大功率先进压水堆压力容器外部冷却能力研究

目前压力容器外部冷却（ERVC）作为严重事故管理策略中压力容器内熔融物滞留（IVR）的一部分已得到了广泛应用。本文采用RELAP5系统安全分析程序定性研究一些流动参数和边界条件（如进出口面积、冷却水的入口温度、下封头处的加热功率、下封头处流道的间隙尺寸及注水高度等）对大功率先进压水堆压力容器外部冷却的自然循环能力产生的效应,它为结构的设计和系统的瞬态响应行为提供了一定的分析依据。     

基于RELAP5的ERVC两相自然循环能力研究

利用RELAP5程序建立压力容器外部冷却（ERVC）系统模型,在水淹平衡条件下分析不同的安全壳内压力、冷却水过冷度、加热功率和水淹水位对系统两相自然流动能力的影响,找到各工况下的临界过冷度和不稳定性边界。结果表明：AP1000的ERVC系统设计具有很大裕量,仅依靠自然循环就可通过下封头对熔池进行有效冷却;安全壳内压力越高、冷却水过冷度越低、加热功率越大、水淹水位越高,两相自然循环流量越高。但当加热功率水平较低时,压力对临界过冷度影响不大;冷却水过冷度低于临界值时,会发生剧烈的倒流和流量震荡现象;当水淹水位低于5.5 m时,不能建立稳定的两相自然循环流动。     

自然循环反应堆流量分配优化研究

由于自然循环反应堆一回路产生的驱动力有限,回路循环总流量较小,因此堆芯流量分配设计与优化非常重要。合理的堆芯流量分配不仅能满足热工安全要求,还能直接提高堆芯的性能。基于以上原因,本文对自然循环反应堆流量分配优化问题进行了初步研究,对闭式并联通道,采用一维流动传热模型,建立了入口阻力系数优化初值求解模型并设计了精确解搜索算法,并耦合堆芯热工分析程序COBRA编写了相应的堆芯流量分配优化程序。选择一自然循环反应堆算例,采用该程序对堆芯寿期内的流量分配优化进行了计算和分析。结果表明,将各典型寿期节点流量分配优化得到的入口阻力优化设置方案取平均值,可获得相对整个循环寿期达到较好优化效果的入口阻力设置方案。针对取平均值这种人工设计方法难以获得全局最优解的缺点,参考现代优化计算方法,提出了一种自动实现循环寿期内流量分配最优化的方法。     

Study theoretically on two-phase circulation flow characteristics under ERVC condition in advanced PWR

For the problem of two-phase natural circulation flow in gap clearance between reactor vessel lower head and insulator in the condition of severe accident, one-dimensional steady-state natural flow analysis code was written by utilizing FORTRAN. Based on the code, the effects of different correlations for friction coefficient and the number of nodes of heating section on mass flow rate of two-phase natural circulation flow were studied. And the results are compared with that of Chinese REPEC experiment and simulation using RELAP5 program so as to verify the rationality and correctness of the code. Based on the experiment data, simulation results and the model, friction coefficient and the void fraction condition under ERVC correlation are obtained by fitting. The results calculated by the model using fitting friction coefficient correlation agree well with ULPU V test data. Furthermore, the effect of power, pressure, inlet area, gap diameter, flooding level and inlet water subcooling on mass flow rate and void fraction of two-phase natural circulation were studied utilizing this code.     

Effect of inlet geometry on hot-leg U-bend two-phase natural circulation in a loop with a large diameter pipe

In relation to nuclear reactor accident and safety studies, experiments on hot-leg U-bend two-phase natural circulation in a loop with a relatively large diameter pipe (10.2 cm ID) was performed for understanding the two-phase natural circulation and flow termination during a small break loss of coolant accident in LWR. The loop design was based on the scaling criteria developed under this program and a horizontal section was inserted between the gas injector and the hot leg in order to investigate the effect of the vapor phase inlet section on the flow regimes and flow interruption. The loop was operated either in a natural circulation mode or in a forced circulation mode using nitrogen gas and water. Various tests were carried out to establish the basic mechanism of the flow termination as well as to obtain essential information on scale effects of various parameters such as the loop frictional resistance, thermal center, and pipe diameter. The void distribution in a hot leg, flow regime and natural circulation rate were measured in detail for various conditions. The termination of the natural circulation occurred when there was insufficient hydrostatic head in the downcomer side. The superficial gas velocity at the flow termination could be predicted well by the simple model derived from a force balance between the frictional pressure drop along the loop and the hydrostatic head difference. The bubbly-to-slug flow transition was found to be dependent on axial locations. It turned out that the inlet geometry affected the flow regime at the inlet of the hot leg, namely the void distribution in the hot leg.     

