An Investigation of Downcomer Boiling Effects During Reflood Phase Using TRAC-M Code

The capability of TRAC-M code to predict downcomer boiling effect during reflood phase in postulated PWR LOCA is evaluated using the results of downcomer effective water head and Cylindrical Core Test Facility (CCTF) experiments, which were performed at JAERI. With a full height downcomer simulator, effective water head experiment was carried out to investigate the applicability of the TRAC-M best estimate LOCA code to evaluate the effective water head with superheated wall temperature in downcomer. In order to clarify the effect of the initial superheat of the downcomer wall on the system and the core cooling behaviors during the reflood phase, two sets of analysis were also performed with a CCTF. Results show that TRAC­M code tends to under-predict downcomer effective water head and core differential pressure. However, the code results show a good agreement with the experimental results in downcomer temperature, heat flux and pressure. Finally, both experiment and calculation showed that the downcomer water head with the superheated downcomer wall is lower than that of the saturated wall temperature.