Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Yan Wang
Abstract
The passive containment cooling system (PCCS) , which utilizes only natural phenomena to remove
the energy released from the reactor to the environment during the postulated accident to prevent the
steel containment from overpressure, was designed and applied in the advanced 3rd generation
pressurized water reactor. Several different thermal-hydraulic analysis codes were selected to
incorporate the passive containment cooling models for the simulation and analysis on the PCCS
transient. The correlations of the models were mainly selected from the existing empirical correlations.
These modified codes for the PCCS analysis were validated by comparison with the transient test data
from some separate effect tests and integral tests, and used to evaluate the heat-removed capability of
the PCCS under the postulated events. The advanced pressurized water reactor (PWR) with higher
power is being researched and designed in China. It is very significant to develop a new code with selfowned intellectual property rights, which is used for the simulation and analysis of the PCCS
performance. The dominant phenomena and primary process during the transient in the containment
with the PCCS performance which are determined by Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table
should be modeled in the code. In this paper, the main ideas of the code design including the analytical
methods, the basic frame of the code, the important equations and mechanism models, and the
validation method of the code, are described.
Keywords: Passive Containment Cooling System, Analysis Model, Advanced Pressurized Water
Reactor
1. Introduction
The advanced nuclear plant design uses a passive containment cooling system to remove the heat
from the inside of the containment to the environment which results in containment heat-up and
pressurization during the postulated event, like a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) or a main steam line
break (MSLB) [1,2].
The passively cooled steel containment is the main part of PCCS operating under the postulated
accident conditions as shown in Fig. 1.
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With provisions of water spray from Passive Containment Cooling Water Storage Tank (PCCWST)
driven by gravity in passive means, the external surface of the containment steel shell is wetted and
cooled by water evaporation. Air enters an annular space (air flow channel between the containment
shell and the concrete shield building) through inlets located at the upper part of the shield building
wall. The air then rises in the annulus and develops into the natural draft as the air is heated by the
containment surface. The heated air exits the shield building through an outlet (chimney) located above
the containment shell. The external heat transfer of the water film can be enhanced by the convection
between the exposed to the air thin evaporating water film flow and the air in the annular space. Some
heat is also removed from the shield building surfaces by natural convection and by condensation on its
wetted surfaces. In addition, a part of heat is transferred from the containment shell to the adjacent wall
inner surface by radiation, but it is not dominating because of the limited containment shell temperature.
Thus, the passively cooled steel containment utilizes only natural phenomena to remove the energy
released from the reactor to avoid the overpressure of the containment during the postulated accident
though steam condensation and convection on the internal surface of the containment shell, heat
conduction of steel containment shell, convection and evaporation of the water film on the external
surface of the containment shell, convection and condensation on the air baffle, convection of the
concrete shield building and wall-to-wall radiation, and so on.
AP1000 is the advanced pressurized water reactor designed by Westinghouse Corporation. The
pressure and the temperature in the AP1000 steel containment during the postulated Cold-leg LOCA
are calculated by WGOTHIC code as Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 [3]. The results indicate both of the pressure
and the temperature in the containment are limited under the design values and the containment is
cooled effectively by the PCCS performance.
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3.1. WGOTHIC
The GOTHIC code was selected for development based on its impressive validation history and 3-D
modeling capability. With the CLIME model and associated nodding structure combined into GOTHIC
to model the special heat and mass transfer in PCCS, the modified code of Westinghouse-GOTHIC
(WGOTHIC) came into being for the PCCS analysis of the Westinghouse Advanced PWR[11].
The WGOTHIC code was validated by the comparison of the calculated results with the analytical
solutions to the specified standard problems and the comparison of the calculated results with the
separate effects test data and the integral experimental data for AP600 and AP1000.
3.2. PCCSAC
The PCCSAC code is a three-dimensional thermal hydraulic analysis code using separated field
equations for three phase flow with multiple gas components. It was developed by Tsinghua University.
It is based on finite volume method and uses alternating direction implicit (ADI) approach to solve the
linear equations of each control volumes pressure.
