• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
• /
• v.17 no.9
• /
• pp.1380-1387
• /
• 2003

When a cold HPSI (High pressure Safety Injection) fluid associated with an overcooling transient, such as SGTR (Steam Generator Tube Rupture), MSLB (Main Steam Line Break) etc., enters the cold legs of a stagnated primary coolant loop, thermal stratification phenomena will arise due to incomplete mixing. If the stratified flow enters the downcomer of the reactor pressure vessel, severe thermal stresses are created in a radiation embrittled vessel wall by local overcooling. As general thermal-hydraulic system analysis codes cannot properly predict the thermal stratification phenomena, RG 1.154 requires that a detailed thermal-mixing analysis of PTS (pressurized Thermal Shock) evaluation be performed. Also. previous PTS studies have assumed that the thermal stratification phenomena generated in the stagnated loop side of a partially stagnated primary coolant loop are neutralized in the vessel downcomer by the strong flow from the unstagnated loop. On the basis of these reasons, this paper focuses on the development of a 3-dimensional thermal-mixing analysis model using PHOENICS code which can be applied to both partial and total loop stagnated cases. In addition, this paper verifies the fact that, for partial loop stagnated cases, the cold plume generated in the vessel downcomer due to the thermal stratification phenomena of the stagnated loop is almost neutralized by the strong flow of the unstagnated loop but is not fully eliminated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.191-202
• /
• 2013

A numerical analysis of thermal stratification in the upper plenum of the MONJU fast breeder reactor was performed. Calculations were performed for a 1/6 simplified model of the MONJU reactor using the commercial code, CFX-13. To better resolve the geometrically complex upper core structure of the MONJU reactor, the porous media approach was adopted for the simulation. First, a steady state solution was obtained and the transient solutions were then obtained for the turbine trip test conducted in December 1995. The time dependent inlet conditions for the mass flow rate and temperature were provided by JAEA. Good agreement with the experimental data was observed for steady state solution. The numerical solution of the transient analysis shows the formation of thermal stratification within the upper plenum of the reactor vessel during the turbine trip test. The temporal variations of temperature were predicted accurately by the present method in the initial rapid coastdown period (~300 seconds). However, transient numerical solutions show a faster thermal mixing than that observed in the experiment after the initial coastdown period. A nearly homogenization of the temperature field in the upper plenum is predicted after about 900 seconds, which is a much shorter-term thermal stratification than the experimental data indicates. This discrepancy may be due to the shortcoming of the turbulence models available in the CFX-13 code for a natural convection flow with thermal stratification.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.37-42
• /
• 2014

In Korea while the dam or reservoir is an important water resource, the value of this water resource is deteriorating by thermal-induced stratification. To ameliorate the water quality of reservoir by breaking stratification the use of air diffuser system is now widespread in Korea. According to the previous research, dynamics of bubble plume and destratification efficiency depended upon two dimensionless groupings; Mh and Pn suggested by Asaeda et al (1993). However, these two variables only include Q, N, H, g, u. and installed Boryeong reservior in appropriate width of water aeration, air dose and number of installations after calculating by applying these figures. This paper is performed to find out effect analysis about water aeration improvement to break thermal stratification.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2002.08a
• /
• pp.51-54
• /
• 2002

When a cold HPSI (High Pressure Safety Injection) fluid associated with an design basis accident, such as LOCA (Loss of Coolant Accident), enters the cold legs of a stagnated primary coolant loop, thermal stratification phenomena will arise due to incomplete mixing. If the stratified flow enters a reactor pressure vessel downcomer, severe thermal stresses are created in a radiation embrittled vessel wall by local overcooling. Previous thermal-mixing analyses have assumed that the thermal stratification phenomena generated in stagnated loop of a partially stagnated coolant loop are neutralized in the vessel downcomer by strong flow from unstagnated loop. On the basis of these reasons, this paper presents the thermal-mixing analysis results in order to identify the fact that the cold plume generated in the vessel downcomer due to the thermal stratification phenomena of the stagnated loop is affected by the strong flow of the unstagnated loop.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2008.11a
• /
• pp.178-183
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study is to compare the effect on the thermal stratification under various aspect ratios in the solar storage tank using FLUENT. Numerical calculations of three designs with different aspect ratio were carried out to show the behaviour of stratification in a solar storage tank. The calculation results show that the thermal stratification of the 2.5:1 aspect ratio solar storage tank can be 6.22% higher then that of the 1.5:1 aspect ratio solar storage tank and 2.68% higher then that of the 2:1 aspect ratio solar storage tank.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2004.10a
• /
• pp.221-225
• /
• 2004

