy of LES predictions is made for the applied Vreman subgrid-scale model through a direct comparison with the available experimental results. In particular, an estimation of the minimal mesh-resolution requirements for LES is examined on the basis of the complementary RANS simulations. This estimation is based on the characteristics turbulent scales (e.g., Taylor micro-scale) that can be computed from LES or RANS simulations.     

稳压器波动管不同布置方式对热分层现象的影响

通过改变波动管的倾角建立了两种不同布置方式的波动管模型,采用计算流体力学(CFD)分析方法,分别对这两种模型的热分层现象进行数值模拟分析,比较不同流量下两种模型热分层现象的特点,并对两种模型热分层现象差异产生的原因进行分析。结果表明:两种模型热分层现象产生的位置和热分层覆盖范围不同,引起这些差异的原因主要是由于不同模型的波动管内流体流动不同。本研究能为优化波动管布置达到减弱热分层效应提供参考。     

Validation of a Computational Simulation Method for Evaluating Thermal Stratification in the Reactor Vessel Upper Plenum of Fast Reactors

Validation of a numerical simulation method is carried out for thermal stratification phenomena in the reactor vessel upper plenum of advanced sodium-cooled fast reactors. The study mainly focuses on the fundamental applicability of commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes as well as an inhouse code to the evaluation of thermal stratification behavior including the simulation methods such as spatial mesh distribution and RANS-type turbulence models in the analyses. Two kinds of thermal stratification tests are used in the validation, which is done for relatively simple- and conventional-type upper plenum geometries with water and sodium as working fluids. Quantitative comparison between the simulation and test results clarifies that when used with a high-order discretization scheme of the convection term, the investigated CFD codes are applicable to evaluations of the basic behaviors of thermal stratification and especially the vertical temperature gradient of the stratification interface, which is important from the viewpoint of structural integrity. No remarkable difference is seen in the simulation results obtained using different RANS turbulence models, namely, the standard kε model, the RNG k-ε model, and the Reynolds stress model. It is further confirmed in a numerical experiment that the distribution of two or more meshes within the stratification interface will lead to accurate simulation of the interface temperature gradient with less than 10% error.     

基于CFD的铅铋快堆上腔室降阶热分层模型开发

在铅铋快堆紧急停堆后，上腔室发生热分层现象对堆内结构完整性和自然循环余热排出能力产生重要影响，需要重点关注。为克服传统热分层分析方法的缺陷，基于计算流体动力学（CFD）程序Fluent得到高精度的全阶快照，通过特征正交基分解（POD）与Galerkin投影结合的方法构建降阶热分层模型。通过与CFD全阶热分层模型对热分层现象进行对比分析，研究结果表明所开发的降阶热分层模型能很好地模拟上腔室温度分布，能快速地开展铅铋快堆事故下的热分层界面特性研究。本文研究对热分层现象产生机理、有效遏制热分层现象产生提供了重要分析工具。     

华龙一号非能动安全壳冷却系统循环水箱的热分层现象数值研究

华龙一号核电技术采用了非能动安全壳冷却系统的先进设计。作为一种自然循环系统,系统的冷却能力与其循环水箱的水温直接相关,循环水箱中的热分层现象研究对循环系统冷却能力的准确评估以及工程设计优化均有重要的现实意义。本文基于计算流体力学（CFD）技术对循环水箱升温过程进行了三维流动传热的数值模拟。研究表明,循环水箱中存在较为明显的热分层现象,总体上呈现水池顶部温度波动大,而底部等温层较为平缓的特点,系统循环功率和循环流量均会对水箱的升温过程产生影响：功率增大、流量减小均会促使水箱内产生较明显的热分层现象,同时也会使水箱平均温度偏高,出口水温也相应较高。2列循环系统出现循环功率或流量不均衡对水箱平均温度以及出口温度的升高过程基本无明显影响,因此非能动安全壳冷却系统水箱对系统循环能起到一定的自稳定的效果。     

温度层结下建筑物群周围流场影响的数值模拟研究

采用RNG k-ε湍流模型模拟温度层结下建筑物群对流场结构的影响,并用风洞实验结果对模拟结果进行验证分析。结果表明:CFD 模拟结果与Yassin风洞实验结果能较好地吻合,稳定层结建筑尾流区范围内速度和湍流动能减小。通过对稳定、中性和不稳定条件下模拟结果的比较分析,确定了温度层结对规则建筑物矩阵中流动的影响。同时,温度层结对矩阵中街谷涡旋强度和纵向速度垂直分布有着显著影响,特别是当大气处于稳定条件时,建筑物对速度的衰减作用较为明显。     

