• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.941-951
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• 2016

The aim of this work is to simulate the thermohydraulic consequences of a main steam line break and to compare the obtained results with Rossendorf Coolant Mixing Model (ROCOM) 1.1 experimental results. The objective is to utilize data from steady-state mixing experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations to determine the flow distribution and the effect of thermal mixing phenomena in the primary loops for the improvement of normal operation conditions and structural integrity assessment of pressurized water reactors. The numerical model of ROCOM was developed using the FLUENT code. The positions of the inlet and outlet boundary conditions and the distribution of detailed velocity/turbulence parameters were determined by preliminary calculations. The temperature fields of transient calculation were averaged in time and compared with time-averaged experimental data. The perforated barrel under the core inlet homogenizes the flow, and therefore, a uniform temperature distribution is formed in the pressure vessel bottom. The calculated and measured values of lowest temperature were equal. The inlet temperature is an essential parameter for safety assessment. The calculation predicts precisely the experimental results at the core inlet central region. CFD results showed a good agreement (both qualitatively and quantitatively) with experimental results.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.347-360
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• 2013

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the small-break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLOCA) and the loss-of-feedwater accident (LOFW) in a scaled integral test facility of REX-10. REX-10 is a small integral-type PWR in which the coolant flow is driven by natural circulation, and the RCS is pressurized by the steam-gas pressurizer. The postulated accidents of REX-10 include the system depressurization initiated by the break of a nitrogen injection line connected to the steam-gas pressurizer and the complete loss of normal feedwater flow by the malfunction of control systems. The integral effect tests on SBLOCA and LOFW are conducted at the REX-10 Test Facility (RTF), a full-height full-pressure facility with reduced power by 1/50. The SBLOCA experiment is initiated by opening a flow passage out of the pressurizer vessel, and the LOFW experiment begins with the termination of the feedwater supply into the helical-coil steam generator. The experimental results reveal that the RTF can assure sufficient cooldown capability with the simulated PRHRS flow during these DBAs. In particular, the RTF exhibits faster pressurization during the LOFW test when employing the steam-gas pressurizer than the steam pressurizer. This experimental study can provide unique data to validate the thermal-hydraulic analysis code for REX-10.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.755-763
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• 2020

The critical flow phenomenon has been studied because of its significant effect for design basis accidents in nuclear power plants. Transition points from thermal non-equilibrium to equilibrium are different according to the geometric effect on the critical flow. This study evaluates the uncertainty parameters of the critical flow model for analysis of DBA (Design Basis Accident) with the MARS-KS (Multi-dimensional Analysis for Reactor Safety-KINS Standard) code used as an independent regulatory assessment. The uncertainty of the critical flow model is represented by three parameters including the thermal non-equilibrium factor, discharge coefficient, and length to diameter (L/D) ratio, and their ranges are determined using large-scale Marviken test data. The uncertainty range of the thermal non-equilibrium factor is updated by the MCDA (Model Calibration through Data Assimilation) method. The updated uncertainty range is confirmed using an LBLOCA (Large Break Loss of Coolant Accident) experiment in the LOFT (Loss of Fluid Test) facility. The uncertainty ranges are also used to calculate an LBLOCA of the APR (Advanced Power Reactor) 1400 NPP (Nuclear Power Plants), focusing on the effect of the PCT (Peak Cladding Temperature). The results reveal that break flow is strongly dependent on the degree of the thermal non-equilibrium state in a ruptured pipe with a small L/D ratio. Moreover, this study provides the method to handle the thermal non-equilibrium factor, discharge coefficient, and length to diameter (L/D) ratio in the system code.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.382-395
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• 2002

An experimental study on transient critical heat flux (CHF) under flow coastdown has been performed for the water flow in a non-uniformly heated vertical annulus under low flow and a wide range of pressure conditions. The objectives of this study are to systematically investigate the effect of the flow transient on the CHF and to compare the transient CHF with steady-state CHF The transient CHF experiments have been performed for three kinds of flow transient modes based on the coastdown data of a nuclear power plant reactor coolant pump. At the same inlet subcooling, system pressure and heat flux, the effect of the initial mass flux on the critical mass flux can be negligible. However, the effect of the initial mass flux on the time-to- CHF becomes large as the heat flux decreases. The critical mass flux has the largest value for slow flow reduction rate. There is a pressure effect on the ratio of the transient CHF data to steady-state CHF data. Except under low system pressure conditions, the flow transient CHF was revealed to be conservative compared with the steady-state CHF data. Bowling CHF correlation and thermal hydraulic system code MARS show promising results for the prediction of CHF occurrence .

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.73-82
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• 2001

Pressurized water reactor(PWR) fuel rods. which are continuously supported by a spring system called a spacer grid(SG), are exposed to reactor coolant at a flow velocity of up to 6-8 m/s. It is known that the vibration of 3 fuel rod is generated by the coolant flow, a so-called flow-induced-vibration(FIV), and the relative motion induced by the FIV between the fuel rod and the SG can wear away the surface of the fuel rod, which occasionally leads to its fretting failure. It is, therefore, important to understand the vibration characteristics of the fuel rod and reflect that in its design. In this paper, vibration analyses of the fuel rod with two different SGs were performed using both analytical and experimental methods. Updating of the finite element(FE) model using the measured data was performed in order to enhance confidence in the FE model of fuel rods supported by an SG. It was found that the modal parameters are very sensitive to the spring constant of the SG.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.138-145
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• 2017

