Coupled thermal-hydraulics and neutron-physics analysis of SCWR with mixed spectrum core

The new SCWR conceptual design (SCWR-M) is proposed on the basis of a mixed spectrum core consisting of a thermal spectrum zone and a fast spectrum zone. This new core design is considered to be the hybrid of the existing thermal SCWR and fast SCWR cores. It combines the merits of both thermal and fast SCWR cores, at the same time minimizes their shortcomings. For the thermal zone, the difficulties in the mechanical design and the maximum cladding temperature can be reduced as far as possible by the co-current flow mode; and for the fast zone, a sufficiently large negative coolant void reactivity coefficient and breeding ratio can be achieved by the multi-layer arrangement of fuel rods.The performance, including the burn-up behavior, of the proposed core is investigated with 3-D coupled neutron-physical and thermal-hydraulic calculations. During the coupling procedure, the thermal-hydraulic behavior is analyzed using a sub-channel analysis code and the neutron-physical performance is computed with a 3-D diffusion code. The results obtained so far have shown that the mixed spectrum SCWR concept (SCWR-M) is feasible and promising.     

混合能谱超临界水堆堆芯热工-物理性能分析

针对一种新型的超临界水堆设计方案——混合能谱超临界水堆（SCWR-M）进行分析。混合能谱超临界水堆包括热谱区和快谱区两部分,分别布置在堆芯的外部与内部。它在继承了热谱与快谱超临界堆芯设计优点的同时,有效地克服了两者的不足。对于热谱区,冷却剂与慢化剂同向流动,大幅降低了燃料包壳的表面温度和组件的机械加工难度;对于快谱区,采用多层燃料组件和较大的栅距棒径比p/d,可得到较高的燃料转换比和较小的冷却剂负反应性系数。本工作采用自主开发的基于子通道分析和三维物理计算的耦合程序,对混合能谱超临界水堆的热工性能和中子物理性能（包括燃耗性能）进行研究。初步的耦合分析结果表明了混合能谱超临界水堆设计方案的可行性。     

超临界水冷堆堆芯子通道稳态热工分析

超临界水冷堆(SCWR)作为6种第四代未来堆型中唯一的水冷堆,冷却剂出口温度可达500℃,具有良好的经济性.本文采用改进的COBRA-IV程序对超临界水冷堆方形组件子通道进行稳态热工分析.对计算结果进行分析可知:减小慢化剂通道中给水质量流量份额和加大慢化剂通道与相邻子通道之间的热阻,可以降低热管焓升,后者还可以得到较好的慢化效果.通过热通道的传热恶化分析发现,超临界水冷堆的设计不能避免传热恶化,必须精确计算传热恶化条件下的包壳温度才能确定包壳能否保证其完整性.     

Numerical analysis of thermal-hydraulic behavior of supercritical water in vertical upward/downward flow channels

Investigations on the thermal-hydraulic behavior in the SCWR fuel assembly have obtained a significant attention in the international SCWR community. However, there is still a lack of understanding of the heat transfer behavior of supercritical fluids. In this paper, the numerical analysis is carried out to study the thermal-hydraulic behaviour in vertical sub-channels cooled by supercritical water. Remarkable differences in characteristics of secondary flow are found, especially in square lattice, between the upward flow and downward flow. The turbulence mixing across sub-channel gap for downward flow is much stronger than that for upward flow in wide lattice when the bulk temperature is lower than pseudo-critical point temperature. For downward flow, heat transfer deterioration phenomenon is suppressed with respect to the case of upward flow at the same conditions.     

CFD analysis of thermal-hydraulic behavior in SCWR typical flow channels

Investigations on thermal-hydraulic behavior in SCWR fuel assembly have obtained a significant attention in the international SCWR community. However, there is still a lack of understanding and ability to predict the heat transfer behavior of supercritical water. In this paper, CFD analysis is carried out to study the flow and heat transfer behavior of supercritical water in sub-channels of both square and triangular rod bundles. Effect of various parameters, e.g. thermal boundary conditions and pitch-to-diameter ratio on the thermal-hydraulic behavior is investigated. Two boundary conditions, i.e., constant heat flux at the outer surface of cladding and constant heat density in the fuel pin are applied. The results show that the structure of the secondary flow mainly depends on the rod bundle configuration as well as the pitch-to-diameter ratio, whereas, the amplitude of the secondary flow is affected by the thermal boundary conditions, as well. The secondary flow is much stronger in a square lattice than that in a triangular lattice. The turbulence behavior is similar in both square and triangular lattices. The dependence of the amplitude of the turbulent velocity fluctuation across the gap on Reynolds number becomes prominent in both lattices as the pitch-to-diameter ratio increases. The effect of thermal boundary conditions on turbulent velocity fluctuation is negligibly small. For both lattices with small pitch-to-diameter ratios (P/D < 1.3), the mixing coefficient is about 0.022. Both secondary flow and turbulent mixing show unusual behavior in the vicinity of the pseudo-critical point. Further investigation is needed. A strong circumferential non-uniformity of wall temperature and heat transfer is observed in tight lattices at constant heat flux boundary conditions, especially in square lattices. In the case with constant heat density of fuel pin, the circumferential conductive heat transfer significantly reduces the non-uniformity of circumferential distribution of wall temperature and heat transfer, which is favorable for the design of SCWR fuel assemblies.     