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。     

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.     

铅铋自然循环热工水力分析程序开发

铅铋堆内冷却剂的自然循环对于反应堆的正常运行以及事故工况下的堆芯热量导出均至关重要,相关热工水力分析工作对于支持设计及安审均有重要意义。通过对铅铋堆内一回路系统内主要部件,包括堆芯、热交换器、管道等建立热工水力物理模型,开发了适用于铅铋自然循环瞬态过程模拟的热工水力分析程序,并利用铅铋自然循环回路内开展的自然循环启动实验、功率台阶影响实验等的结果进行了程序的初步验证。结果表明,程序计算得到的结果与实验结果符合较好,能够较好模拟铅铋自然循环的瞬态过程。该程序可以为铅铋堆研发过程中自然循环热工水力分析工作提供支持。     

Study on the stability behaviour of a natural circulation pressure tube type boiling water reactor

The stability behaviour of a natural circulation pressure tube type boiling water reactor (BWR) has been investigated analytically. The analytical model considers homogeneous two-phase flow, a point kinetics model for the neutron dynamics and a lumped heat transfer model for the fuel dynamics. The results indicate that both Type I and Type II density-wave instabilities can occur in the reactor in both in-phase and out-of-phase mode of oscillations in the boiling channels of the reactor. The delayed neutrons were found to have strong influence on the stability of Type I and Type II density-wave instabilities. Also, the stability of the reactor is found to increase with increase in negative void reactivity coefficient unlike that observed previously in vessel type BWRs. Decay ratio map was predicted considering the effects of channel power, channel inlet subcooling, feed water temperature and channel exit quality, which are useful for the design of the reactor.     

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。     

严重事故IVR下反应堆压力容器耦合传热数值模拟分析

堆芯熔化严重事故下保证反应堆压力容器（RPV）完整性非常重要,高温蠕变失效是堆芯熔化严重事故下反应堆压力容器的主要失效模式。在进行严重事故堆芯熔化物堆内包容（IVR）下RPV结构完整性分析中,RPV内外壁和沿高度方向的温度分布以及剩余壁厚是结构分析的重要输入。本文采用CFD分析方法对RPV堆内熔融物、RPV壁以及外部气液两相流动换热进行热-固-流耦合分析,获得耦合情况下的温度场、流场、各相份额分布以及RPV的剩余壁厚,为RPV在严重事故IVR下的结构完整性分析提供依据。     

Experimental investigation of natural circulation instability in a BWR-type small modular reactor

The Purdue NMR (Novel Modular Reactor) represents a BWR-type small modular reactor with a significantly reduced reactor pressure vessel (RPV). Specifically, the NMR is one third the height and area of a conventional BWR RPV with an electrical output of 50 MWe. Experiments are performed in a well-scaled test facility to investigate the thermal hydraulic flow instabilities during the startup transients for the NMR. The scaling analysis for the design of natural circulation test facility uses a three-level scaling methodology. Scaling criteria are derived from non-dimensional field and constitutive equations. Important thermal hydraulic parameters, e.g. system pressure, inlet coolant flow velocity and local void fraction, are analyzed for slow and fast normal startup transients. Flashing instability and density wave oscillation are the main flow instabilities observed when system pressure is below 0.5 MPa. And the flashing instability and density wave oscillation show different type of oscillations in void fraction profile. Finally, the pressurized startup procedure is recommended and tested in current research to effectively eliminate the flow instabilities during the NMR startup transients.     

