The Attenuation of

Thermal Shock Fronts

by Flow Through Long
Pipes - Benefits and
Limits
..................................................

By U.R. Blumer, CCI,

The 2nd International Conference on
Fatigue of Reactor Components,
Organized by EPRI, July 29-31, 2002
Snowbird, Utah, USA

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The Attenuation of Thermal

Shock Fronts by Flow Through
Long Pipes - Benefits and
Limits

Especially thick walled parts and/or parts with defects are of interest

n U.R. Blumer, Control Components Incorporated, Winterthur,

thermal shocks, the use of a sharp transition in the fluid which leads

Switzerland

to a sudden temperature change is often unrealistically conservative,

The 2nd International Conference on Fatigue of Reactor

Components, Organized by EPRI, July 29-31, 2002
Snowbird, Utah, USA

in this context. Methods for calculating temperature distributions

in these bodies for given thermal boundary conditions are readily
available today with the widespread use of finite element software.
However, these thermal boundary conditions are often only known
from detailed measurements or CFD computations. In the case of

because either fluid mixing occurs, or the heat exchange with walls
occurs.
Especially in pipes of a certain length, this heat exchange with the
pressure boundary attenuates the shock front and yields a more
favorable gradual temperature change in the fluid and in the adjacent

Abstract

material. It is the purpose of this paper to investigate the potential

benefits in the effects of this heat exchange in long pipes for the

component of interest is located at the end of a pipe of some length,

Modeling the Physics in a Computational Algorithm

a thermal transient at this location is physically attenuated by heat

The basic layout of the task is shown in Figure 1 as follows :

hermal shocks by plug type flow occurring in piping are often

used for assessment of fatigue in such components as piping

products, valves, vessel nozzles, tees, flanges, etc. If the critical

attenuation of the thermal shock.

exchange between the fluid and the pipe wall along the length,
yielding a much more favorable temperature-time function than, for
example,the sudden shock at the entrance of the pipe leg.
The paper shows the numerical procedures necessary to assess this
phenomenon accurately with time-history integration. It shows
computational solutions for the effect of this attenuation as a function
of the relevant parameters. Results are given in the form of resulting
benefit in wall stress range reduction. The paper also shows the ranges
of relevant parameters which yield such benefits to fatigue reduction
as well as the limits of usefulness in consideration of this effect.
Finally, an example of an actual application in a nuclear power plant
is given.
Introduction

Figure 1: Basic layout of problem with shock at entry and attenuated

temperature at outlet
For practical purposes in relevant applications, the flow for thermal
shocks can be assumed turbulent (otherwise in laminar flow one would
expect stratification to occur, and other theories apply). For our case,
the flow can be treated as a plug flow with almost constant velocity

The original approach, which was used when fatigue usage was

across the pipe cross section and therefore with very little longitudinal

calculated as a design basis for most nuclear power plants, was the

mixing. Therefore, a Bernoulli type of approach is appropriate, i.e. the

consideration of plug flow type thermal transients. Piece-wise linear

flow can be treated as a thread in one dimension with a temperature

temperature-time functions were typically specified as a design basis

degree of freedom as function of length alone. However, for the pipe

for individual systems or components. In many cases temperature step

wall this does not apply, because the radial gradient has to be retained,

changes or thermal shocks were also specified. These thermal shocks

and the temperature field of the pipe wall must be treated two-

can occur in piping during operational actions like sudden opening of

dimensionally. The flow is assumed as incompressible, which serves

a valve, starting a pump when starting systems or switching between

almost all applications with thermal shocks for NPP components.

system branches. These thermal shocks are of special interest because

of their increased potential for thermal fatigue damage.
Despite the detection of additional thermal fatigue phenomena like
stratification, thermal striping and high-cycle fatigue in mixing zones,
the proof of acceptable low-cycle fatigue usage occurring from
traditional thermal shocks can still be difficult in a number of cases,
especially when considering the extended lifetime of components.

The Attenuation of Thermal Shock Fronts by Flow Through Long Pipes- Benefits and Limits | 533

2002 CCI. All rights reserved.

A finite difference approach is now applied. Figure 2 shows the

For the integration of the new fluid temperature, a set of finite

dicretization. The pipe is subdivided into discrete elements of length

difference equations is generated based on the above equations. For

x with a part of the wall and the interior fluid plug. The pipe wall

the integration over the time step t, for all locations x, starting with

itself is again discretized radially into several layers.

x=0, an implicit scheme is used for the wall equations based on (2)
and an explicit scheme for the fluid based on (3). Thus there is no
upstream thermal effect, which corresponds to physical behavior.
An EXCEL-based interactive program SHOCK was written to
compute the described algorithm for sets of input data for wall and
fluid. Input data comprise the geometry of the pipe, which comprises
of two length sections with different properties, the fluid properties
including the mass flow rate, and the film coefficient h. The inlet
temperature of the fluid can be defined as a piece-wise linear function
of time. Output, i.e. fluid temperature, is possible as a function of
time at various locations along the pipe length or as a function of pipe
length at various time points. This program was used to perform the

Figure 2: The discretization into wall elements and a fluid element

computations in the following sections.