Evaluation of turbulence models is performed for a better prediction of thermal stratification in an upper plenum of a liquid metal reactor by applying them to the experiment conducted at JNC. The turbulence models tested in the present study are the two-layer model, the $\kappa-\omega$ model, the v2-f model and the low-Reynolds number differential stress-flux model. When the algebraic flux model or differential flux model are used for treating the turbulent heat flux, there exist little differences between turbulence models in predicting the temporal variation of temperature. However, the v2-f model and the low-Reynolds number differential stress-flux model better predict the steep gradient o( temperature at the interface of thermal stratification, and only the v2-f model predicts properly the oscillation of temperature. The LES Is needed for a better prediction of the amplitude and frequency of the temperature fluctuation.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2008.11a
• /
• pp.729-734
• /
• 2008

A thermal stratification may occur in the horizontal parts of the surge line during operating transients of the pressurizer, which produces relatively high fatigue usage factor. Heat-up transient is the most severe case among the transient conditions. In this study, to study the relationship between the magnitude of thermal stratification and the length of vertical part of the surge line, some parametric fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analyses with different length variables of the vertical part of the surge line were performed for plant heat-up transient condition by using 3-dimensional numerical analysis. The conservativeness of the traditional finite element model for thermal stratification analysis based on the conservative assumption in the surge line was also discussed by comparison of the results of 3-dimensional transient FSI analysis of this study. Stresses calculated with 3-dimensional transient model were considerably reduced comparing with the traditional analysis.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.435-442
• /
• 2011

In this study, a regression model was developed for prediction of inflow temperature to support an effective thermal stratification simulation of Yongdam Reservoir, using the relationship between gaged inflow temperature and air temperature. The effect of reproductability for thermal stratification was evaluated using EFDC model by gaged vertical profile data of water temperature(from June to December in 2005) and ex-developed regression models. Therefore, in the development process, the coefficient of correlation and determination are 0.96 and 0.922, respectively. Moreover, the developed model showed good performance in reproducing the reservoir thermal stratification. Results of this research can be a role to provide a base for building of prediction model for water quality management in near future.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.239-250
• /
• 2008

If there is a water flow with a range of temperature inside a pipe, the wanner water tends to float on top of the cooler water because it is lighter, resulting in the upper portion of the pipe being hotter than the lower portion. Under these conditions, such thermal stratification can play an important role in the aging of nuclear power plant piping because of the stress caused by the temperature difference and the cyclic temperature changes. This stress can limit the lifetime of the piping, even leading to penetrating cracks. Investigated in this study is the effect of thermal stratification on the structural integrity of the pressurizer surge line, which is reported to be one of the pipes most severely affected. Finite element models of the surge line are developed using several element types available in a general purpose structural analysis program and stress analyses are performed to determine the response characteristics for the various types of top-to-bottom temperature differentials due to thermal stratification. Fatigue analyses are also performed and an allowable environmental correction factor is suggested.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.18 no.7
• /
• pp.603-611
• /
• 2006

A variety of schemes were sought for a mitigation of thermal stratification phenomenon in the branch piping of domestic nuclear power plant. Several mechanisms of thermal stratification occurrence were introduced in this paper. A number of factors were selected to find out the schemes for thermal stratification mitigation and the computational analysis were performed. The length of vertical branch piping, the diameter, the radius of curvature of the elbow, the direction of connection between main piping and branch piping, the slope of branch piping, the leakage flow rate, the installation of additional valve, the change of the 1st valve position and another branch piping connected with branch piping were mentioned as factors in this paper.