Flow and Temperature Fields Measurement Inside Rod Bundle by the Combined Use of PIV and LIF Technique

Thermal hydraulic research of reactor core is important in nuclear energy applications, the flow and heat transfer characteristics of coolant in reactor fuel assembly has a great influence on the performance and safety of nuclear power plants. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) and Laser induced fluorescence (LIF) are the instantaneous, non-intrusive, whole-field fluid mechanics measuring method. In this study, the simultaneous measurement of flow field and temperature field for a rod bundle was conducted using PIV and LIF technique. A facility system, utilizing the matching index of refraction approach, has been designed and constructed for the measurement of velocity and temperature in the rod bundle. In order for further study on complex heat and mass transfer characteristic of rod bundle, the single-phase experiments on the heating conditions are performed. One of unique characteristics of the velocity and temperature distribution downstream the spacer grid was obtained. The experimental results show that the combined use of PIV and LIF technique is applied to the measurement of multi-physical field in a rod bundle is feasible, the measuring characteristics of non-intrusive ensured accuracy of whole field data. The whole field experimental data obtained in rod bundle benefits the design of spacer grid geometry.

Dynamic Analysis of Flexible Rotor Suspended by Active Magnetic Bearings With LQR Controller

Dynamic characteristics of active magnetic bearing (AMB)-flexible rotor system are closely related to control law. To analyze dynamic characteristics of flexible rotor suspended by AMBs with linear quadratic regulation (LQR) controller, a simple and effective method based on numerical calculation of unbalanced response is proposed in this article. The model of flexible rotor is established based upon Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and Lagrange’s equation. Disc on the rotor and its Gyro effect are taken into account. LQR controller based on error and its derivative is developed to control electromagnetic force of AMB at each degree of freedom (DOF) in real time. Under the unbalanced exciting force, the steady-state response and transient response in time domain of each node of flexible rotor at 0–4000 rad/s are calculated numerically. The critical speeds of rotor are obtained by identification method quickly and easily.

Multi-Fluid Gas Turbine Components Scaling for a Generation IV Nuclear Power Plant Performance Simulation

One major challenge to the accurate development of performance simulation tool for component-based nuclear power plant engine models is the difficulty in accessing component performance maps; hence, researchers or engineers often rely on estimation approach using various scaling techniques. This paper describes a multi-fluid scaling approach used to determine the component characteristics of a closed-cycle gas turbine plant from an existing component map with their design data, which can be applied for different working fluids as may be required in closed-cycle gas turbine operations to adapt data from one component map into a new component map. Each component operation is defined by an appropriate change of state equations which describes its thermodynamic behavior, thus, a consideration of the working fluid properties is of high relevance to the scaling approach. The multi-fluid scaling technique described in this paper was used to develop a computer simulation tool called GT-ACYSS, which can be valuable for analyzing the performance of closed-cycle gas turbine operations with different working fluids. This approach makes it easy to theoretically scale existing map using similar or different working fluids without carrying out a full experimental test or repeating the whole design and development process. The results of selected case studies show a reasonable agreement with available data.

Rewetting Analysis of Hot Moving Surface by Round Water Jet Impingement

Impinging jets are commonly utilized in the run-out table (ROT) cooling in the hot rolling process in steel manufacturing industries. The phenomenon of rapid cooling of a sufficiently hot surface is termed as the quenching. The present paper reports the rewetting behavior of 0.15 mm thick hot moving stainless steel foil (SS-304) by circular impinging jet from bottom side through experimental investigation. The transient temperature of the hot foil is recorded by using thermal imaging camera (A655sc, FLIR system). Tests are performed for a varied range of Reynolds number (Re = 2500–10000), nozzle to plate distance (z/d = 6), moving plate velocity (0–40 mm/s) and initial surface temperature 500±10 °C. Transient temperature obtained from thermal imaging camera is used to evaluate rewetting time and rewetting velocity. Based on the experimental investigation correlation has been proposed to predict non-dimensional rewetting velocity as a function of various parameters, namely, Reynolds number, non-dimensional axial distance and moving plate velocity.

CFD Investigation of Thermal-Hydraulic Behaviors in Full Reactor Core for Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor

As the first developmental step of the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) in China, the pool-type China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) is equipped with the openings and inter-wrapper space in the core, which act as an important part of the decay heat removal system. The accurate prediction of coolant flow in the reactor core calls for complete three-dimensional calculations. In the present study, an investigation of thermal-hydraulic behaviors in a 180° full core model similar to that of CEFR was carried out using commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software. The actual geometries of the peripheral core baffle, fluid channels and narrow inter-wrapper gap were built up, and numerous subassemblies (SAs) were modeled as the porous medium with appropriate resistance and radial power distribution. First, the three-dimensional flow and temperature distributions in the full core under normal operating condition are obtained and quantitatively analyzed. And then the effect of inter-wrapper flow (IWF) on heat transfer performance is evaluated. In addition, the detailed flow path and direction in local inter-wrapper space including the internal and outlet regions are captured. This work can provide some valuable understanding of the core thermal-hydraulic phenomena for the research and design of SFRs.

