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.     

Analysis of Thermal Stratification Behavior in CEFR Hot Plenum

Thermal stratification which occurs in the CEFR hot plenum after reactor trip has been regarded as an interesting thermal-hydraulics phenomena. The cold sodium in the bottom of the hot plenum will delay the formation of natural circulation in the reactor primary loop, which will have the bad effect on the reactor core cooling after accident. In the views of the integrity of the structure, the appearance of the thermal stratification phenomenon will cause the thermal stress of the reactor main vessel and internals.     

Method of Estimating Liquid Velocity in Hot Leg during Reflux Cooling of Natural Circulation in Pressurized Water Reactor

Natural circulation in a PWR has considerable attention since the TMI-2 accident as an alternative cooling method or recovery technique from certain kinds of accidents or transients involving a loss of pumped circulation. Among the three modes of natural circulation (i.e. single-phase, two-phase and reflux cooling), reflux cooling has not been well investigated in a PWR configuration. The present study was thus focused on reflux cooling of natural circulation and analytical method was developed to estimate the liquid velocity of the condensed liquid in a hot leg of a PWR.

The results of the present study showed that the liquid velocity and the liquid thickness are estimated as 2.7 m/s and 3.0 cm, respectively, at the hot leg inlet from the upper plenum for the typical PWR reflux condition (2% core power at 6.9 MPa). Therefore it was concluded that a flow-blockage of the steam flow from the core by the condensed liquid flow is unlikely to occur in a hot leg. The results are also useful for designing a special instrumentation for measuring the condensed liquid flow rate and the liquid thickness in an experimental test facility for reflux cooling test.     

Verification study on alternative ECCS concepts for a PWR

An experimental study for alternative ECCSs for a PWR was performed with the ROSA-II facility. It was found through the tests that the combined injection of hot water into the upper plenum and cold water into the lower plenum accompanied by a low pressure coolant injection system in the hot legs is quite effective for core cooling through the whole period of a LOCA in the case of a cold leg break. The test results were compared with analytical results of the RELAP4J code. The code is found capable of estimating discharge flow behavior fairly well and can predict the overall fluid behavior in the tested method of the improved ECCSs. However, the calculated core heat transfer disagrees with the test data when the counter-cuurent flow of the two phases on the core is dominant.     

Status of TRIO_U code for sodium cooled fast reactors

Sodium cooled fast reactors (SFRs) have been developed in France for nearly 50 years with successively Rapsodie, Phenix and Superphenix plants. Nowadays, the so-called Astrid prototype is developed in France in the frame of Generation IV deployment. The Astrid project requires thermal hydraulic inputs to support the design and the safety analysis. This paper deals with some thermal hydraulic concerns in the primary circuit: the subassembly, the core, the hot plenum and the cold plenum. The so-called TRIO_U Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) code developed at CEA has been progressively adapted to these Astrid concerns. The paper presents the recent improvements, the present status and the remaining challenges for TRIO_U code on each topic. For the subassembly, refined modelling and sub-channel modelling have been developed in parallel. The validation process based on existing experimental data is in progress. A global core modelling including the inter-wrapper region and the connection to the hot plenum is depicted. The need of experimental validation is pointed out. The core outlet region requires refined Large Eddy Simulation computations to predict temperature fluctuations which can induce thermal fatigue. Validation based on sodium experimental data is briefly presented. Thermal stratification in the plenum is a key point for thermal stress analysis on the structures. Validation process includes the comparison to reactor data. Special developments using a Front Tracking method are carried out to deal with free surface and gas entrainment. A methodology including local and global modelling is developed and the validation process is in progress. For decay heat removal situations and especially in natural convection cases, the whole primary vessel – except at the moment the intermediate heat exchangers and the pumps – is modelled with TRIO_U code. Phenix ultimate tests performed in 2009 will be used for the qualification of these particular situations.     

Experiments at the mixing test facility ROCOM for benchmarking of CFD codes

For the validation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes, experimental data on fluid flow parameters with high resolution in time and space are needed.Rossendorf Coolant Mixing Model (ROCOM) is a test facility for the investigation of coolant mixing in the primary circuit of pressurized water reactors. This facility reproduces the primary circuit of a German KONVOI-type reactor. All important details of the reactor pressure vessel are modelled at a linear scale of 1:5. The facility is characterized by flexible possibilities of operation in a wide variety of flow regimes and boundary conditions. The flow path of the coolant from the cold legs through the downcomer until the inlet into the core is equipped with high-resolution detectors, in particular, wire mesh sensors in the downcomer of the vessel with a mesh of 64 × 32 measurement positions and in the core inlet plane with one measurement position for the entry into each fuel assembly, to enable high-level CFD code validation. Two different types of experiments at the ROCOM test facility have been proposed for this purpose. The first proposal concerns the transport of a slug of hot, under-borated condensate, which has formed in the cold leg after a small break LOCA, towards the reactor core under natural circulation. The propagation of the emergency core cooling water in the test facility under natural circulation or even stagnant flow conditions should be investigated in the second type of experiment. The measured data can contribute significantly to the validation of CFD codes for complex mixing processes with high relevance for nuclear safety.     