Two-group interfacial area transport equations at bubbly-to-slug flow transition

In relation to nuclear reactor accident and safety studies, experiments on hot-leg U-bend two-phase natural circulation in a loop with a relatively large diameter pipe (10.2 cm inner diameter) were performed for understanding the two-phase natural circulation and flow termination during a small break loss of coolant accident in LWRs. The loop design was based on the scaling criteria developed under this program and the loop was operated either in a natural circulation mode or in a forced circulation mode using nitrogen gas and water. Various tests were carried out to establish the basic mechanism of the flow termination as well as to obtain essential information on scale effects of various parameters such as the loop frictional resistance, thermal center and pipe diameter. The void distribution in a hot-leg, flow regime and natural circulation rate were measured in detail for various conditions. The termination of the natural circulation occurred when there was insufficient hydrostatic head in the downcomer side. The superficial gas velocity at the flow termination could be predicted well by the simple model derived from a force balance between the frictional pressure drop along the loop and the hydrostatic head difference. The bubbly-to-slug flow transition was found to be dependent on axial locations. It turned out that the formation of cap bubbles in the large diameter pipe caused the increased drift velocity, which would affect the prediction of the void fraction in the hot leg.     

Two-phase natural circulation flow of air and water in a reactor cavity model under an external vessel cooling during a severe accident

As a part of a study on a two-phase natural circulation flow between the outer reactor vessel and the insulation material in the reactor cavity under an external reactor vessel cooling of the Advanced Power Reactor (APR) 1400, a Hydraulic Evaluation of Reactor cooling Mechanism by External Self-induced flow-HALF scale (HERMES-HALF) experiment has been performed by using the non-heating method of an air injection. This large-scale experiment uses a half-height and half-sector model of the APR1400. This experiment has been analyzed to verify and evaluate the experimental results by using the RELAP5/MOD3 computer code. The RELAP5/MOD3 results have shown that the water circulation mass flow rate is very similar to the experimental results of the HERMES-HALF, in general. Increases in the water inlet area and the water level in the reactor cavity lead to an increase in the water circulation mass flow rate. The effects of an air injection mass flow rate and the water outlet area on the water circulation mass flow rate are dependent on the water inlet area size. As the water outlet moves to a lower position, the water circulation mass flow rate increases slowly.     

Two-phase flow natural circulation characteristics inside BWR vessels

Fundamental two-phase flow behavior under natural circulation conditions is studied both experimentally and analytically. Natural circulation characteristics for both drum-type and chimney-type reactors are experimentally investigated focusing on the flow patterns, flow rate and two-phase behavior inside the vessel. Analytical studies are performed to further understand the natural circulation characteristics of an actual plant and the mechanisms of geysering-like instabilities. Experimental and analytical results confirm that sufficient and stable flow is achievable in a natural circulation BWR.     

Capability of the RELAP5 code to simulate natural circulation behavior in test facilities

Many advanced reactor designs incorporate passive systems mainly to enhance the operational safety and possible elimination of severe accident condition. Some reactors are even designed to remove the nominal fission heat passively by natural circulation without using mechanical pumps e.g. ESBWR, AHWR, CHTR, CAREM, etc. while in most other new reactor concepts, the decay heat is removed passively by natural circulation following the pump trip conditions. The design and safety analysis of these reactors are carried out using the best estimate codes such as RELAP5, TRAC and CATHARE, etc. These best estimate codes have been developed for pumped circulation systems and it is not proven about their adequacy or applicability for natural circulation systems wherein the driving mechanism is completely different. Some of the key phenomena which are difficult to model but are significantly important to assess the natural circulation system performances are – low flow natural circulation mainly because the flow is not fully developed and can be multi-dimensional in nature; flow instabilities; critical heat flux under oscillatory condition; flow stratification particularly in large diameter vessel; thermal stratification in large pools; effect of non-condensable gases on condensation, etc. Though, these best estimate codes use a six equation two-fluid model formulation for the thermal-hydraulic calculation which is considered to be the best representative of two-phase flows, but their accuracies depend on the accuracies of the models for interfacial relationships for mass, energy and momentum transfer which are semi-empirical in nature. The other problem with two-fluid models is the effect of ill-posedness which may cause numerical instability. Besides, the numerical diffusion associated due to truncation of higher order terms can affect the prediction of flow instabilities. All these effects may lead to inability to capture the important physical instability in natural circulation systems and instability characteristics i.e. amplitude and frequency of flow oscillation. In view of this, it is essential to test the capability of these codes to simulate natural circulation behavior under single and two-phase flow conditions before applying them to the future reactor concepts.In the present study, one of the extensively used best estimate code RELAP5 has been used for simulation of steady state, transient and stability behavior of natural circulation based experimental facilities, such as the High-Pressure Natural Circulation Loop (HPNCL) and the Parallel Channel Loop (PCL) installed and operating at BARC. The test data have been generated for a range of pressure, power and subcooling conditions. The computer code RELAP5/MOD3.2 was applied to predict the transient natural circulation characteristics under single-phase and two-phase conditions, thresholds of flow instability, amplitude and frequency of flow oscillations for different operating conditions of the loops. This paper presents the effect of nodalisation in prediction of natural circulation behavior in test facilities and a comparison of experimental data in with that of code predictions. The errors associated with the predictions are also characterized.     