The problem of non-uniform inflow exists in many practical engineering applications, such as the elbow suction pipe of waterjet pump and, the channel head of steam generator which is directly connect with reactor coolant pump. Generally, pumps are identical designs and are selected based on performance under uniform inflow with the straight pipe, but actually non-uniform suction flow is induced by upstream equipment. In this paper, CFD approach was employed to analyze unsteady hydrodynamic characteristics of reactor coolant pumps with different inflows. The Reynolds-averaged Naiver-Stokes equations with the $k-{\varepsilon}$ turbulence model were solved by the computational fluid dynamics software CFX to conduct the steady and unsteady numerical simulation. The numerical results of the straight pipe and channel head were validated with experimental data for the heads at different flow coefficients. In the nominal flow rate, the head of the pump with the channel head decreases by 1.19% when compared to the straight pipe. The complicated structure of channel head induces the inlet flow non-uniform. The non-uniformity of the inflow induces the difference of vorticity distribution at the outlet of the pump. The variation law of blade to blade velocity at different flow rate and the difference of blade to blade velocity with different inflow are researched. The effects of non-uniform inflow on radial forces are absolutely different from the uniform inflow. For the radial forces at the frequency $f_R$, the corresponding amplitude of channel head are higher than the straight pipe at $1.0{\Phi}_d$ and $1.2{\Phi}_d$ flow rates, and the corresponding amplitude of channel head are lower than the straight pipe at $0.8{\Phi}_d$ flow rates.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.112-119
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• 1988

The purpose of this work is to obtain the experimental data for the forced How dryout heat flux in a heat generating stratified debris bed which simulates the degraded nuclear reactor core after severe accident. The present observations were mainly focused on the effect of coolant mass flux on the dryout heat flux in the stratified debris bed which consists of several layers with selected particle sizes under constant bed depth and temperature of inlet coolant flow conditions. The following results were obtained from this experimental work: (1) The dryout heat flux in the stratified debris bed increases with increase of upward forcing mass flux of coolant. The similar trend of increase rate of dryout heat flux in the stratified bed was observed in the uniform particle size bed. (2) For the comparison of theoretical values and experimental data, the use of surface area mean diameter as a particle diameter was suitable for the calculation of dryout heat flux.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.654-662
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• 2017

When emergency core cooling system (ECCS) is operated during loss of coolant accident (LOCA) in a pressurized water reactor (PWR), pressurized thermal shock (PTS) phenomenon can occur as cooling water is injected into a cold leg, mixed with hot primary coolant, and then entrained into a reactor vessel. Insufficient flow mixing may cause temperature stratification and steam condensation. In addition, flow vibration may cause thermal stresses in surrounding structures. This will reduce the life of the reactor vessel. Due to the importance of PTS phenomenon, in this study, calculation was performed for Test 1 among six types of OECD/NEA ROSA tests with ANSYS CFX R.17. Predicted results were then compared to measured data. Additionally, because temperature difference between the hot coolant at the inlet of the cold leg and the cold cooling water at the inlet of the ECCS injection line is 200 K or more, buoyancy force due to density difference might have significant effect on thermal-hydraulic characteristics of flow. Therefore, in this study, the necessity to include buoyancy force term in governing equations for accurate prediction of single phase thermal stratification in both cold legs and downcomer by ECCS injection was numerically studied.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1997.05a
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• pp.356-361
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• 1997

To investigate parametric effect on CHF and to get CHF data, experimental study has been performed with vertical round tubes under the condition of low pressure and low flow (LPLF). Test sections are made of Inconel-625 tube and have the geometry of 8 and 10 mm in diameter, and 0.5 and 1.0 m in heated length. All experiments have been conducted at the pressure of under 9 bar, the mass flux of under 250 kg/$m^2$ and the inlet subcooling of 350 and 450 kJ/kg, for stable upward flow with water as a coolant. Flow regime analysis has been performed for obtained CHF data with Mishima's flow regime map, which reveals that most of the CHF occur in the annular-mist flow regime. General parametric trends of the collected CHF data are consistent with those of previous studies. However, for the pressure effect on CHF, two different are observed; For relatively high mass flux, CHF increases with pressure and far lower mass flux, CHF decrease with pressure. Using modern data regression tool, ACE algorithm, two new CHF correlations for LPLF condition are developed based on local condition and inlet condition, respectively. The developed CHF correlations show better prediction accuracy compared with existing CHF prediction methods.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.486-497
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• 1999

The local heat transfer coefficient is experimentally investigated for the reflux condensation in a countercurrent flow between the steam-air mixture and the condensate, A single vertical tube has a geometry which is a length of 2.4m, inner diameter of 16.56mm and outer diameter of 19.05mm and is made of stainless steel. Air is used as a noncondensible gas. The secondary side has a shape of annulus around vertical tube and the lost heat by primary condensation is transferred to the coolant water. The local temperatures are measured at 11 locations in the vertical direction and each location has 3 measurement points in the radial direction, which are installed at the tube center, at the outer wall and at the coolant side. In three different pressures, the 27 sets of data are obtained in the range of inlet steam flow rate 1.348∼3.282kg/hr, of inlet air mass fraction 11.8∼55.0%. The investigation of the flooding is preceded to find the upper limit of the reflux condensation. Onset of flooding is lower than that of Wallis' correlation. The local heat transfer coefficient increases as the increase of inlet steam flow rate and decreases as the increase of inlet air mass fraction. As an increase of the system pressure, the active condensing region is contracted and the heat transfer capability in this region is magnified. The empirical correlation is developed by 165 data of the local heat transfer. As a result, the Jacob number and film Reynolds number are dominant parameters to govern the local heat transfer coefficient. The rms error is 17.7% between the results by the experiment and by the correlation.