• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 1997년도 추계학술발표회논문집(1)
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• pp.534-539
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• 1997

A CHF table method has been assessed in this study for rod bundle CHF predictions. At the conceptual design stage for a new reactor, a general critical heat flux (CHF) prediction method with a wide applicable range and reasonable accuracy is essential to the thermal-hydraulic design and safety analysis. In many aspects, a CHF table method (i.e., the use of a round tube CHF table with appropriate bundle correction factors) can be a promising way to fulfill this need. So the assessment of the CHF table method has been performed with the bundle CHF data relevant to pressurized water reactors (PWRs). For comparison purposes, W-3R and EPRI-1 were also applied to the same data base. Data analysis has been conducted with the subchannel code COBRA-IV-I. The CHF table method shows the best predictions based on the direct substitution method. Improvements of the bundle correction factors, especially for the spacer grid and cold wall effects, are desirable for better predictions. Though the present assessment is somewhat limited in both fuel geometries and operating conditions, the CHF table method clearly shows potential to be a general CHF predictor.

• 한국소음진동공학회논문집
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• 제22권7호
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• pp.619-625
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• 2012

Since the fuel is always exposed to turbulent flow, the grid strap shows flow induced vibration characteristics that impact on the nuclear fuel soundness. The dynamic behavior of grids in nuclear fuels is quite complex, since two pairs of spring and dimple support are contacted with rods by friction in the limited space. This paper focuses on investigation of the grid strap(test fuel strap, TFS) vibration in one cell. TFS consists of a single spring and double dimples. To identify the grid strap vibration, modal analysis of the strap is performed using finite element method(FEM). Modal testing on a $5{\times}5$ grid structure without rods is performed. The modal testing results are compared to analytic results. In addition, random test considering rod effect is performed about a $5{\times}5$ grid with rods under real contact condition in the air. Finally, the strap vibration of a $5{\times}5$ fuel bundle in investigation of flow induced vibration(INFINIT) facility is measured in real fluid velocity condition without heating. It is shown that modal frequencies from the test are almost equal to those peak frequencies in the INFINIT test.

• 설비공학논문집
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• 제12권11호
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• pp.1004-1011
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• 2000

Experimental and computational studies were carried out to confirm the turbulent enhancement of the cooling system of nuclear reactor by large scale vortex generation in nuclear fuel bundle. The large scale vortex motions were generated by rearranging the inclination angles of mixing vanes to the coordinate directions. Axial development of mean and turbulent velocities in the subchannels were measured by the 2-color LDV system. Eddy diffusivity heat flux model and $k-varepsilon$ model were employed to analyze the turbulent heat and fluid flows in the subchannel. The turbulence generated by split mixing vanes has small length scales so that they maintain only about $10 D_H$ after the spacer grid. On the other hand, the turbulences generated by the large scale vortex continue more and remain up to $25 D_H$after the spacer gird.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권7호
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• pp.2714-2719
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• 2022

The present paper proposes some new computational methods and results in the framework of flow computation through congested domains seen as porous media, as it can be found in the core of a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). The flow is thus mostly governed by the distribution of pressure losses, both through the porous structures, such as fuel assemblies, and in the thin fluid layers between them. The purpose of the present paper is to consider the question of the interaction of a flow and a rod bundle from an analytical point of view gathering all the contributions through a set of equations as simple and representative as possible. It aims at demonstrating a sound understanding of the relevant phenomena governing the flow establishment in the geometry of interest instead of relying mainly on a posteriori observations obtained both experimentally and numerically. Comparison with two set of experimental results showed good agreement. The model proposed being analytical it appears easily implementable for studies needing an expression of fluid forces in a rod array as for fuel assembly bowing issue. It would be interesting to test the reliability of the model on other geometry with different P/R ratios.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권9호
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• pp.1945-1954
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• 2020

Subchannel code is one of the effective simulation tools for thermal-hydraulic analysis in nuclear reactor core. In order to reduce the computational cost and improve the calculation efficiency, empirical correlation of turbulent mixing coefficient is employed to calculate the lateral mixing velocity between adjacent subchannels. However, correlations utilized currently are often fitted from data achieved in central channel of fuel assembly, which would simply neglect the wall effects. In this paper, the CFD approach based on spectral element method is employed to predict turbulent mixing phenomena through gaps in 3 × 3 bare tight lattice rod bundle and investigate the flow pulsation through gaps in different positions. Re = 5000,10000,20500 and P/D = 1.03 and 1.06 have been covered in the simulation cases. With a well verified mesh, lateral velocities at gap center between corner channel and wall channel (W-Co), wall channel and wall channel (W-W), wall channel and center channel (W-C) as well as center channel and center channel (C-C) are collected and compared with each other. The obvious turbulent mixing distributions are presented in the different channels of rod bundle. The peak frequency values at W-Co channel could have about 40%-50% reduction comparing with the C-C channel value and the turbulent mixing coefficient β could decrease around 25%. corrections for β should be performed in subchannel code at wall channel and corner channel for a reasonable prediction result. A preliminary analysis on fluctuation at channel gap has also performed. Eddy cascade should be considered carefully in detailed analysis for fluctuating in rod bundle.

