• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권3호
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• pp.466-475
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• 2017

Coolant mixing under natural circulation flow regime constitutes a key parameter that may play a role in the course of an accidental transient in a nuclear pressurized water reactor. This issue has motivated some experimental investigations carried out within the OECD/NEA PKL projects. The aim was to assess the coolant mixing phenomenon in the reactor pressure vessel downcomer and the core lower plenum under several asymmetric steady and unsteady flow conditions, and to provide experimental data for code validations. Former studies addressed the mixing phenomenon using, on the one hand, one-dimensional computational approaches with cross flows that are not fully validated under transient conditions and, on the other hand, expensive computational fluid dynamic tools that are not always justified for large-scale macroscopic phenomena. In the current framework, an unsteady coolant mixing experiment carried out in the Rossendorf coolant mixing test facility is simulated using the three-dimensional porous media capabilities of the thermal-hydraulic system CATHARE code. The current study allows highlighting the current capabilities of these codes and their suitability for reproducing the main phenomena occurring during asymmetric transient natural circulation mixing conditions.

• 한국수자원학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국수자원학회 2018년도 학술발표회
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• pp.355-355
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• 2018

Natural hydrology systems, including high flow and low flow events, are important for aquatic ecosystem health and are essential for controlling the structure and function of ecological processes in river ecosystems. Ecosystem responses to flow changes have been studied in a variety of ways, but little attention has been given to how episodic typhoons and atmospheric circulation patterns can change these hydrologic regime-ecological response relationships. In this diagnostic study, we use an empirical approach to investigate the salient features of interactions between atmospheric circulation, climate, and runoff in the five major Korean river basins.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권5호
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• pp.1429-1435
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• 2021

The temperature distribution of an electromagnetic pump was analyzed with a flow rate of 1380 L/min and a pressure of 4 bar designed for the sodium thermo-hydraulic test in the Sodium Test Loop for Safety Simulation and Assessment-Phase 1 (STELLA-1). The electromagnetic pump was used for the circulation of the liquid sodium coolant in the Intermediate Heat Transport System (IHTS) of the Prototype Gen-IV Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (PGSFR) with an electric power of 150 MWe. The temperature distribution of the components of the electromagnetic pump was numerically analyzed to prevent functional degradation in the high temperature environment during pump operation. The heat transfer was numerically calculated using ANSYS Fluent for prediction of the temperature distribution in the excited coils, the electromagnet core, and the liquid sodium flow channel of the electromagnetic pump. The temperature distribution of operating electromagnetic pump was compared with cooling of natural and forced air circulation. The temperature in the coil, the core and the flow gap in the two conditions, natural circulation and forced circulation, were compared. The electromagnetic pump with cooling of forced circulation had better efficiency than natural circulation even considering consumption of the input power for the air blower. Accordingly, this study judged that forced cooling is good for both maintenance and efficiency of the electromagnetic pump.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제30권5호
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• pp.424-434
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• 1998

RELAP5/Mod3.1 code was assessed with the semiscale experiment S-NC-3, and S-NC-4, which simulated the two-phase natural circulation and reflux condensation for the SBLOCA of PWR, respectively . Test S-NC-3 and S-NC-4 calculation results showed that RELAP5/Mod3.1 quite well describes the influence of steam generator secondary side heat transfer degradation on both two-phase natural circulation and reflux condensation. A comparison between the calculated and measured two-phase mass flow rate in test S-NC-3 shows good agreement for primary mass inventory more than 92%. And RELAP5/Mod3.1 have a good mass flow rate prediction capability for the transient such as S-NC-4 except some flow oscillations. The reflux flow rate for S-NC-4 test is under predicted, and the overall results verify that the correct prediction of the reduced liquid level appears to be required for the correct calculation of the overall phenomena.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 1997년도 춘계학술발표회논문집(1)
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• pp.458-463
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• 1997

A transient natural circulation behavior during a LOCA at hot-standby operation is evaluated for YGN Units 3/4. The plant initial condition is determined within the EOP limitation as suitable to hot-standby mode and the transient scenario is prepared as relevant to evaluation of transient natural circulation. A 0.4% cold leg break with loss of off-site power is calculated with RELAP5/MOD3.2, whose predictability has been verified for SBLOCA natural circulation test, S-NC-8B. Through one hour transient analysis, it is found that the plant has its own decay heat removal capability by natural circulation following a LOCA, at hot-standby mode. Additional calculation is performed to investigate an effect of HPSI flow on natural circulation.

