• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2728-2735
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• 2022

The research on the flow and heat transfer characteristics of lead bismuth(LBE) is significant for the thermal-hydraulic calculation, safety analysis and practical application of lead-based fast reactors(LFR). In this paper, a new CFD model is proposed to solve the thermal-hydraulic analysis of LBE. The model includes two parts: turbulent model and turbulent Prandtl, which are the important factors for LBE. In order to find the best model, the experiment data and design of 19-pin hexagonal rod bundle with spacer grid, undertaken at the Karlsruhe Liquid Metal Laboratory (KALLA) are used for CFD calculation. Furthermore, the turbulent model includes SST k - 𝜔 and k - 𝜀; the turbulent Prandtl includes Cheng-Tak and constant (Pr_t =1.5,2.0,2.5,3.0). Among them, the combination between SST k - 𝜔 and Cheng-Tak is more suitable for the experiment. But in the low Pe region, the deviation between the experiment data and CFD result is too much. The reason may be the inlet-effect and when Pe is in a low level, the number of molecular thermal diffusion occupies an absolute advantage, and the buoyancy will enhance. In order to test and verify versatility of the model, the NCCL performed by the Nuclear Thermal-hydraulic Laboratory (Nuthel) of Xi'an Jiao tong University is used for CFD to calculate. This paper provides two verification examples for the new universal model.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.59-68
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• 2020

ECCMIX component was introduced in RELAP5/MOD3 for calculating the interfacial condensation. Compared to other existing components in RELAP5, user experience of ECCMIX component is restricted to developmental assessment applications. To evaluate the capability of the ECCMIX component, ECCS experiment was conducted which included single-phase and two-phase thermal mixing. The experiment was carried out with test sections containing a main pipe (70 mm inner diameter) and a branch pipe (21 mm inner diameter) under the atmospheric pressure. The steam mass flow in the main pipe ranged from 0 to 0.0347 kg/s, and the subcooled water mass flow in the branch pipe ranged from 0.0278 to 0.1389 kg/s. The comparison of the experimental data with the calculation results illuminated that although the ECCMIX component was more difficult to converge than Branch component, it was a more appropriate manner to simulate interfacial condensation under two-phase thermal mixing circumstance, while the two components had no differences under single-phase circumstance.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.842-848
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• 2018

Motivated by reducing the uncertainties in quantification of debris bed coolability, this paper reports an experimental study on two-phase flow resistances and interfacial drag in packed porous beds. The experiments are performed on the DEBECO-LT (DEbris BEd COolability-Low Temperature) test facility which is constructed to investigate the adiabatic single and two phase flow in porous beds. The pressure drops are measured when air-water two phase flow passes through the porous beds packed with different size particles, and the effects of interfacial drag are studied especially. The results show that, for two phase flow through the beds packed with small size particles such as 1.5 mm and 2 mm spheres, the contribution of interfacial drag to the pressure drops is weak and ignorable, while the significant effects are conducted on the pressure drops of the beds with bigger size particles like 3 mm and 6 mm spheres, where the interfacial drag in beds with larger particles will result in a descent-ascent tendency in the pressure drop curves along with the fluid velocity, and the effect of interfacial drag should be considered in the debris coolability analysis models for beds with bigger size particles.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.763-775
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• 2021

The thermal hydraulic performances of Steam Generator (SG) under both steady and transient operation conditions are of great importance for the safety and economy in nuclear power plants. In this paper, based on our self-developed SG thermal hydraulic analysis code STAF (Steam-generator Thermalhydraulic Analysis code based on Fluent), an improved new version STAF-CT (fully Coupling and Transient) is developed and introduced. Compared with original STAF, the new version code STAF-CT has two main functional improvements including "Transient" and "Fully Three Dimensional Coupling" features. In STAF-CT, a three dimensional energy transferring module is established which can achieve energy exchange computing function at the corresponding position between two sides of SG. The STAF-CT is validated against the international benchmark experiment data and the results show great agreement. Then the U-shaped SG in AP1000 nuclear power plant is modeled and simulated using STAF-CT. The results show that three dimensional flow fields in the primary side make significant effect on the energy source distribution between two sides. The development of code STAF-CT in this paper can provide an effective method for further SG high fidelity research in the nuclear reactor system.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.4329-4337
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• 2022

Jet impinging device is designed for decay heat removal on horizontal fuel rods in a low temperature heating reactor. An experimental system with a fuel rod simulator is established and experiments are performed to evaluate water film covering capacity, within 0.0287-0.0444 kg/ms mass flow rate, 0-164.1 kW/m² heating flux and 13.8-91.4℃ feeding water temperature. An effective method to obtain the film coverage rate by infrared equipment is proposed. Water film flowing patterns are recoded and the film coverage rates at different circumference angles are measured. It is found the film coverage rate decreases with heating flux during single-phase convection, while increases after onset of nucleate boiling. Besides, film coverage rate is found affected by Marangoni effect and film accelerating effect, and surface wetting is significantly facilitated by bubble behavior. Based on the observed phenomenon and physical mechanism, dry-out depth and initial dry-out rate are proposed to evaluate film covering potential on a heating surface. A model to predict film coverage rate is proposed based on the data. The findings would have reliable guide and important implications for further evaluation and design of decay heat removal system of new reactors, and could be helpful for passive containment cooling research.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.11
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• pp.2491-2498
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• 2020

