A numerical investigation of three-dimensional flows in large volumes in the context of passive containment cooling in BWRs

The paper describes Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) calculations undertaken in support of analyses of three-dimensional flows that take place in the drywell volumes of advanced boiling water reactors with passive decay–heat removal systems. Data for comparison are taken from the 1/40th-scale European Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) mock-up facility PANDA under conditions of symmetric steam injection and asymmetric outflow. Steady-state simulations for pure steam conditions illustrate how the separate flow streams mix to ensure balanced outflow conditions to the condenser units. A transient calculation has also been performed to examine how air, assumed to be released from solution in the PANDA boiler, would ultimately accumulate in the separate condenser units. Results provide a possible explanation for the rundown in performance of one of the condensers, behaviour which was repeatedly observed in some of the earlier PANDA tests. The work also provides more general insights on how trace amounts of non-condensable gases may accumulate in passive cooling equipment.