The linear equations were deduced from the implicit difference equations of mass and momentum.
The code uses Cartesian coordinates and all aspects of the code, such as the discrete equations,
structural formulas, steam/water properties and numerical procedure for multiphase flow were carefully
selected for the PCCS analysis.
The results from the PCCSAC code were compared with that from COMMIX code of the Argonne
National Lab of USA under a simple small-scale example to verify the reliance of PCCSAC-3D code,
and showed good agreements.
4. The Discussion of The Analysis Code Design for The PCCS in China
Based on the large advanced pressurized water reactor and high temperature gas-cooled reactor
project which is one of Important National Science & Technology Specific Projects of China, the
technology of large advanced pressurized water reactor will be mastered, improved mostly through
building 4-units of imported Westinghouses advanced PWRs.
In the future, the advanced PWR with higher power than the current advanced PWR may be
designed and constructed in China. Some new phenomena and characteristics maybe occur with the
power of reactor plant increasing, which need do some further research on models.
Therefore, it is significant to develop the analysis code for the PCCS with self-owned intellectual
property rights. The next section will introduce some major elements in developing the PCCS analysis
code for the future Advanced PWR in China.
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4.2. Solving on Heat and Mass Transfer of Fluid for PCCS Analysis
The fluids in the containment and in the annular flow channel between the containment shell and the
concrete shield building, constituting of steam, noncondensable air, continuous liquid water and
discontinuous water, will be considered in the PCCS analysis.
The nine governing equations of the fluids will be solved in the PCCS analysis code. The nineequation model consists of: mass conservation equation for the continuous liquid water, mass
conservation equation for noncondensable air, mass conservation equation for steam, momentum
conservation equation for the air and steam mixture, momentum conservation equation for the
continuous liquid water, energy conservation equation for the air and steam mixture, energy
conservation equation for the continuous liquid water. The models include the k- transport equation
for the turbulence kinetic energy calculation and the turbulent dissipative rate equation for the main gas
flow.
With the combination of the nine conservation equations, the pressure field, the velocity field and
the temperature field of the fluid in the containment could be calculated.
4.3. Solving on Heat and Mass Transfer of Containment for PCCS Analysis
The heat transfer from the reactor during the postulated accident to the environment by PCCS
through the steel containment, the air baffle and the shield building, is shown as Fig. 4 in detail.
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Generally, heat conduction occurs in the steel containment shell and the flowing water film, and
heat and mass transfer occurs on the interface of fluid and wall.
The heat conduction in containment shell can be simplified to one-dimensional heat conduction so
the wall conduction equation would be:
Tshell
k shell 2Tshell
t
shell c p , shell x 2
(1)
Where, Tshell is the temperature of the containment shell, ; kshell is thermal conductivity of the
containment shell, W *m/; Cp,shell is specific heat of the containment shell, J/(kg*); shell is density
of the containment shell, kg/m3.
On the interface of the containment and the water film, the heat flux from the outside surface of the
containment should be equal to the heat flux into the inside surface water film. The boundary condition
is written as:
k shell
Tshell
x
k film
int erface
T film
x
(2)
int erface
Where, Tshell is the boundary temperature of the containment shell, ; kshell is thermal conductivity
of the containment shell, W *m/; Tfilm is the boundary temperature of the water film, ; kfilm is
thermal conductivity of the water film, W *m/, the subscript of interface means the heat flux on
the interface between the containment shell and film.
The energy in the water film should balance with the heat from the wall into the film, the heat
conduction through the film, and the heat transfer from the surface of the water film to the air flow
between the containment shell and air baffle, and the energy change caused by the water film flowing.
For the water film thickness is small, the water film along the outside surface of containment shell and
the heat conduction across the water film will be considered as one-dimensional flow and heat transfer,
where the viscous dissipation term will be neglected. The general energy transfer equation for the
flowing water film can be written in terms of temperature as, with assuming constant fluid properties
T
T film
k film 2T film
v film film
2
film c p , film x film
z
t
(3)
Where, Tfilm is the average temperature of the water film, ; kfilm is thermal conductivity of the
water film, W *m/; Cp,film is specific heat of the water film, J/(kg*); film is density of the
containment shell, kg/m3; vfilm is the flow velocity of the water film on the surface of the containment
shell, m/s.
