Thermal Hydraulic Analysis of University of Wisconsin-Madison's Experimental Air-cooled Reactor Cavity Cooling System Using RELAP5

Thermal Hydraulic Analysis of University of Wisconsin-Madison's Experimental Air-cooled Reactor Cavity Cooling System Using RELAP5 PDF Author: Donghyun Suh
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Languages : en
Pages : 90

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Thermal Hydraulic Analysis of an Experimental Reactor Cavity Cooling System with Air

Thermal Hydraulic Analysis of an Experimental Reactor Cavity Cooling System with Air PDF Author: Moses A. Muci
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Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of an Experimental Reactor Cavity Cooling System with Air. Part I

Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of an Experimental Reactor Cavity Cooling System with Air. Part I PDF Author:
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Languages : en
Pages : 185

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This experimental study investigates the thermal hydraulic behavior and the heat removal performance for a scaled Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS) with air. A quarter-scale RCCS facility was designed and built based on a full-scale General Atomics (GA) RCCS design concept for the Modular High Temperature Gas Reactor (MHTGR). The GA RCCS is a passive cooling system that draws in air to use as the cooling fluid to remove heat radiated from the reactor pressure vessel to the air-cooled riser tubes and discharged the heated air into the atmosphere. Scaling laws were used to preserve key aspects and to maintain similarity. The scaled air RCCS facility at UW-Madison is a quarter-scale reduced length experiment housing six riser ducts that represent a 9.5° sector slice of the full-scale GA air RCCS concept. Radiant heaters were used to simulate the heat radiation from the reactor pressure vessel. The maximum power that can be achieved with the radiant heaters is 40 kW with a peak heat flux of 25 kW per meter squared. The quarter-scale RCCS was run under different heat loading cases and operated successfully. Instabilities were observed in some experiments in which one of the two exhaust ducts experienced a flow reversal for a period of time. The data and analysis presented show that the RCCS has promising potential to be a decay heat removal system during an accident scenario.

Thermal Hydraulic Analysis of an Experimental Reactor Cavity Cooling System with Water

Thermal Hydraulic Analysis of an Experimental Reactor Cavity Cooling System with Water PDF Author:
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Languages : en
Pages : 0

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This experimental study investigated the thermal hydraulic behavior and boiling mechanisms present in a scaled reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS). The experimental facility reflects a 1/4 scale model of one conceptual design for decay heat removal in advanced GenIV nuclear reactors. Radiant heaters supply up to 25 kW/m2 onto a three parallel riser tube and cooling panel test section assembly, representative of a 5° sector model of the full scale concept. Derived similarity relations have preserved the thermal hydraulic flow patterns and integral system response, ensuring relevant data and similarity among scales. Attention will first be given to the characterization of design features, form and heat losses, nominal behavior, repeatability, and data uncertainty. Then, tests performed in single-phase have evaluated the steady-state behavior. Following, the transition to saturation and subsequent boiling allowed investigations onto four parametric effects at two-phase flow and will be the primary focus area of remaining analysis. Baseline conditions at two-phase flow were defined by 15.19 kW of heated power and 80% coolant inventory, and resulted in semi-periodic system oscillations by the mechanism of hydrostatic head fluctuations. Void generation was the result of adiabatic expansion of the fluid due to a reduction in hydrostatic head pressure, a phenomena similar to flashing. At higher powers of 17.84 and 20.49 kW, this effect was augmented, creating large flow excursions that followed a smooth and sinusoidal shaped path. Stabilization can occur if the steam outflow condition incorporates a nominal restriction, as it will serve to buffer the short time scale excursions of the gas space pressure and dampen oscillations. The influences of an inlet restriction, imposed by an orifice plate, introduced subcooling boiling within the heated core and resulted in chaotic interactions among the parallel risers. The penultimate parametric examined effects of boil-off and inventory loss, where five different stages of natural circulation flow were identified: single-phase heating, transitional nucleate boiling, hydrostatic head fluctuations, stable two-phase flow, and geysering. Finally, the implementation of the model RCCS to a full scale plant was investigated by a multivariate test simulating an hypothetical accident scenario.

Onset of Boiling and Two-phase Flow Behavior Analysis of an UW Water-cooled Reactor Cavity Cooling System with RELAP5

Onset of Boiling and Two-phase Flow Behavior Analysis of an UW Water-cooled Reactor Cavity Cooling System with RELAP5 PDF Author: Sowun Kim
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Experimental and Computational Study of a Scaled Reactor Cavity Cooling System

Experimental and Computational Study of a Scaled Reactor Cavity Cooling System PDF Author: Rodolfo Vaghetto
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Languages : en
Pages :

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The Very High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR) is one of the next generation nuclear reactors designed to achieve high temperatures to support industrial applications and power generation. The Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS) is a passive safety system that will be incorporated in the VTHR, designed to remove the heat from the reactor cavity and maintain the temperature of structures and concrete walls under desired limits during normal operation and accident scenarios. A small scale (1:23) water-cooled experimental facility was scaled, designed, and constructed in order to study the complex thermohydraulic phenomena taking place in the RCCS during steady-state and transient conditions. The facility represents a portion of the reactor vessel with nine stainless steel coolant risers and utilizes water as coolant. The facility was equipped with instrumentation to measure temperatures and flow rates and a general verification was completed during the shakedown. A model of the experimental facility was prepared using RELAP5-3D and simulations were performed to validate the scaling procedure. The overall behavior of the facility met the expectations. The steady-state condition was achieved and the facility capabilities were confirmed to be very promising in performing additional experimental tests, including flow visualization, and produce data for code validation. The experimental data produced during the steady-state run were successfully compared with the simulation results obtained using RELAP5-3D, confirming the capabilities of the system code of simulating the thermal-hydraulic phenomena occurring in the reactor cavity. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible from http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/151742

