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

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 2003

When a cold HPSI (High Pressure Safety Injection) fluid associated with a design basis accident, such as LOCA (Loss of Coolant Accident), enters the cold legs of a stagnated primary coolant loop, thermal stratification phenomena may 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 collant 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.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.1052-1065
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• 2024

Advanced Pressurized Water Reactors (APWRs) and Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) employ a suppression pool as a heat sink to prevent containment overpressure. Steam can be discharged into the pool through multi-hole spargers or blowdown pipes in both normal and accident conditions. Direct Contact Condensation (DCC) creates sources of momentum and heat. The competition between these two sources determines the development of thermal stratification or mixing of the pool. Thermal stratification is of safety concern as it reduces the cooling capability compared to a completely mixed pool condition. In this work we develop a scaling approach to prediction of the thermal stratification in a water pool induced by steam injection through spargers. Experimental data obtained from large-scale pool tests conducted in the PPOOLEX and PANDA facilities, as well as simulation results obtained using validated codes are used to develop the scaling. Two injection orientations, namely radial injection through multi-hole Sparger Head (SH) and vertical injection through Load Reduction Ring (LRR), are considered. We show that the erosion rate of the cold layer can be estimated using the Richardson number. In this work, scaling laws are proposed to estimate both the (i) transient erosion velocity and (ii) the stable position of the thermocline. These scaling laws are then implemented into a 1D model to simulate the thermal behavior of the pool during steam injection through the sparger.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the thermal and chemical stratification in Lake Paldang 2013-2018 weekly using Schmidt's stability index (SSI) and the index of chemical stratification (IC-i). The annual average for SSI was 19.1 g cm/㎠ with the maximum value of 45.3 g cm/㎠ in the summer and the minimum value of 4.8 g cm/㎠ in fall-winter showing seasonal differences as well as increased vertical mixing in the summer. The lake stability increased higher in 2016 as compared with the other period. The most influential factors of thermal stratification were temperature and heavy rainfall. Especially, high water temperature and a prolonged residence duration caused by reduced rainfall and inflows could result in an increase of the stratification period. While decreasing inflow and outflow at the end of the rainfall, the thermal stratification was restrengthened within 7-14 days, and then stabilized rapidly before the rainfall. IC-DO increased with high air temperature in the spring and fall-winter. However increasing sunshine duration and residence time and decreasing rate of outflow caused an increase of IC-DO in the summer. Rainfall (less than 800 mm/year) and discharge (less than 200 CMS) significantly declined in 2015 resulting in IC-DO (0.77) increased more than three times over the other years and bottom water hypoxia occurred. The SSI and IC-i used in this study could be applied to other lakes to understand changes in stratification and mixing dynamics.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.7
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• pp.953-968
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• 2009

It is important to accurately predict the temperature and density distributions in large stratified enclosures both for design optimization and accident analysis. Current reactor system analysis codes only provide lumped-volume based models that can give very approximate results. Previous scaling analysis has shown that stratified mixing processes in large stably stratified enclosures can be described using one-dimensional differential equations, with the vertical transport by jets modeled using integral techniques. This allows very large reductions in computational effort compared to three-dimensional CFD simulation. The BMIX++ (Berkeley mechanistic MIXing code in C++) code was developed to implement such ideas. This paper summarizes major models for the BMIX++ code, presents the two-plume mixing experiment simulation as one validation example, and describes the codes' application to the liquid salt buffer pool system in the AHTR (Advanced High Temperature Reactor) design. Three design options have been simulated and they exhibit significantly different stratification patterns. One of design options shows the mildest thermal stratification and is identified as the best design option. This application shows that the BMIX++ code has capability to provide the reactor designers with insights to understand complex mixing behavior with mechanistic methods. Similar analysis is possible for liquid-metal cooled reactors.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.25-33
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• 2016

The thermal stratification phenomenon in the nuclear power plant can cause abnormal deformation of the piping, contact with the support, damage to the support system. Repetition of the thermal stratification phenomenon or variation of the thermal boundary layer can cause thermal fatigue. Thermal stratification phenomenon in nuclear power plants is still an ongoing issue and active research has been carried out. In this paper, the current situation in Korean nuclear power plants is described, followed by the status of research and the future problems on the thermal stratification phenomenon in Korea.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.2245-2252
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• 2005