The paper concentrates on an experimental study of the pressure drop in double-layered packed beds formed by glass spheres, having the configuration of horizontal and vertical stratification. Both single-phase and two-phase flow tests are performed. The pressure drop during the test is recorded and the measured data are compared with those of homogeneous beds consisting of mono-size particles. The results show that for the horizontally stratified bed with fine particles atop coarse particles, the pressure drop in top layer is found higher than those of homogenous bed consisting of the same smaller size particles, while the measured pressure drop of bottom part is similar with those of similar homogenous bed. But for the homologous bed with upside-down structure, the stratification has little or no effect on the pressure drop of the horizontally stratified bed, and the pressure drop of each layer is almost same as that of homogeneous bed packed with corresponding spheres. Additionally, in vertically stratified bed, the pressure drops on the left and right side is almost equal and between those in homogeneous beds. It is speculated that vertically stratified structure may lead to lateral flow which redistributes the flow rate in different parts of packed bed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.162-176
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• 2022

In Lead-based reactor (LBR) severe accident, the meltdown and migration inside the reactor core will lead to fuel fragment concentration, which may further cause re-criticality and even core disintegration. Accurately predicting the migration and solidification behavior of melt in LBR severe accidents is of prime importance for safety analysis of LBR. In this study, the Moving Particle Semi-implicit (MPS) method is validated and used to simulate the migration and solidification behavior. Two main surface tension models are validated and compared. Meanwhile, the MPS method is validated by the L-plate solidification test. Based on the improved MPS method, the migration and solidification behavior of melt in LBR severe accident was studied furthermore. In the Pb-Bi coolant, the melt flows upward due to density difference. The migration and solidification behavior are greatly affected by the surface tension and viscous resistance varying with enthalpy. The whole movement process can be divided into three stages depending on the change in velocity. The heat transfer of core melt is determined jointly by two heat transfer modes: flow heat transfer and solid conductivity. Generally, the research results indicate that the MPS method has unique advantage in studying the migration and solidification behavior in LBR severe accident.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.10
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• pp.3217-3228
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• 2021

Flow blockage of the fuel assembly in the lead-based fast reactor (LFR) may produce critical local spots, which will result in cladding failure and threaten reactor safety. In this study, the flow blockage characteristics were analyzed with the sub-channel analysis method, and the circumferentially-varied method was employed for considering the non-uniform distribution of circumferential temperature. The developed sub-channel analysis code SACOS-PB was validated by a heat transfer experiment in a blocked 19-rod bundle cooled by lead-bismuth eutectic. The deviations between the predicted coolant temperature and experimental values are within ±5%, including small and large flow blockage scenarios. And the temperature distributions of the fuel rod could be better simulated by the circumferentially-varied method for the small blockage scenario. Based on the validated code, the analysis of blockage characteristics was conducted. It could be seen from the temperature and flow distributions that a large blockage accident is more destructive compared with a small one. The sensitivity analysis shows that the closer the blockage location is to the exit, the more dangerous the accident is. Similarly, a larger blockage length will lead to a more serious case. And a higher exit temperature will be generated resulting from a higher peak coolant temperature of the blocked region. This work could provide a reference for the future design and development of the LFR.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.446-454
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• 2021

Critical heat flux (CHF) has traditionally been evaluated using look-up tables or empirical correlations for nuclear power plants. However, under complex moving condition, it is necessary to reconsider the CHF characteristics since the conventional CHF prediction methods would no longer be applicable. In this paper, the additional forces caused by motions have been added to the annular film dryout (AFD) mechanistic model to investigate the effect of moving condition on CHF. Moreover, a theoretical model of the natural circulation loop with additional forces is established to reflect the natural circulation characteristics of the loop system. By coupling the system loop with the AFD mechanistic model, a CHF prediction program called NACOM for natural circulation loop under moving condition is developed. The effects of three operating conditions, namely stationary, inclination and rolling, on the CHF of the loop are then analyzed. It can be clearly seen that the moving condition has an adverse effect on the CHF in the natural circulation system. For the calculation parameters in this paper, the CHF can be reduced by 25% compared with the static value, which indicates that it is important to consider the effects of moving condition to retain adequate safety margin in subsequent thermal-hydraulic designs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.637-646
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• 2021

The free-piston Stirling engine (FPSE) has been widely used in aerospace owing to its advantages of high efficiency, high reliability, and self-starting ability. In this paper, a 20-kW FPSE is proposed by analyzing the requirements of space nuclear power reactor. A code was developed based on an improved simple analysis method to evaluate the performance of the proposed FPSE. The code is benchmarked with experimental data, and the maximum relative error of the output power is 17.1%. Numerical results show that the output power is 21 kW, which satisfies the design requirements. The results show that: a) reducing the pressure shell's thickness can improve the output power significantly; b) the system efficiency increases with the wire porosity, while the growth of system efficiency decreases when the porosity is higher than 80%, and system efficiency exhibits a linear relationship with the temperatures of the cold and hot sides; c) the system efficiency increases with the compression ratio; the compression ratio increases by 16.7% while the system efficiency increases by 42%. This study can provide valuable theoretical support for the design and analysis of FPSEs for space nuclear power reactors.