Heat Transfer Simulation of Reactor Cavity Cooling System Experimental Facility Using RELAP5-3D and Generation of View Factors Using MCNP

Heat Transfer Simulation of Reactor Cavity Cooling System Experimental Facility Using RELAP5-3D and Generation of View Factors Using MCNP PDF Author: Huali Wu
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Languages : en
Pages :

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As one of the most attractive reactor types, the High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) is designed to be passively safe with the incorporation of Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS). In this paper, a RELAP5-3D simulation model is set up based on the 1/16 scale experimental facility established by Texas A&M University. Also, RELAP5-3D input decks are modified to replicate the experiment procedures and the experimental results are compared with the simulation results. The results show there is a perfect match between experimental and simulation results. Radiation heat transfer dominates in the heat transfer process of high temperature gas-cooled reactor due to its high operation temperature. According to experimental research done with the RCCS facility in Texas A&M University, radiation heat transfer takes up 80% of the total heat transferred to standing pipes. In radiation heat transfer, the important parameters are view factors between surfaces. However, because of the geometrical complexity in the experimental facility, it is hard to use the numerical method or analytical view factor formula to calculate view factors. In this project, MCNP based on the Monte Carlo method is used to generate view factors for RELAP5-3D input. MCNP is powerful in setting up complicated geometry, source definition and tally application. In the end, RCCS geometry is set up using MCNP and view factors are calculated. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible from http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/151265

Computer Simulation of Natural Convection in a Water-cooled Reactor Cavity Cooling System with RELAP5

Computer Simulation of Natural Convection in a Water-cooled Reactor Cavity Cooling System with RELAP5 PDF Author: Robert M. Scherrer
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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RELAP5-3D Thermal Hydraulics Computer Program Analysis Coupled with DAKOTA and STAR-CCM+ Codes

RELAP5-3D Thermal Hydraulics Computer Program Analysis Coupled with DAKOTA and STAR-CCM+ Codes PDF Author: Oscar Artajerjes Rodriguez
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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kRELAP5-3D has been coupled with both DAKOTA and STAR-CCM+ in order to expand the capability of the thermal-hydraulic code and facilitate complex studies of desired systems. In the first study, RELAP5-3D was coupled with DAKOTA to perform a sensitivity study of the South Texas Project (STP) power plant during steady-state and transient scenarios. The coupled software was validated by analyzing the simulation results with respect of the physical expectations and behavior of the power plant, and thermal-hydraulic parameters which caused greatest sensitivity where identified: inlet core temperature and reactor thermal power. These variables, along with break size and discharge coefficients, were used for further investigation of the sensitivity of the RELAP5-3D LOCA transient simulation under three difference cases: two inch break, six inch break, and guillotine break. Reactor thermal power, core inlet temperature, and break size were identified as producing the greatest sensitivity; therefore, future research would include uncertainty quantification for these parameters. In the second study, a small scale experimental facility, designed to study the thermal hydraulic phenomena of the Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS) for a Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR), was used as a model to test the capabilities of coupling Star-CCM+ and RELAP5-3D. This chapter discusses the capabilities and limitations of the STAR-CCM+/RELAP5-3D coupling, and a simulation, on the RCCS facility, was performed using STAR-CCM+ to study the flow patterns where expected complex flow phenomena occur and RELAP5-3D for the complete system. The code showed inability to perform flow coupling simulations and it is unable, at this time, to handle closed loop systems. The thermal coupling simulation was successful and showed congruent qualitative results to physical expectations. The locations of large fluid vortices were located specifically in the pipes closest to the inlet of the bottom manifold. In conclusion, simulations using coupled codes were presented which greatly improved the capabilities of RELAP5-3D stand-alone and computational time required to perform complex thermal-hydraulic studies. These improvements show greatly benefit for industrial applications in order to perform large scale thermal-hydraulic systems studies with greater accuracy while minimizing simulation time. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible from http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/148410

Experimental Study of the Thermal-hydraulic Phenomena in the Reactor Cavity Cooling System and Analysis of the Effects of Graphite Dispersion

Experimental Study of the Thermal-hydraulic Phenomena in the Reactor Cavity Cooling System and Analysis of the Effects of Graphite Dispersion PDF Author: Rodolfo Vaghetto
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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An experimental activity was performed to observe and study the effects of graphite dispersion and deposition on thermal hydraulic phenomena in a Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS). The small scale RCCS experimental facility (16.5cm x 16.5cm x 30.4cm) used for this activity represents half of the reactor cavity with an electrically heated vessel. Water flowing through five vertical pipes removes the heat produced in the vessel and releases it in the environment by mixing with cold water in a large tank. PIV technique was used to study the velocity field of the air inside the cavity. A set of 52 thermocouples was installed in the facility to monitor the temperature profiles of the vessel and pipes walls and air. 10g of a fine graphite powder (particle size average 2 [mu]m) were injected into the cavity through a spraying nozzle placed at the bottom of the vessel. Temperatures and air velocity field were recorded and compared with the measurements obtained before the graphite dispersion, showing a decrease of the temperature surfaces which was related to an increase in their emissivity. The results contribute to the understanding of the RCCS capability in case of an accident scenario.