3.

The wall has n temperature degrees of freedom and the fluid 1

An illustration for a solution with the algorithm

temperature degree of freedom at x and the same at the location (x +

In this chapter, an illustration is presented which shows the

x).

functioning of the algorithm.

A special numerical approach is now used which combines the

The input data for the example are summarized as follows :

Eulerian fixed grid for the wall with a Lagrangian moving grid for
the fluid. In order to prevent numerical mixing of the shock front by
interpolation in the longitudinal direction, the integration time step
t is chosen such, that the fluid travels exactly the distance x in this
time, thus :

Pipe:
Pipe OD

0.1 m

Pipe wall thickness

Pipe length

30 m

number of wall layers 10

# of pipe segments

45

wall density

specific heat of wall 500 J/kg/K wall conductivity

(1)

0.01 m
7850 kg/m3
45 W/m/K

Fluid:

Heat flow in the wall is radially only, because the longitudinal heat

mass flow rate

2 kg/s

density

1000 kg/s

flow in the pipe wall can be neglected for practical purposes. Thus, the

specific heat

4200 J/kg/K

film coefficient

3000 W/m2/K

governing differential equation for the temperature Tw in the wall is :

Transient temperature evolution:

initial temperature of pipe wall and fluid within pipe:

(2)

entry of fluid at new temperature:

20C
200C

For the fluid temperature Tf , the heat balance can be written in finite
form with the film coefficient h and the inner wall radius ri (while
neglecting the longitudinal heat conduction and mixing for turbulent
flows) as follows :
(3)

2002 CCI. All rights reserved.

533 | The Attenuation of Thermal Shock Fronts by Flow Through Long Pipes- Benefits and Limits

Figure 3.1: Fluid temperatures as a function of time

Figure 3.2: Fluid temperatures as a function of pipe length

The Attenuation of Thermal Shock Fronts by Flow Through Long Pipes- Benefits and Limits | 533

2002 CCI. All rights reserved.

Parametric study for shock efficiency of perfect thermal shocks

In order to study the relevance of the attenuation effect for practical cases, perfect step change shocks are considered first. The following table
shows the chosen cases with the relevant parameters.
Parameter

Value 1

Value 2

Value 3

Pipe Size

2 inches

4 inches

8 inches

Outer Diam. (mm)

60.3

114.3

219.1

Pipe Schedule

10 S

80 S

2.77 , 3.05 , 3.76

5.54 , 8.56 , 12.7

Wall thickness (mm)

Water velocity (m/s)
Material
Conductivity (W/mK)

0.2

2.0

ferritic

austenitic

45

17

Table 4.1 Parameters and case values for perfect shock evaluations
The perfect shocks are applied to end parts which have a thickness of
3 times the wall thickness given in table 4.1. The film coefficient h is
calculated with the following formula for pipe flow :

(4)
The water properties are taken at 100C and the thermal shock is a
unit step from 0 to 100C.
Definition : The shock efficiency SE is defined here as the ratio of
the maximum temperature difference between the inner fiber and
the wall average to the unit shock step change in %. The maximum
temperature difference between the inner fiber and the wall average is
a measure for the thermal stress caused by the shock in the wall. Thus
for SE :

Figure 4.2: Perfect-shock efficiencies for austenitic pipe material

(5)

From figures 4.1 and 4.2 it can be seen by the efficiencies that large
thermal stresses by radial temperature gradients are only generated
at the higher water velocities. This is because the film coefficients
become comparatively low at low velocities. Moreover, higher

The following graphs show this shock efficiency as a function of the

pipe schedules with heavier wall thicknesses also produce larger

parameters given in Figure 4.1.

efficiencies.
Therefore, the cases with a water velocity of 2 m/s and schedule 80 S
are investigated first for the attenuation effect in the following section.
Parametric study for shock efficiency of attenuated thermal
shocks
For the most severe conditions from the last chapter, the shock
efficiencies are calculated for the attenuating effect of a pipe with the
program SHOCK. Again, an end part with triple thickness of the pipe
is assumed and the results are given as a function of pipe length.