Thermal stratification in the branch piping of power plants can be generated by turbulent penetration or by valve leakage. In this study, a numerical analysis was performed to estimate the thermal stratification phenomenon by in-leakage in the SIS branch piping of nuclear power plant. Leakage rate, leakage area and leakage location were selected as evaluation factors to investigate the thermal stratification effect. As a result of the thermal stratification effect according to leakage rate, the maximum temperature difference between top and bottom of the horizontal piping was evaluated to be about 185K when the valve leakage rate was about 10 times as much as the allowed leakage rate. For leakage rate more than 10 times the allowed leakage rate, the temperature difference was rapidly decreased due to the increased mixing effect. In the result according to leakage area, the magnitude of temperature difference was shown in order of $3\%,\;1\%\;and\;5\%$ leakage area of the total disk area. In the thermal stratification effect, according to the leakage location, temperature difference when leakage occurred in the lower disk was considerably higher than that of when leakage occurred in the upper disk.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.99-105
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• 2021

In this study, the thermal stratification in solar seasonal thermal storage tanks was numerically simulated. The effects of the aspect ratio (AR) and inlet velocity on the thermal stratification in the diffuser type heat storage tank were investigated. The temperature distributions inside the tank were similar with velocity fields. Jet flows from opposite diffusers encountered each other at the tank center region. Thereafter, the downward flows occurred, and this flows strongly affected the thermal stratification. When AR was smaller than 2, these downward flows influenced a further distance and enhanced mixing inside the tank. Thermal stratification was evaluated by thermocline thickness and degree of stratification, and AR of 3 had the highest degree of stratification. The inlet velocity effect was expressed with the ratio (Re/Ri) of Reynolds and Richardson numbers. The second-order approximation was found for the relationship between the thermocline thickness and log Re/Ri.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.11b
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• pp.735-740
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• 2001

In the nuclear power plant, emergency core coolant system(ECCS) is furnished at reactor coolant system(RCS) in order to cool down high temperature water in case of emergency. However, in this coolant system, it occurs thermal stratification phenomena in case that there is the mixing of cooling water and high temperature water due to valve leakage in ECCS. This thermal stratification phenomena raises excessive thermal stresses at pipe wall. Therefore, this phenomena causes the accident that reactor coolant flows in reactor containment in the nuclear power plant due to the deformation of pipe and thermal fatigue crack(TFC) at the pipe wall around the place that it exists. Hence, in order to fundamental identification of this phenomena, it requires the experimental research of modeling test in the pipe flow that occurs thermal stratification phenomena. So, this paper models RCS and ECCS pipe arrangement and analyzes the mechanism of thermal stratification phenomena by measuring of temperature in variance with leakage flow rate in ECCS modeled pipe and Reynold number in RCS modeled pipe. Besides, results of this experiment is compared with computational analysis which is done in advance.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.922-934
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• 2009

The transport of contaminants and spatial variation in a deep reservoir are certainly governed by the thermal structure of the reservoir. There has been continuous efforts to utilize three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic and water quality models for supporting reservoir management, but the efforts to validate the models performance using extensive field data were rare. The study was aimed to evaluate a 3D hydrodynamic model, ELCOM, in Daecheong Reservoir for simulating heat fluxes and stratification processes under hydrological years of 2001, 2006, 2008, and to assess the impact of internal wave on the reservoir mixing. The model showed satisfactory performance in simulating the water temperature profiles: the absolute mean errors at R3 (Hoenam) and R4 (Dam) sites were in the range of $1.38{\sim}1.682^{\circ}C$. The evaporative and sensible heat losses through the reservoir surface were maximum during August and January, respectively. The net heat flux ($H_n$) was positive from February to September, while the stratification formed from May and continued until September. Instant vertical mixing was observed in the reservoir during strong wind events at R4, and the model reasonably reproduced the mixing events. A digital low-pass filter and zero crossing method was used to evaluate the potential impact of wind-driven internal wave on the reservoir mixing. The results indicated that most of the wind events occurred in 2001, 2006, 2008 were not enough to develop persistent internal wave and effective mixing in the reservoir. ELCOM is a suitable 3D model for supporting water quality management of the deep and stratified reservoirs.