燃料棒周向导热对超临界水堆堆芯子通道分析的影响

本文在子通道程序的燃料棒模型中引入三维导热方程,使该模型能用来模拟燃料棒的周向导热情况。采用改造后的子通道程序对混合谱超临界水堆设计中的两种燃料组件结构进行计算分析,研究燃料棒周向导热对超临界水堆燃料组件子通道分析的影响。结果表明：热谱组件的子通道计算中,燃料棒周向导热的影响不能忽略;快谱组件的子通道计算中,燃料棒周向导热的影响基本可忽略。     

数值反应堆堆芯通道级三维热工水力程序CorTAF开发及初步验证

堆芯是核动力系统的核心部件,其完整性是反应堆安全运行的重要前提。传统核反应堆堆芯热工水力分析方法无法满足未来先进核动力系统的高精度模拟需求。本文依托开源CFD平台OpenFOAM,针对压水堆堆芯棒束结构特点建立了冷却剂流动换热模型、燃料棒导热模型和耦合换热模型,开发了一套基于有限体积法的压水堆全堆芯通道级热工水力特性分析程序CorTAF。选取GE3×3、Weiss和PNL2×6燃料组件流动换热实验开展模型验证,计算结果与实验数据基本符合,表明该程序适用于棒束燃料组件内冷却剂流动换热特性预测。本工作对压水堆堆芯安全分析工具开发具有参考和借鉴意义。     

超临界水冷堆环形燃料组件核热耦合分析

在超临界水冷堆预概念设计中,组件设计是十分重要的,将影响堆芯性能。超临界水冷堆中水密度变化剧烈的特性要求必须进行核热耦合分析。从中子学及热工性能角度,使用三维核热耦合程序对环形燃料组件进行了优化设计。应用中子学计算程序FENNEL-N对环形燃料组件进行三维扩散计算,可得到组件内单棒功率分布,应用热工计算程序SUBSC对组件进行子通道分析。在计算过程中,分析了燃料棒间距及燃料棒与组件壁盒之间的间隙对组件性能的影响。计算结果显示,增大棒间距和棒壁间隙能提高组件k_inf,但会增大组件内功率峰因子;子通道受热不均匀性对组件热工性能影响较大,通过加入定位格架的方式能展平冷却剂出口温度,降低最大包壳温度。对环形燃料组件的安全分析表明,从中子学角度该组件是安全的。     

混合能谱超临界水堆堆芯设计分析

提出了一种新型的超临界水堆概念设计:混合能谱超临界水堆,它包括慢谱区和快谱区两部分.其慢谱区燃料组件采用双排燃料组件,快谱区采用简单的正方形栅元燃料组件.慢谱区与快谱区的燃料组件都采用同向流动方式来简化堆芯设计.慢谱区的冷却剂出口温度远低于整个堆芯的出口温度,这大大降低了慢谱区包壳的温度峰值.此外,由于快谱区冷却剂密度很小,流速很高,故可采用较大的栅元结构,这有效地降低了包壳周向局部传热不均匀性.所以混合堆在充分继承慢谱、快谱堆芯优点的基础上,弥补两者的不足.     

International Solvent Extraction Conference ISEC ′90

The supercritical-water-cooled power reactor (SCPR) is expected to reduce power costs compared with those of current LWRs because of its high thermal efficiency and simple reactor system. The high thermal efficiency is obtained by supercritical pressure water cooling. The fuel cladding surface temperature increases locally due to a synergistic effect from the increased coolant temperature, the expanded flow deflection due to coolant density change and the decreased heat transfer coefficient, if the coolant flow distribution is non-uniform in the fuel assembly. Therefore, the SCPR fuel assembly is designed using a subchannel analysis code based on the SILFEED code for BWRs.

The SCPR fuel assembly has many square-shaped water rods. The fuel rods are arranged around these water rods. The fuel rod pitch and diameter are 11.2 mm and 10.2 mm, respectively. Since coolant flow distribution in the fuel assembly strongly depends on the gap width between the fuel rod and the water rod, the proper gap width is examined. Subchannel analysis shows that the coolant flow distribution becomes uniform when the gap width is 1.0 mm. The maximum fuel cladding surface temperature is lower than 600°C and the temperature margin of the fuel cladding is increased in the design.     