Low-Cycle Strength of Elements of Constructions

Analysis of engineering approach to the operational life forecasting for constructional elements with respect to the low-cycle fatigue is carried out. Applicability limits for a hypothesis on existence of generalized cyclic-deforming diagram in case of complex low-cycle loading (deforming) are shown. It is determined, that under condition of plane-stress state and piecewise-broken trajectories of cycle loading with stresses and deformation checking the cyclic deforming diagram is united in limits of deformations, which are not exceeded 10 values of deformation corresponding material yield point. Generalized kinematic equation of material damageability is described. The method of damageability parameter utilization for increasing of accuracy calculation of structural elements low-cycle fatigue by using the effective coefficients of stresses and deformations taking into account the damageability parameter is given.

Validation of a Code and Effect of Turbulence Model on Predicting Thermal Stratification Phenomena in the Upper Plenum of SFR

Thermal stratification phenomena occurring in the upper plenum during a scram transient have an important influence on the structural integrity and the passive safety of sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor (SFR). A two-dimensional thermal-hydraulic analysis code was developed under cylindrical coordinate based on conservation laws of mass, momentum and energy. Block-structured grids were generated to resolve the problems with complicated geometric properties. A second-order scheme based on midpoint rule was applied for the discretization of convection and diffusion terms. Two RANS-type turbulent models, i.e. the standard k–ε model (SKE) and the realizable k–ε model (RKE), are available in this code. A sodium test with scaled model, characterized by large aspect ratio, of a Japanese prototype SFR was used for the validation, mainly from the viewpoints of vertical temperature profiles and rising characteristics of the stratification interface. Results showed that this code could reproduce overall basic behaviors of thermal stratification. The sodium with higher temperature stayed largely stagnant in the upper region under buoyancy effect. Due to the high heat conductivity of sodium, momentum transportation made its leading function. Thus, the RKE model which accounts for the mean deformation rate gave better outcomes than the SKE model.

Numerical and Experimental Investigation on Core Assembly Thermal-Gradient-Induced Deformation of Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor

In sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), thermal gradient is the paramount factor of assembly transient bowing, that may cause great reactivity change, accelerate wrapper vibration wear, hindering the motion of control/shutdown rods, or worse yet, threatening the integrity of assemblies. However, because of the complexity of multi-assembly contact and interaction problem, it is difficult to assess the impact of core deformation on reactor performance safety. The Core Assembly Deformation Test Facility (CADTF) is designed to perform a series of thermal bowing tests by Xi‘an Jiao Tong University (XJTU) to investigate the core deformation behaviors under thermal gradient. In this paper, a finite element model was established to simulate the mechanical response of single assembly under different flat-to-flat thermal gradient. The single assembly restrained bowing test performed in CADTF is chosen to validate the model. In the model, the measured temperature distribution as well as temperature-dependent elastoplastic and thermal expansion properties were taken into consideration. To ensure the model reliability, iterative computation is conducted by adjusting the friction coefficient of the load pads to match the calculated and measured contact force. According to the results, it can be seen that the three-dimensional displacement of assembly shows relatively good agreement with the experimental data. Therefore, it can be concluded that the model is capable of performing core deformation analysis for SFR.

Experimental Study on Spray Pattern of Pressure-Swirl Nozzle in Reactor Containment

Spraying system plays an important role in the safety of PWR. To ensure homogeneous spraying of the containment, the layout of nozzles on the spray header was taken into consideration in design. In this paper, an experimental study was conducted to obtain spray characteristics data, including spray cone angle and 2-D spray flux distribution for the purpose of achieving optimal design of the spraying system. According to the specialty of the spray field involved, a testing loop with four pressure-swirl nozzles was established for the study. Spray cone angles were obtained by photograph method. The volume flux distribution was measured by collecting the spray droplet along the cross-section diameters. Based on the experimental data, typical spray flux distributions were obtained. The flux distribution results were used to build 3-D coverage models. Then these models were used to calculate the overall spray coverage in the containment. The present work introduces the experimental study of spray behavior of a typical pressure-swirl nozzle in containment and the method to evaluate spray coverage through building 3-D spray flux distribution models. The work is expected to be helpful for the optimization design of spraying systems.

Coupling Dependence of Multiple Operating Parameters on Burnup Credit Calculations for BWR Spent Fuel Assemblies

This study aims to investigate the coupling dependence resulting from three and four operating parameters for burnup credit calculations in boiling water reactor (BWR) spent fuel assemblies. Four operating parameters are under investigation, including fuel temperature, axial burnup profile, axial moderator density profile and control blade usage. In this study, the effects of variation on the curve of effective multiplication factor (keff) versus burnup (B) resulting from one and multiple operating parameters were defined as the single and compound effects, respectively. Particularly, the compound effects adopt more practical operating parameters than single effects does and thus affect the precise assessment to some extent. In our previous study, the compound effects resulting from two operating parameters were investigated in depth. However, the influence of compound effects resulting from three and four operating parameters on burnup credit calculation is still unknown. Therefore, this constitutes the purpose of this study. All the calculations were performed using SCALE 6.1 computer code together with the ENDF/B-VII 238 energy group neutron data library. Two geometrical models were established to represent the typical GE14 10 × 10 BWR fuel assembly and the GBC-68 storage cask. The results revealed that the reactivity deviation (or changes of keff, Δk) resulting from the compound effects was not a summation of the Δk’s resulting from the associated single effects. Moreover, such Δk discrepancies increase as B increases. In this study, the curves of keff versus B due to single and compound effects were approximated by a second degree polynomial of B. A general formula was thus proposed to express these curves.