Assessment of Applicability of Two-Fluid Model Code ACE-3D to Heat Transfer Test of Supercritical Water Flowing in an Annular Channel

A supercritical-water-cooled reactor (SCWR) is a high-temperature, high-pressure water cooled reactor that operates above the critical pressure of water. In order to perform efficiently the thermal design of the SCWR, it is important to assess the thermal hydraulics in rod bundles of the core. Experimental conditions of mockup tests, however, may be limited because of technical and financial reasons. Therefore, it is required to establish an analytical design technique that can extrapolate experimental data to various design conditions of the reactor. Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has improved the three-dimensional two-fluid model analysis code ACE-3D, which was originally developed for the two-phase flow thermal hydraulics of light water reactors, to handle the thermal hydraulic properties of water in the supercritical region. In the present study, heat transfer experiments of supercritical water flowing in a vertical annular channel around a heater pin, which were performed at JAEA, were analyzed with the improved ACE-3D to assess the prediction performance of the code. As a result, it was implied that the ACE-3D code is applicable to the prediction of wall temperatures of a single rod that simulates the fuel bundle geometry of the SCWR core.     

The coolability limits of a reactor pressure vessel lower head

Configurations II and III of the ULPU experimental facility are described, and results from a comprehensive set of experiments are provided. The facility affords full-scale simulations of the boiling crisis phenomenon on the hemispherical lower head of a reactor pressure vessel submerged in water, and heated internally. Whereas Configuration I experiments (published previously) established the lower limits of coolability under low submergence, pool-boiling conditions, with Configuration II we investigate coolability under conditions more appropriate to practical interest in severe accident management; that is, heat flux shapes (as functions of angular position) representative of a core melt contained by the lower head, full submergence of the reactor pressure vessel, and natural circulation. Additionally, with Configuration III, we examine the effect of a channel-like geometry created by the reactor vessel thermal insulation. Critical heat fluxes as a function of the angular position on the lower head are reported and related to the observed two-phase flow regimes.     

External cooling of a reactor vessel under severe accident conditions

The TMI-2 accident demonstrated that a significant quantity of molten core debris could drain into the lower plenum during a severe accident. For such conditions, the Individual Plant Examinations (IPEs) and severe accident management evaluations, consider the possibility that water could not be injected to the RCS. However, depending on the plant specific configuration and the accident sequence, water may be accumulated within the containment sufficient to submerge the lower head and part of the reactor vessel cylinder. This could provide external cooling of the RPV to prevent failure of the lower head and discharge of core debris into the containment.This paper evaluates the heat removal capabilities for external cooling of an insulated RPV in terms of (a) the water inflow through the insulation, (b) the two-phase heat removal in the gap between the insulation and the vessel and (c) the flow of steam through the insulation. These results show no significant limitation to heat removal from the bottom of the reactor vessel other than thermal conduction through the reactor vessel wall. Hence, external cooling is a possible means of preventing core debris from failing the reactor, which if successful, would eliminate the considerations of ex-vessel steam explosions, debris coolability, etc. and their uncertainties. Therefore, external cooling should be a major consideration in accident management evaluations and decision-making for current plants, as well as a possible design consideration for future plants.     

一维自然循环比例分析的理论模型

整体性能试验研究是验证先进非能动压水堆核电站堆芯冷却系统设计有效性的核心技术,一回路系统两相自然循环热工水力特性比例分析是确定整体性能试验装置尺度的主要理论依据。以一维漂移流模型为基础,对整个一回路两相自然循环系统控制方程积分,并求得稳态解,由此获得了系统的流动条件。应用初始流动条件与边界条件,对两相自然循环系统控制方程直接无量纲化,最终得到了整体性能试验装置与实际非能动电站热工水力特性的相似准则。