• KIEAE Journal
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• 제16권6호
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• pp.167-172
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• 2016

Purpose: The solar water heater with natural circulation has been used for several decades in the world as it is automatically operated without a pump and controller and is easy to maintain and repair. After the subsidy was offered from 2012, the solar water heater with natural circulation is becoming increasingly popular in Korea. Recently, the development of a wall-integrated solar water heater, which improves the applicability of buildings and prevents the overheating in the summer, is being developed. On the other hand, the design and performance evaluation data of solar water heaters are very inadequate, and analysis of heat and flow is required to develop a new type of solar water heater. Method: Therefore, in this study, we proposed a new simplified system analysis model that reflects heat and pressure loss from the test results of KS B ISO 9806-1 (Solar collector test method), assuming that the collector is a simple pipe system, the validity of which was verified through experiments. Result: As a result, first, the RMSE of the system circulation flow rate and the average temperature of the inlet and outlet of the collector according to the experimental results and the simulation are 0.05563 and 0.88530, respectively, which are very consistent. Secondly, the mass flow rate is increased linearly with the increase of the solar radiation, and the mass flow rate is 0.0104 ~ 0.0180kg/s in the range of $200{\sim}380W/m^2$ of solar irradiance. Compared with the test flow rate 0.0764kg / s of the test collector, it showed a level of less than 20%.

• 한국전산유체공학회지
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.14-20
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• 2015

Without electirc power to cool down the hot reactor core, passive systems utilizing natural circulation are becoming a big specialty of recent neculear systems after the severe accident in Fukusima. When we consider the natural circulation in a pool, thermal mixing phenomena may start from single phase circulation and can continue to two phase condition. Since the CUPID code, which has been developed for two-phase flow analysis, can deal with the phase transition phenomena, the CUPID would be pertinent to natural convection problems in single- and two-phase conditions. Thus, the CUPID should be validated against single- and two-phase natural circulation phenomena. For the first step of the validation process, this study is focused on the validation of single-phase natural circulation. Moreover, the CUPID code solves the fluid properties by the relationship to pressure and temperature from the steam table considering non-condensable gas effects, so that the effects from variable properties are included. Simple square thermal cavity problems are tested for laminar and turbulent conditions against numerical and experimental data. Throughout the investigation, it is found that the variable properties can affect the flow field in laminar condition, but the effect becomes weak in turbulence condition, and the CUPID code implementing steam table is capable of analyzing single phase natural circualtion phenomena.

• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.36-43
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• 2023

Lots of researches have been conducted on in-vessel retention (IVR) to prevent or mitigate severe accident in nuclear power plants. Various methodologies were proposed and the external reactor vessel cooling was selected as a part of promising IVR strategy. In this study, the strategy is strengthened by enhancing the natural circulation performance through the adoption of insulation in the reactor cavity. A thermal analysis was carried out based on an assumed accident scenario and its results were used as boundary conditions for subsequent seven flow analysis cases. By comparing the natural circulation performance, effects of annular gaps and insulation shapes on the mass flow rate and flow velocity were quantified. The improvement in cooling performance can be reflected in actual design via detailed assessment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권11호
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• pp.3635-3642
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• 2021

Natural circulation systems (NCSs) are extensively applied in nuclear power plants because of their simplicity and inherent safety features. For some passive natural circulation systems in floating nuclear power plants (FNPPs), the ocean is commonly used as the heat sink. Condensation induced water hammer (CIWH) events may appear as the steam directly contacts the subcooled seawater, which seriously threatens the safe operation and integrity of the NCSs. Nevertheless, the research on the formation mechanisms of CIWH is insufficient, especially in NCSs. In this paper, the characteristics of flow rate and fluid temperature are emphatically analyzed. Then the formation types of CIWH are identified by visualization method. The experimental results reveal that due to the different size and formation periods of steam slugs, the flow rate presents continuous and irregular oscillation. The fluid in the horizontal hot pipe section near the water tank is always subcooled due to the reverse flow phenomenon. Moreover, the transition from stratified flow to slug flow can cause CIWH and enhance flow instability. Three types of formation mechanisms of CIWH, including the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, the interaction of solitary wave and interface wave, and the pressure wave induced by CIWH, are obtained by identifying 67 CIWH events.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권10호
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• pp.3919-3927
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• 2022

This study presents an optimal design of the coolant system of a non-refueling full-life small reactor by analyzing the space-integrated geometrical and electromagnetic variables of an extra vessel electromagnetic pump (EVEMP) for the circulation of a lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) coolant. The EVEMP is an ideal alternative to the thermal-hydraulic system of non-refueling full-life micro reactors as it possesses no internal structures, such as impellors or sealing structures, for the transportation of LBE. Typically, the LBE passes through the annular flow channel of a reactor, is cooled by the heat exchanger, and then circulates back to the EVEMP flow channel. This thermal-hydraulic flow method is similar to natural circulation, which enhances thermal efficiency, while providing a golden time for cooling cores in the event of an emergency. When the forced circulation technology of the EVEMP was applied, the non-refueling full-life micro reactor achieve an output power of 60 MWt, which is higher than that achievable via the natural circulation method (30 MWt). Accordingly, an optimized EVEMP for Micro URANUS with a flow rate of 4196 kg/s and developed pressure of 73 kPa under a working temperature of 250 ℃ was designed.