• 한국전산유체공학회지
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.66-74
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• 2011

A fluid in an enclosure can be heated by electric heating, chemical reaction, or fission heat. In order to remove the volumetric heat of the fluid, the walls surrounding the enclosure must be cooled. In this case, a natural convection occurs in the pool of the fluid, and it has a dominant role in heat transfer to the surrounding walls. It can augment the heat transfer rates tens to hundreds times larger than conductive heat transfer. The heat transfer by a natural convection in a regular shape such as a square cavity or semi-circular pool has been studied experimentally and numerically for many years. A pool of an inverted triangular shape with 10 degree inclined bottom walls has a good cooling performance because of enhanced boiling critical heat flux (CHF) compared to horizontal downward surface. The coolability of the pool is determined by comparing the thermal load from the pool and the maximum heat flux removable by cooling mechanism such as radiative or boiling heat transfer on the pool boundaries. In order to evaluate the pool coolability, it is important to correctly expect the thermal load by a natural convection heat transfer of the pool. In this study, turbulence models with modifications for buoyancy effect were validated for unsteady natural convections by volumetric heating. And natural convection in the triangular pool was evaluated by using the models.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전산유체공학회 2008년도 춘계학술대회논문집
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• pp.268-271
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• 2008

If a reactor vessel is failed to retain a molten corium in a postulated severe accident, the molten corium is released outside the reactor vessel into a reactor cavity. The molten corium would attack the concrete wall and basemat of the reactor cavity, which may lead to inevitable concrete decompositions and possible radiological releases. In the OECD/MCCI project, a series of tests were performed to secure the data for cooling the molten corium spread out at the reactor cavity and for the long-term CCI (Core Concrete Interaction). Also, a MCCI (Molten Core Concrete Interaction) analysis code, CORQUENCH was upgraded at Argonne National Laboratory with embedding the new models developed for the tests. This paper deals with analyses of MCCI at plant scale under the conditions of top flooding using the upgraded CORQUENCH code. The modeling approach is briefly summarized first, followed by presentation of a validation calculation that illustrates the predicative capability of the modeling tool. With this background in place, the model is then used to carry out a parametric set of scoping calculations that define approximate coolability envelopes for the LCS (Limestone Common Sand) concrete that has been evaluated in the OECD/MCCI project.

• 한국유체기계학회 논문집
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.19-28
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• 2016

Objective of this study is to compare the inherent characteristics of natural convection flow inside the canister of spent fuel dry storage system with different backfill gases by utilizing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Four working fluids were selected for comparison study. Helium currently used backfill gas for canister, air, nitrogen, and argon are frequently used as coolant in many heat transfer applications. The results indicate that helium has very distinct conductive behavior and show very weak natural convective flow compared to the others. Argon showed the strongest natural convective flow but also the worst coolability. Air and nitrogen showed similar characteristics to each other. However, due to difference in Prandtl number, nitrogen showed more effective natural convective flow. These results suggest that experimental validation for the nitrogen is needed to investigate the potential coolability other than currently commercially used helium.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권1호
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• pp.117-129
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• 2022

The downward discharge of the molten fuel to the lower structure of the fuel assembly could increase of the pressure drop and degrade of coolability of the assembly. To analyze the phenomena, experiments for the generation of the debris bed were conducted as LOF-DT series. Based on the debris bed in the LOF-DT, pressure drop experiment was conducted with intact and blocked component. Parametric study on the pressure drop was conducted by CFD. The LOF-DT experiments were conducted for the position and porosity of the debris bed. 85% of the debris were sedimented in the lower reflector, and 15% were in the nose piece, approximately. Porosity of the debris bed were about 0.7 and 0.85 in the lower reflector and nose piece, respectively. Pressure drop increased significantly with debris bed, especially in the lower reflector. More than 120 time of the pressure drop increased in the lower reflector, while only 10% increased in the nose piece. According to the parametric study, mass of the debris was the most important for pressure drop. The lower discharge phenomena could have a significant effect to the total pressure drop of the fuel assembly, approximately 10.8 times for the base case.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제48권2호
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• pp.457-469
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• 2016

During the late phase of severe accidents of light water reactors, a porous debris bed is expected to develop on the bottom of the flooded reactor cavity after breakup of the melt in water. The geometrical configuration, i.e., internal and external characteristics, of the debris bed is significant for the adequate assessment of the coolability of the relocated corium. The internal structure of a debris bed was investigated experimentally using the DAVINCI (Debris bed research Apparatus for Validation of the bubble-Induced Natural Convection effect Issue) test facility. Particle sedimentation under the influence of a two-phase natural convection flow due to the decay heat in the debris bed was simulated by dropping various sizes of particles into a water vessel with air bubble injection from the bottom. Settled particles were collected and sieved to obtain the particle mass, size distribution in the radial and axial positions, and the bed porosity and permeability. The experimental results showed that the center part of the particle bed tended to have larger particles than the peripheral area. For the axial distribution, the lower layer had a higher fraction of larger particles. As the sedimentation progressed, the size distribution in the upper layers can shift to larger sizes because of the higher vapor generation rate and stronger flow intensity.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 1997년도 춘계학술발표회논문집(1)
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• pp.473-478
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• 1997