Transient experiments on fast reactor core thermal-hydraulics and its numerical analysis: Inter-subassembly heat transfer and inter-wrapper flow under natural circulation conditions

Sodium experiments were conducted on core thermal-hydraulics simulating a scram transient of a large scale fast breeder reactor using the test facility PLANDTL-DHX with seven fuel subassemblies. The influence of inter-subassembly heat transfer on temperature distribution in the subassembly was revealed via measurements. The flow in the gap between neighboring subassemblies called inter-wrapper flow (IWF) was also studied in relation to its capability of cooling the subassemblies. A computational model is presented for predicting the transient without IWF. The multi-dimensional numerical analysis model employs an empirical correlation to simulate mixing effects between adjacent subchannels. It was shown that the present computational method could evaluate the transient behavior of thermal-hydraulics in the subassemblies accurately from forced to natural circulation accompanied by inter-subassembly heat transfer and flow redistribution in the subassembly. The cooling effects of IWF on the fuel subassemblies were found in spite of natural circulation flow reduction in the primary loop attributable to temperature decreases in the upper non-heated section in the core. The inter-wrapper flow can effectively cool the core under extreme conditions of low flow rates through the core.     

Reactor core thermohydraulic transients with thermohydrodynamic coupling

A study of the reactor core thermohydraulics in an LMFBR has been performed for the strongly coupled thermo-hydrodynamic transients. A numerical method to solve the coupled energy-momentum equations among multichannels in a core is presented and the computer code ORIFS-TRANSIENT has been developed.The results of sample calculations for a flow coastdown transient to natural circulation following a reactor scram in a typical loop-type LMFBR are as follows: (1) the inter-subassembly coolant flow redistribution due to buoyancy forces is significant under the low flow condition, such as natural circulation; (2) the maximum coolant temperature was decreased by about 80°C (corresponding to about 22% in terms of hot channel factor) due to the flow redistribution; (3) due to thermohydrodynamic coupling between upper plenum and other regions, the maximum coolant temperature was decreased by about 9°C; (4) due to inter-subassembly heat redistribution, the maximum coolant temperature was increased by about 7°C.     

Application of ICCG Method to Numerical Solutions of Few-Group Neutron Diffusion Equations

Emergency core cooling (ECC) mater is carried up to the upper plenum and falls down again into the core during the reflood phase in PWR-LOCA. Therefore the quench front also propagates downward from the top of the core. The effect of upward steam flow rate on the top-down quench propagation was experimentally investigated. It was found that top-down quench velocity was delayed by upward steam flow. This effect is more significant when rod surface temperature is low and the falling water flow rate is small.

The effect of the flow rate and the rod temperature on the quench velocity was correlated based on the experimental results under the conditions of atmospheric pressure, saturation temperature for water and steam, rod surface temperature of 350–600°C, down-ward water velocity of 0.01–0.1 m/s and upward steam velocity of 0–20 m/s.     

反应堆内局部自然循环对非能动余热排出的影响

为研究反应堆堆内局部自然循环对非能动余热排出的影响,利用改进的RELAP5/MOD3.2程序对核动力装置及非能动余热排出系统进行数学建模与理论研究,并利用试验数据进行了校核。研究表明：在核动力装置自然循环运行条件下,由于反应堆上封头旁流及反应堆入口漏流通道的存在,在反应堆活性区、上封头、环腔及下腔室之间构成了局部自然循环流动现象;在主回路自然循环能力较弱时,堆内产生的局部自然循环流动占优,反应堆衰变热无法顺利带出。     

大破口失水事故时冷热段同时安注反应堆堆芯会更安全

大破口失水事故时，安注系统由冷段注入的大量冷却剂从压力壳和吊兰之间的环形通道经破口流入安全壳，只有少量的冷却剂流入堆芯。如果把安注系统同时安装在冷段和热段同时进行安注，从热段注入的冷却剂带走了上腔室和堆芯内的较多热量而降低了上腔室内的压力，使冷段注入的冷却剂较容易流入堆芯。同时，从热段注入的部分冷却剂在上腔室内撞击在导向管上后，沿着导向管流入堆芯，堆芯得到的冷却剂比单一冷段安注时得到的冷却剂要多，堆芯会更安全     

Prediction, analysis and solution of the flow inversion phenomenon in a typical MTR-reactor with upward core cooling

Research reactors of power greater than 20 MW are usually designed to be cooled with upward coolant flow direction inside the reactor core. This is mainly to prevent flow inversion problems following a pump coast down. However, in some designs and under certain operating conditions, flow inversion phenomenon is predicted. In the present work, the best-estimate Material Testing Reactors Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis program (MTRTHA) is used to simulate a typical MTR reactor behavior with upward cooling. The MTRTHA model consists of five interactively coupled submodels for: (a) coolant, (b) fuel plate, (c) chimney, lower plenum, suction box and cold leg, (d) flap valve and (e) natural circulation flow. The model divides the active core into a specified axial regions and the fuel plate into a specified radial zones, then a nodal calculation is performed for both average and hot channels with a chopped cosine shaped heat generation flux. The reactor simulation under loss of off-site power is performed for two cases namely: two-flap valves open and one flap-valve fails to open. The simulation is performed under a hypothetical case of loss of off-site power. Unfortunately, the flow inversion phenomenon is predicted under certain decay heat and/or pool temperature values below the design values. In most cases, the flow inversion phenomenon is accompanied by boiling which is undesirable phenomenon in this type of reactors as it could affect the fuel-clad integrity. The model results for the flow inversion phenomenon prediction are analyzed and a solution of the problem is suggested.     