Figure 4.1: Perfect-shock efficiencies for ferritic pipe material

2002 CCI. All rights reserved.

533 | The Attenuation of Thermal Shock Fronts by Flow Through Long Pipes- Benefits and Limits

Figure 5.1: Shock efficiencies for attenuated shocks for ferritic material

Figure 5.2: Shock efficiencies for attenuated shocks for austenitic material

The Attenuation of Thermal Shock Fronts by Flow Through Long Pipes- Benefits and Limits | 533

2002 CCI. All rights reserved.

Of course, at the length 0 m, the values given here correspond to the

An additional interesting case occurs if there is a constriction at the

values for the perfect shocks from section 4.

end of the pipe which increases the film coefficient there Figure 5.4

It can be seen from the figures that the strongest effect is present for
the smallest pipe diameter.
In addition, it is interesting to know the effect of the water velocity on
the efficiency. Figure 5.3 shows this effect for various water velocities
for austenitic material.

shows the efficiencies for the same conditions in Figure 5.3, but for
cases where there is a triple film coefficient at the end part.
It can be seen, that the shock efficiencies decrease markedly as a
function of pipe length in the case of a constriction or smaller pipe
size at the end.

Figure 5.3: Shock efficiencies for attenuated shocks for austenitic material and pipe size 8

Figure 5.4: Shock efficiencies for attenuated shocks for austenitic material and pipe size 8 with triple film coefficient at end part
2002 CCI. All rights reserved.

533 | The Attenuation of Thermal Shock Fronts by Flow Through Long Pipes- Benefits and Limits

A practical example for an emergency feedwater return line

in a PWR

shocks. Because the return line cools to ambient temperature during

A PWR in Europe has 4 loops of emergency feedwater lines from

from 200C to 20C. After this, the hot plug from the vessel is coming

the feedwater vessel to the main feedwater pipes. In each loop is an

back, but it is attenuated by heat exchange in the relatively long

emergency feedwater pump which is operated monthly for testing

piping. The piping consists of a 8 pipe for the main line and 3 pipe

purposes. Four pipes after the 4 pumps act as minimal flow return

for the minimum flow return line. Therefore, the film coefficient in

lines and lead into a common pipe which leads back to the feedwater

the second piping portion and at the vessel nozzle is much larger, and

vessel. The nozzle of this return line thus experiences weekly thermal

shock efficiencies show a strong attenuation effect in all the piping.

the week, operation of a pump leads to a thermal shock at the nozzle

First piping portion :

outer diameter 219.1 mm

wall thickness 5.9 mm

Length 29 m

velocity

0.1 m/s

film coefficient 800 W/m2/K

outer diameter 88.5 mm

wall thickness 3.2 mm

Length 23.5 m

velocity

0.66 m/s

film coefficient 4000 W/m2/K

density 865 kg/m3

specific heat 4300 J/kg/K

density 7800 kg/m3

specific heat 490 J/kg/K

Second piping portion :

Water properties :
temperature 200C
mass flow rate 3.0 kg/s
Piping properties :
initial temperature 20C
conductivity 42 W/m/K

The input data for this case in SHOCK the program are :
The following two graphs show the evolution of the fluid temperatures as a function of time and of pipe length, respectively.
It can be seen that the transient at the vessel nozzle is attenuated strongly by the heat exchange between the long pipe portions and the water.
Thus, the fatigue usage factor could be reduced significantly to show an acceptable situation at the feedwater vessel return nozzle.

The Attenuation of Thermal Shock Fronts by Flow Through Long Pipes- Benefits and Limits | 533

2002 CCI. All rights reserved.

Figure 6.1: Temperatures as a function of time for emergency feedwater return line

Figure 6.2: Temperatures as a function of length for emergency feedwater return line

2002 CCI. All rights reserved.

533 | The Attenuation of Thermal Shock Fronts by Flow Through Long Pipes- Benefits and Limits

Conclusions

The computation of the attenuation effects of thermal shocks in

long pipes needs careful consideration of the physical processes.
Standard use of finite element codes with fluid elements can
produce erroneous results for transient computations.

The effect of attenuation is generally stronger in ferritic compared

to austenitic materials because of its higher thermal conductivity.

Smaller bore piping usually shows a larger attenuation effect,

however, it is less susceptible to fatigue generally because of its
smaller wall thicknesses.

The largest benefit from attenuation calculations is obtained for

cases where there is a first piping portion with a low fluid velocity
followed by a portion with high velocity and therefore high film
coefficient.

Large pipe diameters and short pipe lengths are not recommended
to investigate this attenuation effect. The graphs presented in this
paper give guidance to decide whether a relevant benefit can be
expected.

For practical cases, it is best to have a special purpose computer

program at hand, which can compute the attenuation effect for the
actual conditions.

10

The Attenuation of Thermal Shock Fronts by Flow Through Long Pipes- Benefits and Limits | 533

2002 CCI. All rights reserved.