Estimation of Static Load Applied on Steam Generator Tubes

증기발생기 전열관에 작용되는 정적 하중 평가

If a plugged tube in a steam generator is broken, it may damage nearby intact tubes. To prevent this damage, it is recommended that a stabilizer is installed into the plugged tube. However, the installation cost of a stabilizer is very high. So studies are required to determine the conditions on which the installation is necessary. For this purpose static loads and dynamic loads applied on a tube should be known to estimate the residual strength and remaining fatigue and wear life of a plugged tube. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses are performed to obtain the drag coefficient for cross flow to a tube. Using the obtained drag coefficient, the static load can be estimated and the residual strength of a plugged tube can be calculated. An inclined flow problem is also analyzed and the vertical and horizontal forces are obtained and discussed.