反应堆压力容器下降段水-蒸汽CCFL实验与模型研究

为探究反应堆压力容器下降段在喷放末期冷段安注过程中的水-蒸汽逆流特性,建立下降段逆向流动限制(CCFL)模型,开展了基于压力容器模化本体的下降段CCFL实验研究以及建模分析。通过实验研究获得了不同入口安注水流量、安注水过冷度、堆芯蒸汽流量等条件下的下降段环腔内的安注特性数据,并基于实验数据进行了CCFL建模分析。结果表明,开始发生CCFL的蒸汽无量纲流速与入口安注水无量纲流速呈现正相关,基于无量纲流速建立的模型斜率与入口安注水无量纲流速呈现高度指数关联。本文建立了适用于从不发生CCFL至不完全CCFL,再到完全CCFL的下降段水-蒸汽气液逆流全过程预测模型。     

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。      

Natural circulation in parallel vertical channels with different heat inputs

When forced circulation of the coolant is lost in a gas cooled reactor, natural circulation takes place in the reactor core. Natural circulation in the many parallel vertical channels with different heat inputs is quite complicated because the flow rate and direction depend on the time history of the heat input of each channel. Since only a few previous studies were concerned with this problem, an experimental and analytical study was performed to investigate the natural circulation in an array of parallel channels with different heat inputs.The experimental apparatus consisted of four vertical channels filled with water. Each channel was furnished with a heater pin and heated by various combinations of time-varying heat inputs. Flow velocity of the water was measured, and an abrupt change of the flow direction was observed. An analytical code predicted well the experimental results.     

补水箱内的直接接触冷凝模型研究

补水箱是核反应堆安全系统中的重要设备。事故工况下补水箱内可发生剧烈的直接接触冷凝过程,导致补水箱内压力的迅速降低乃至振荡,影响补水箱的安全注入功能。为提高对补水箱安注行为预测的准确性,本文基于射流速度分布理论和假想管嘴分析方法,考虑液相的温度分层对传热温差的影响,结合补水箱内直接接触冷凝的一般过程,建立了针对性的冷凝传热计算方法。利用该模型对现有实验数据进行了预测,符合良好,初步验证了模型的有效性。相关研究有助于提高补水箱安注过程和相关事故安全分析的准确性。     

Natural circulation characteristics of lead-based reactor under long-term decay heat removal

The natural circulation of primary coolant plays an important role in removing the decay heat in Station-Black-out (SBO) accident from reactor core to decay heat removal systems, such as RVACS and PHXS cooling, for lead-based reactor. In order to study the natural circulation characteristics of primary coolant under Reactor Vessel Air Cooling System (RVACS) and primary heat exchangers (PHXs) cooling, which are crucial to the safety of lead-based reactors. A three-dimensional CFD model for the China Lead-based Research Reactor (CLEAR-I) has been built to analyze the thermal-hydraulics characteristics of primary coolant system and the cooling capability of the two systems. The abilities of the two cooling systems with different decay heat powers were discussed as well. The results demonstrated that the decay heat could be removed effectively only relying on either of the two systems. However, RVACS appeared the obvious thermal stratification phenomenon in the cold pool. Besides, with the increase in decay heat power, the natural circulation capacity of primary coolant between the two systems had a significant difference. The PHXs cooling system was stronger than the RVACS, with respect to the mass flow of primary coolant and the average temperature difference between cold pool and hot pool.     

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.     

高温气冷堆侧反射层纵向窄缝中的旁流研究

高温气冷堆的堆内构件由大量石墨块与碳砖构成,石墨块之间的窄缝会造成堆芯旁流,影响堆芯的流量与温度分布,需细致研究。石墨侧反射层有垂直方向的窄缝,是主要的旁流通道之一,氦气可能从冷氦联箱通过这些窄缝直接流入热氦联箱,也会与球床中的氦气发生横向交混。通过对球床流动及垂直窄缝中的旁流建立流体网络模型,分析了横向交混对窄缝旁流的影响,并讨论在不同窄缝大小及窄缝分布情况下旁流的变化规律。研究结果表明,球床边缘的氦气横向交混对旁流量影响较为明显,需在旁流分析中考虑,尺寸较大的窄缝对整个旁流的影响较为明显,窄缝尺寸较大时,堆芯的旁流量也更大。     

失水事故排放过程中的不稳定性

叙述了低温供热堆发生上空腔小破口失水事故后，自然循环系统的不稳定性，揭示了在排放过程中，由于冷却剂闪蒸现象引起的系统两相流不稳定性，以及在排放不同阶段中流量振荡特性。