Reflood experiments in rod bundles with flow blockages due to clad ballooning
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        S. K. Moon
        
Abstract
Clad ballooning and the resulting partial flow blockage are one of the major thermal-hydraulic concerns associated with the coolability of partially blocked cores during a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA). Several in-pile tests have shown that fuel relocation causes a local power accumulation and a high thermal coupling between the clad and fuel debris in the ballooned regions. However, previous experiments in the 1980s did not take into account the fuel relocation phenomena and resulting local power increase in the ballooned regions. The present paper presents the results of systematic investigations on the coolability of rod bundles with flow blockages. The experiments were mainly performed in 5 × 5 rod bundles, 2 × 2 rod bundles and other test facilities. The experiments include a reflood heat transfer, single-phase convective heat transfer, flow redistributions phenomena, and droplet break-up behavior. The effects of the fuel relocation and resulting local power increase were investigated using a 5 × 5 rod bundle. The fuel relocation phenomena increase the peak cladding temperature.
Kurzfassung
Hüllrohrblähen und die daraus resultierende teilweise Strömungsblockade sind für thermohydraulische Untersuchungen der Kühlbarkeit dieser Kerne während Kühlmittelverluststörfällen ein wichtiges Thema. Zahlreiche Versuche zeigen, dass die Brennstoffverlagerung zu einer lokalen Leistungserhöhung und zu einer hohen thermischen Kopplung zwischen Hüllrohr und Brennstoffkern in der aufgeblähten Region führt. Frühere Experimente in den 1980ern berücksichtigten nicht die aus der Brennstoffverlagerung resultierenden lokalen Leistungserhöhungen. Im Beitrag werden systematische Untersuchungen zur Kühlbarkeit von Stabbündeln mit Strömungsblockaden vorgestellt. Dazu wurden Experimente mit 5 × 5 und 2 × 2 Stabbündeln und in weiteren Versuchsanlagen durchgeführt und berücksichtigten den Wärmeübergang beim Wiederfluten, den einphasigen konvektiven Wärmeübergang, Phänomene der Strömungsumverteilung sowie des Tropfenabbruchs. Die Brennstoffverlagerung mit resultierender lokaler Leistungssteigerung wurde im 5 × 5 Stabbündel untersucht. Dabei zeigte sich eine deutliche Erhöhung der maximalen Hüllrohrtemperatur durch die Brennstoffverlagerung.
References
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© 2016, Carl Hanser Verlag, München
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Contents/Inhalt
- Contents
- Summaries/Kurzfassungen
- Summaries
- Editorial
- Challenges in reactor core thermal-hydraulics: subchannel analysis, CFD modeling and rod bundle CHF
- Technical Contributions/Fachbeiträge
- Subchannel analysis and correlation of the Rod Bundle Heat Transfer (RBHT) steam cooling experimental data
- CFD analysis on mixing effects of spacer grids with different dimples and sizes for advanced fuel assemblies
- An experimental investigation on dynamics and heat transfer associated with a single droplet impacting on a hot surface above the Leidenfrost point temperature
- Study on effects of mixing vane grids on coolant temperature distribution by subchannel analysis
- Reflood experiments in rod bundles with flow blockages due to clad ballooning
- The effect of spacer grid critical component on pressure drop under both single and two phase flow conditions
- Numerical method improvement for a subchannel code
- Numerical investigation on the characteristics of two-phase flow in fuel assemblies with spacer grid
- Effects of axial power shapes on CHF locations in a single tube and in rod bundle assemblies
- CFD evaluation on the thermohydraulic characteristics of tube support plates in steam generator
- Analysis of heat transfer under high heat flux nucleate boiling conditions
- Review of the correlation developments and a new concept based on mixing mechanism for heat transfer enhancement of spacer grids
- A comparison of the CFD simulation results in 5 × 5 sub-channels with mixing grids using different turbulence models
- Simulation of isothermal multi-phase fuel-coolant interaction using MPS method with GPU acceleration
- RELAP5 investigation on subchannel flow instability
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Contents/Inhalt
- Contents
- Summaries/Kurzfassungen
- Summaries
- Editorial
- Challenges in reactor core thermal-hydraulics: subchannel analysis, CFD modeling and rod bundle CHF
- Technical Contributions/Fachbeiträge
- Subchannel analysis and correlation of the Rod Bundle Heat Transfer (RBHT) steam cooling experimental data
- CFD analysis on mixing effects of spacer grids with different dimples and sizes for advanced fuel assemblies
- An experimental investigation on dynamics and heat transfer associated with a single droplet impacting on a hot surface above the Leidenfrost point temperature
- Study on effects of mixing vane grids on coolant temperature distribution by subchannel analysis
- Reflood experiments in rod bundles with flow blockages due to clad ballooning
- The effect of spacer grid critical component on pressure drop under both single and two phase flow conditions
- Numerical method improvement for a subchannel code
- Numerical investigation on the characteristics of two-phase flow in fuel assemblies with spacer grid
- Effects of axial power shapes on CHF locations in a single tube and in rod bundle assemblies
- CFD evaluation on the thermohydraulic characteristics of tube support plates in steam generator
- Analysis of heat transfer under high heat flux nucleate boiling conditions
- Review of the correlation developments and a new concept based on mixing mechanism for heat transfer enhancement of spacer grids
- A comparison of the CFD simulation results in 5 × 5 sub-channels with mixing grids using different turbulence models
- Simulation of isothermal multi-phase fuel-coolant interaction using MPS method with GPU acceleration
- RELAP5 investigation on subchannel flow instability