瞬态工况下压水堆稳压器波动管热分层现象数值模拟

利用计算流体动力学软件ANSYS/CFX,对秦山核电二期扩建工程2×650 MW压水堆核电站四号机组核岛厂房的稳压器波动管进行了三维全尺寸非稳态计算。建立了波动管整体和不同截面的热分层瞬态,对管内热分层流动与换热进行了研究。研究结果表明:同一截面内高温层流体和低温层流体的升温方式不同;不同截面位置的管内流动温度分布特性差别较大,但均呈现分层流体温差先增大后减小的趋势。计算结果可为后续波动管热应力分析及寿命评价提供一定基础。     

管型对波动管热分层现象的影响分析

为分析评价压水堆核电厂稳压器波动管管型对热分层现象的影响,提出采用螺纹管来减弱热分层的措施。利用计算流体力学（CFD）分析方法,对升温、升压阶段波动管原型和改进模型的热分层现象进行数值模拟,得到两种模型不同波动流速下沿波动管轴线方向的截面最大温差分布以及流场分布。对比分析结果表明：波动管结构由光管改为螺纹管后流场紊动加强并出现涡流,冷热流体间的混合增强,与原型相比可使波动管的截面温差减小约1/3,从而有效地减弱热分层的影响。     

Fatigue design of nuclear class 1 piping considering thermal stratification

In ASME B&PV Code, Section III, Subsection NB-3600, thermal stratification is not taken into account to determine the peak stress intensity range for fatigue design of nuclear class 1 piping. Therefore, the effects of several parameters such as boundary layer thickness, temperature difference, stratification length, wall thickness, inner diameter and material properties on peak temperature and peak stress intensity due to non-linear temperature distribution of thermal stratification in a pipe cross-section are studied through the numerical parametric study. The results of the parametric study are closely examined and consolidated to introduce an additional term into the equation of ASME so that the modified equation can be used to determine the peak stress intensity range due to all loads including thermal stratification.     

核电厂管线中的热分层现象

由于阀门渗漏使核电厂安注系统冷水注入到充满热水的连接安注系统与主管道的支管中，而发生的热分层和温度振荡现象的研究对于确保核电厂的安全和可靠运行具有重要意义。运用计算流体力学软件CFX，采用k－ε湍流模型，以研究某核电厂安注系统支管中热分层现象的实验为对象，模拟了阀门渗漏冷水进入含有高温水的支管以后所发生的热分层现象，数值模拟的结果与实验测量结果吻合。在此基础上，通过改变阀门渗漏冷水的流量、支管的结构等参数，进一步研究支管中热分层现象与这些参数的内在关系，从而得出了影响热分层现象的主要原因及热分层现象发生的一些规律。     

Experimental investigation of the stratified flow in the horizontal pipework of nuclear reactors

Laboratory tests have been performed to study the behaviour of a stratified fluid flow in horizontal piping. Concentrated calcium chloride brine and fresh water at room temperature were used to model the density difference due to thermal effects in nuclear reactors. Flow phenomena relating to the interface and mixing of the two layers were observed through the plexiglass piping by means of a flow visualization technique involving a longitudinal laser beam section through the flow.The measurements have established that, at the representative flow conditions modelled by the experiments, despite the presence of strong surface waves on the interface, little mixing occurs between the two layers. Quantitative correlations for the depth of the interface between the two layers, its surface slope and the height of surface waves have been established by the definition and use of two dimensionless Froude numbers.     

Loading conditions in horizontal feedwater pipes of LWRs influenced by thermal shock and thermal stratification effects

In recent years, a particular form of crack formation has occurred in a number of pressurized and boiling water reactors on the internal surfaces of horizontal lengths of feedwater piping upstream of the steam generators and reactor pressure vessels.The fractographic evaluation and the orientation of the cracks show that these are to be attributed to cyclic stressing in the axial direction. Comparison of the stresses due to thermal shock and thermal stratification reveals that, on account of the associated load cycles, the cracks were in essence caused by thermal stratification. This is also indicated by the orientation of the cracks.The present results of the corrosion tests show that with high oxygen content (450 ppb) and temperature level (210°C) the strain rate at thermal stratification exerts an essential influence on the number of cycles to crack initiation. With the conservative test conditions described, the values may fall below those given in the ASME fatigue design curve. In the case of strain rates that apply to thermal shock, the cycles to crack initiation are on the safe side of the curve.The remedial measures taken by KWU by the installation of the siphon reduce the frequency of stress amplitudes. It can be concluded from corrosion tests simulating these conditions that with the strain rates occurring in this case, the number of cycles to crack initiation are on the safe side according to the ASME fatigue design curve.