A severe accident management strategy, in-vessel retention corium through external reactor vessel cooling(ERVC) is being studied worldwide as a means to prevent reactor vessel failure following a core melt accident. An evaluation of feasibility of this ERVC for a large Advanced Light Water Reactor (ALWR) is presented. To account for the coolability of corium and metal in the reactor vessel, a thermal analysis is performed using an existing method. Results show that the peak heat flux along the inner surface of the reactor vessel lower head has a relatively smaller margin than a small capacity reactor such as AP600 in regards with the critical heat flux attainable at the outer surface of the reactor vessel lower head.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제29권4호
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• pp.291-298
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• 1997

In advanced nuclear reactors, the passive containment cooling has been suggested to enhance the safety. The passive cooling has two mechanisms, air natural convection and oater cooling with evaporation. To confirm the coolability of PCCS, many works have been performed experimentally and numerically. In this study, the water cooling test was performed to obtain the evaporative heat transfer coefficients in a scaled don segment type PCCS facility which have same configuration with AP600 prototype containment. Air-steam mixture temperature and velocity, relative humidity and well heat flux are measured. The local steam mass flow rates through the vertical plate part of the facility are calculated from the measured data to obtain evaporative heat transfer coefficients. The measured evaporative heat transfer coefficients are compared with an analytical model which use a mass transfer coefficients. From the comparison, the predicted coefficients show good agreement with experimental data however, some discrepancies exist when the effect of wave motion is not considered. Finally, a new correlation on evaporative heat transfer coefficients are developed using the experimental values.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 1995년도 추계학술발표회논문집(2)
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• pp.574-579
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• 1995

Saturated boiling heat transfer experiment in a hemispherical narrow space is conducted using Freon-113 to investigate an additional heat removal capability through a hypothetical gap between lower head and degraded core. The narrow space of 1mm consists of a 124mm diameter heated stainless steel hemisphere and a glass outer vessel. Within the hemispherical narrow space large coalesced bubbles are produced and these bubbles rise in random direction, causing liquid flow in from the opposite side to fill the region. Such flow in random direction makes the flow field in the narrow space very chaotic and thus enhance heat transfer. The heat transfer coefficient is higher at lower angle and at higher heat flux. The present study shows that the liquid from upper region can effectively penetrate into the gap and augment the heat removal capability through tile gap.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.331-338
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• 1996

In the thermal-hydraulic design, the effect of fuel rod bow is quantified tv the rod bow DNBR penalty which is a key design parameter to assure the coolability of fuel assembly in the pressurized water reactor. In this work, a computer program for the evaluation of the rod bow DNBR penalty based on Westinghouse methodology is developed and its application procedure is proposed. The computer simulation is based on the Monte-Carlo method. The qualification of developed computer program is performed by a comparison of calculational result with that given by Westinghouse's document. A new application procedure is built using batch mean and batch standard deviation. The normality of sample population generated by the batch calculation is confirmed by means of a chi-square test for goodness of fit. On the view point of statistics it is effected that the more reliable design value may be produced by the new application procedure.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제41권5호
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• pp.617-648
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• 2009

Under the government supported long-term nuclear R&D program, the severe accident research program at KAERI is directed to investigate unresolved severe accident issues such as core debris coolability, steam explosions, and hydrogen combustion both experimentally and numerically. Extensive studies have been performed to evaluate the in-vessel retention of core debris through external reactor vessel cooling concept for APR1400 as a severe accident management strategy. Additionally, an improvement of the insulator design outside the vessel was investigated. To address steam explosions, a series of experiments using a prototypic material was performed in the TROI facility. Major parameters such as material composition and void fraction as well as the relevant physics affecting the energetics of steam explosions were investigated. For hydrogen control in Korean nuclear power plants, evaluation of the hydrogen concentration and the possibility of deflagration-to-detonation transition occurrence in the containment using three-dimensional analysis code, GASFLOW, were performed. Finally, the integrated severe accident analysis code, MIDAS, has been developed for domestication based on MELCOR. The data transfer scheme using pointers was restructured with the modules and the derived-type direct variables using FORTRAN90. New models were implemented to extend the capability of MIDAS.