• 한국소음진동공학회논문집
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.163-168
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• 2006

The PWR Nuclear Fuel assembly consists of more than 250 fuel rods that are supported by leaf springs in the cells of more than 10 Spacer Grids (SG) along the rod length. Since it is not easy to conduct mechanical tests on a full-scale model basis, the small-scaled rod bundle $(5\times5)$ which is called partial fuel assembly is generally used for various performance tests during the development stage. As one of the small-scaled tests, a flow test should be carried out in order to verify the performance of the spacer grid to obtain the Flow-Induced Vibration (FIV) characteristics of the scaled fuel assembly over the specified flow range. A vibration test should be also performed to obtain the modal parameters of the assembly prior to the flow test. In this study, we want to develop the estimation procedure of the damping ratio for the scaled test assembly. For the damping factor of the partial fuel assembly and the grid cage at the first vibration mode, as one of the vibration tests, a so-called pluck testing has been performed in air as a preliminary test prior to in-flow damping measurement test. Logarithmic decrement method is used for calculation of the damping ratio. Estimated damping ratio of the partial fuel assembly is about $0.7\%$ with reasonable error of $2\%$ for the previous results. Nonlinear behavior of the partial fuel assembly might be stem mainly from the rod-grid support configuration.

• 설비공학논문집
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• 제28권5호
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• pp.186-194
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• 2016

As a turbulence-enhancing device, a mixing vane installed at a spacer grid of the fuel assembly plays a role in improving the convective heat transfer by generating either swirl flow in the subchannels or cross flow between fuel rod gaps. Therefore, both configuration and arrangement pattern of a mixing vane are important factors that determine the performance of a mixing vane. In this study, in order to examine the flow distribution features inside $5{\times}5$ fuel assembly with swirl-type mixing vanes used in benchmark calculation of OECD/NEA, simulations were conducted with commercial CFD software ANSYS CFX R.14. Predicted results were compared to data measured from MATiS-H (Measurement and Analysis of Turbulent Mixing in Subchannels-Horizontal) test facility. In addition, the effect of swirl-type mixing vanes on flow pattern inside the fuel assembly was described.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한기계학회 2008년도 추계학술대회A
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• pp.1373-1376
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• 2008

A supporting structure for a long tube bundle of a large diameter is considered in this paper. The primary purpose of the present study is to develop a spacer grid structure for a so-called "dual cooled nuclear fuel", which has been being studied for a nuclear power uprate. The outer diameter of the fuel rod increases considerably from the conventional one. So a completely new shape of the supporting structure (spacer grid) needs to be developed. One of the challenges is to insert a supporting tube into the cross points of the grid straps. To meet a supporting performance, the load vs. displacement characteristics should be obtained. So the present study focuses on the finite element analysis technology to evaluate the characteristics through a parametric study. As a result, major influencing parameters are investigated for an optimized spacer grid design.

• 대한기계학회논문집B
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• 제40권12호
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• pp.815-824
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• 2016

가압경수로에 장전되는 핵연료집합체는 연료 봉 다발과 지지격자 및 상하단 고정체로 구성되어 있다. 고온 고압의 냉각수는 원자로 하부로 유입되어 연료 봉 사이로 형성된 부수로를 따라 노심 상부로 흐른다. 경수로핵연료의 주요 열수력 성능인자는 정상운전시 압력강하 및 임계열속이며 사고시에는 급랭 시간이다. 한국원자력연구원에서는 경수로핵연료의 성능을 향상시키고 국산화를 위해 고성능 경수로핵연료, 이중냉각 핵연료 및 사고저항성 핵연료를 개발하였다. 경수로핵연료의 열수력 핵심기술을 개발하기 위해 압력강하 실험, 난류 유동혼합/열전달 실험, 임계열속 및 급랭 시험을 수행하였으며 전산유체역학 방법도 활용하였다. 더불어 사용후핵연료의 임시저장을 위한 건식저장 용기의 열유동에 대한 전산유체해석을 수행하였다. 한편, 경수로핵연료의 열수력 기반기술을 개발하고 실용화를 위해 대학 및 산업체와 협력연구도 진행하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권10호
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• pp.3775-3786
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• 2023

Mixing Vane Grid (MVG) is one of the most important structures in fuel assembly due to its high performance in mixing the coolant and ultimately increasing Critical Heat Flux (CHF), which avoids the temperature rising suddenly of fuel rods. To evaluate the mixing performance of the MVG, a Total Diffusion Coefficient (TDC) mixing coefficient is defined in the subchannel analysis code. Conventionally, the TDC of the spacer grid is obtained from the combination of experiments and subchannel analysis. However, the processing of obtaining and determine a reasonable TDC is much challenging, it is affected by boundary conditions and MVG geometries. In is difficult to perform all the large and costing rod bundle tests. In this paper, the CFD method was applied in TDC analysis. A typical 5 × 5 MVG was simulated and validated to estimate the mixing performance of the MVG. The subchannel code was used to calculate the TDC. Firstly, the CFD method was validated from the aspect of pressure drop and lateral temperature distribution in the subchannels. Then the effect of boundary conditions including the inlet temperature, inlet velocities, heat flux ratio between hot and cold rods and the arrangement of hot and cold rods on MVG mixing and TDC were studied. The geometric effects on mixing are also carried out in this paper. The effect of vane pattern on mixing was investigated to determine which one is the best to represent the grid's mixing performance.