Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Research on mechanism of gas leakage in microchannels of steel containment vessels for nuclear power plants

  • Min He (Yantai Research Institute, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Yueyao Chen (Yantai Research Institute, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Zhen Wu (Yantai Research Institute, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Gangling Hou (Yantai Research Institute, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Jialong Wang (Yantai Research Institute, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Zhuangfei Li (Yantai Research Institute, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Yuzhu Wang (Yantai Research Institute, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Hanze Li (Yantai Research Institute, Harbin Engineering University)
  • Received : 2023.09.20
  • Accepted : 2024.03.03
  • Published : 2024.08.25
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Abstract

Steel containment vessels for nuclear power plants can experience gas leakage due to minute defects such as cracks, corrosion, and aging, leading to gas leakage. A gas leakage model for microchannels is established to elucidate the mechanism underlying gas leakage within microchannels caused by these defects, specifically addressing the issue of unidirectional gas flow. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and the UK R6 method are employed to calculate the gas leakage rate within microchannels. Furthermore, the characteristics of gas flow within microchannels are explored, including the factors affecting the gas leakage rate. Validation of the calculation results is verified experimentally. The results indicate that the gas mass flow rate exhibits a linear decrease with decreasing internal pressure and a non-linear decline as temperature increases. Additionally, the gas mass flow rate demonstrates a negative correlation with the microchannel length but a positive association to its hydraulic diameter. The primary influencing factors on gas leakage rates are hierarchically ranked as follows: pressure difference, microchannel cross-sectional area, temperature, microchannel length, and microchannel hydraulic diameter.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work is supported by the Key R&D Program of Shandong Province, China (Grant No. 2023SFGC0101); the Yantai School-Locality Integration Development Program, China (Grant No. 22MZ03CD012); the Key Research and Development Program of Heilongjiang Province, China (Grant No. 2022ZX01A14); the program of China National Nuclear Corporation, China (Grant No. KY90200210017); the program of Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (Grant No. ZR2019BEE041).

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