Numerical investigation of supercritical water-cooled nuclear reactor in horizontal rod bundles

The commercial CFD code STAR-CD v4.02 is used as a numerical simulation tool for flows in the supercritical water-cooled nuclear reactor (SCWR). The basic heat transfer element in the reactor core can be considered as round rods and rod bundles. Reactors with vertical or horizontal flow in the core can be found. In vertically oriented core, symmetric characters of flow and heat transfer can be found and two-dimensional analyses are often performed. However, in horizontally oriented core the flow and heat transfer are fully three-dimensional due to the buoyancy effect. In this paper, horizontal rods and rod bundles at SCWR conditions are studied. Special STAR-CD subroutines were developed by the authors to correctly represent the dramatic change in physical properties of the supercritical water with temperature. In the rod bundle simulations, it is found that the geometry and orientation of the rod bundle have strong effects on the wall temperature distributions and heat transfers. In one orientation the square bundle has a higher wall temperature difference than other bundles. However, when the bundles are rotated by 90° the highest wall temperature difference is found in the hexagon bundle. Similar analysis could be useful in design and safety studies to obtain optimum fuel rod arrangement in a SCWR.     

Thermo-hydraulic analysis for SCWR during power-raising phase of startup

The study of thermal characteristics during startup is one of the most important aspects for safety analysis of supercritical water-cooled reactor(SCWR).According to the given sliding pressure mode of SCWR,thermal analysis on temperature-raising phase and power-raising phase of startup are carried out.Considering the radial heterogeneity of power distribution,thermal characteristics for different assemblies during startup are also put forward.The results show that,during temperature-raising phase with core power increased only,the temperature of moderator,coolant and fuel cladding in inner assemblies are increased with little amplitude.During power-raising phase with core power and feed-water flow rate increased,the coolant temperature keeps unchanged,but the moderator temperature is decreased.With a greater variation of power,fuel cladding temperature shows a greater increase.Furthermore,considering the uneven distribution of radial power,thermo-hydraulic characteristics with uneven cladding temperature distribution shows a certain horizontal heterogeneity for different fuel assemblies,which becomes serious as flow rate and power increase.By adjusting flow rate distribution in different fuel assemblies or changing power setting during startup,the cladding temperature difference could be effectively reduced,which provides a certain reference for startup optimization of SCWR.     

超临界水冷堆的安全分析

应用RELAP5-3D程序建立了超临界水冷堆(SCWR)的稳态模型,并在此基础上,分别对SCWR的两种瞬态和两种事故工况进行了分析。汽轮机旁路系统的存在可有效维持反应堆压力,保证反应堆安全。若SCWR失去给水,在辅助给水系统启动之前,向下流的水棒可通过热传导带走堆芯热量,并向燃料通道内提供冷却剂,缓解堆芯升温。因而,向下流的水棒体现了SCWR的安全性。主泵卡轴事故由于没有惰转,最热包壳温度值最大,因而主泵惰转可有效缓解包壳温度的升高。     

Coupled neutronics/thermal–hydraulics analysis of CANDU–SCWR fuel channel

At supercritical pressure condition, the thermal–hydraulics behavior of water differs strongly from that at sub-critical pressure due to a rapid variation of the thermal–physical properties across the pseudo-critical line. A coupling analysis of neutronics and thermal–hydraulics has become important for SCWR, because of the strong link between the water density and the neutron spectrum and subsequently the power distribution. The neutronics code Monte Carlo N-Particle code (MCNP) and the subchannel code Advanced Thermal–Hydraulics Analysis Subchannel (ATHAS) are used in a coupled way to better understand the design characteristics of a pressure tube type SCWR fuel channel. The results show that: the developed coupled code system can be used to analyze pressure tube type SCWR fuel bundles; improved radial fuel enrichment profile will optimize the coolant and cladding temperature distribution to meet the design criteria; smaller pressure tube pitch will result in more flatten axial power distribution and more uniform radial power distribution.     

超临界水冷混合堆快谱区组件物理——热工分析

提出了超临界水冷混合堆快谱区多层燃料组件设计方案.应用MCNP程序为该组件建立计算模型,并进行了相应的物理计算;同时运用子通道分析程序STAFAS对多层燃料组件子通道进行了初步的稳态热工分析.计算结果表明:超临界水冷混合堆快谱区多层燃料组件燃料转换比超过1.0,并且获得负的冷却剂空泡反应性系数;燃料包壳表面最高温度约为595℃,低于设计准则规定的上限值,同时组件各子通道出口冷却剂温度均匀性较好.通过对燃料棒径敏感性分析可知,较大棒径组件燃料转换比较大,但也会导致热通道包壳表面温度峰值升高.     

Study on Two-phase Flow in Fluid Channel of Lead-based Fast Reactor Based on OpenFOAM

In order to study the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of two-phase flow caused by the special thermal properties of lead/lead-bismuth in lead-based fast reactors, the influence of bubble in fluid channel on the heat transfer capacity and safety of the core was simulated. In this paper the open source CFD calculation software OpenFOAM was adopted, and the numerical simulation was applied based on VOF method to construct a common triangular channel model in lead-based fast reactor. By simulating the two-phase flow of the coolant channel, it is found that as the flow rate increases, the outlet temperature of the coolant decreases. In the flow process of the gas-liquid two-phase flow in the channel, it can be found that the gas phase basically flows inside the channel. In the simulation of the fuel assembly, the corner channel is an area with a large amount of bubbles, which will cause the local heat transfer to deteriorate and cause the fuel assembly to burn out.     

基于OpenFOAM的铅基快堆流体通道内两相流研究

为研究铅基快堆中铅/铅铋的特殊热物性导致的在两相流情况下的热工水力特性,模拟流体通道中空泡存在对堆芯的输热能力以及安全性的影响,本文采用开源的CFD计算软件OpenFOAM,应用基于VOF方法的数值模拟,构建了铅基快堆中常见的三角形通道模型,通过与子通道程序的验证和单相条件下实验的校核,检验了所用代码的准确性,并对堆内冷却剂通道的两相流进行了模拟。模拟结果表明：随着两相流流速的增大,冷却剂出口温度降低。气液两相流在内通道流动过程中,气相基本在通道内部流动。随着轴向高度的升高,气泡会在内通道的中心区域聚合;燃料组件的角通道是气泡含量多的区域,会造成局部传热恶化,导致组件烧毁。     

ATWS Characteristics of Super LWR with/without Alternative Action

Anticipated-transient-without-scram (ATWS) of the supercritical-pressure light water cooled thermal reactor with downward-flow water rods (Super LWR) is analyzed to clarify its safety characteristics. At loss-of-flow, heat-up of the fuel cladding is mitigated by the water rods removing heat from the fuel channels by heat conduction and supplying their coolant inventory to the fuel channels by volume expansion. The average coolant density is not sensitive to the pressure due to the small density difference between “steam” and “water” at supercritical-pressure. Closure of the coolant outlet of the once-through system causes flow stagnation that suppresses an increase in the coolant density due to an increase in the temperature. Therefore, the increase in power is small for pressurization events. The coolant density and Doppler feedbacks provide good self-controllability of the power against loss-of-flow and reactivity insertion. An alternative action is not needed either to satisfy the safety criteria or to achieve a high-temperature stable condition for all ATWS events. Initiating the automatic depressurization system is a good alternative action that induces a strong core coolant flow and inserts a negative reactivity. It provides an additional safety margin for the ATWS events. Even the high core power rating of the Super LWR has excellent ATWS characteristics, providing a key reactor design advantage.     

Concept of a pressurized water reactor cooled with supercritical water in the primary loop

A novel concept of a pressurized water reactor with a primary loop cooled with supercritical water is introduced and analyzed in this work. A steam cycle analysis has been performed to illustrate the advantages of such a nuclear power plant with respect to specific power and thermal efficiency. Moreover, a reactor pressure vessel concept including its internals and a suitable core and fuel assembly design are presented overcoming the problems, which arise due to the high heat up of the coolant and the density change involved with it. The core power and coolant density distributions are predicted with coupled neutronic and thermal-hydraulic analyses. The method features the definition of inlet orifices for coolant mass flow adjustment within the core as well as an additional tool for the interpolation of local pin power data. The latter one has been used for a successive sub-channel analysis of the hottest fuel assembly of the core, which provides a more detailed spatial resolution and thus predicts peak cladding temperatures, the maximum linear pin power of fuel pins, and maximum fuel temperatures. It can be shown that maximum temperatures of claddings and fuel are well below the material limits. Thanks to an average core exit temperature below the pseudo-critical temperature, the core concept leaves enough margin for additional uncertainties and allowances for operation.     

Sub-channel analysis of CANDU–SCWR and review of heat-transfer correlations

The paper presents the results of sub-channel analysis of CANDU–SCWR based on a wide review of heat transfer correlations. According to comparison with experiment data at different heat flux, Bishop Correlation is selected in SUBCHAN code to analyze CANDU–SCWR fuel channel. By detailed calculation of 43 fuel rods fuel channel in CANDU–SCWR, the paper gets the conclusion that the mass flux redistribution and reduction of heat-transfer coefficient at supercritical condition caused by the steep change of coolant density will limit the power of fuel channel in CANDU–SCWR.