The heat and mass transfer on the outside surface of the water film combines evaporation,
convection and radiation, which is more complicated than the mass and heat transfer on other boundary
surfaces. The boundary equation of the outside water film surface will balance the heat energy leaving
the outside surface of the water film and the heat energy entering the air flowing in the annulus
between the containment shell and the air baffle. The energy transfer equation is:
k fim
T film
steam
Tfilm4 ,surf Tbaffle4 ,surf
hc T film ,surf Tair h fg hM Pairsteam Pfilm
x
(4)
Where, Tfilm is the outer boundary temperature of the water film, ; kfilm is thermal conductivity of
the water film, W *m/; Tfilm,surf is the outside surface temperature of the water film, ; Tair is the air
temperature, ; Tbaffle,surf is the inside surface temperature of the air baffle, ; hm is mass transfer
steam
coefficient, kg/s*m2*Pa; hfg is latent heat of vaporization of the water film, J/kg; Pair is the partial
pressure of steam in air flowing in the annulus between the containment shell and the air baffle, Pa;
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steam
is the saturation pressure under the temperature of the water film surface, Pa; is StefanPfilmr
X
H 380 st
X air
0.7
(5)
Where H means total heat transfer coefficient, and Xair, Xst stand for air and steam mass fraction
respectively.
Gido-Koestl correlation
For free convection area
12
H free
u f 1 u w * s si 7
l h fg
5.25
C
*
1 Tsi Twi
u w S c u
l g 4l 5 7
(6)
H force
u
f
ug
u w
ug *
1 Tsi Twi
C
h
fg
s
si
S
u g
c
2
(7)
Where, u is velocity, m/s; T is temperature, K; hfg is Latent heat of vaporization, J/kg. The
subscripts represent: w is wall, t is turbulent flow, l is liquid, i is interface, f is friction in interface; C*
is a correction factor.
Tagami correlation
H max
U
0.607
t pV
0.62
(8)
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Where, U is a dimensional grouping of the energy added, J; V is the containment volume, m3; tp is
the total time for the addition, s.
The total heat transfer coefficient for the transient period is
H H max
t
tp
(9)
Where, t is time, s.
These correlations are intended for use in containment analysis codes based on conservation
equations written for a single large control volume representing the entire containment. The use of a
single containment control volume requires that the heat transfer correlations themselves inherently
include the effects of flow fields within the containment. However, it shows hopeless to get finer detail
on inside containment. It is not clear whether these correlations apply equally to different cases, such as
the condensation in compartments containing a break and the condensation on the inner surfaces of
walls in a passively-cooled containment, and also difficult in using a total heat transfer coefficient such
as Tagami to apportion the total heat transfer between convective and condensing heat transfer.
Treating the containment interiors as a single volume cannot achieve explicit results of the distribution
of noncondesables and the surface temperature and heat flux distributions.
Current requirements for containment analyses need for the computer models can calculate fluid
distributions within a containment volume as well as within the external annuli. In such models, steam
and noncondensables within the containment volume can be separately tracked and fluid conditions in
the regions near the structures are available. Since heat and mass transfer to structures (internal heat
sinks and the containment shell) are governed by local conditions within the given boundary layer, heat
transfer should be correlated to conditions as near the boundary layer as possible. Therefore, a
methodology of heat mass transfer analogy has been developed that includes a more complete
formulation of the thermal-hydraulic equations linked with correlations based on bulk fluid conditions
relatively near a surface to provide spatially distributed conditions within containment.
Heat transfer is driven by temperature gradient, and mass transfer is driven by concentration
gradient. So the empirical mass transfer correlation has similar form as the heat transfer. With analogy,
the mass transfer coefficient based on the difference of the pressure can be derived as below[15].
hDP
kG c v
kRTpBM
1/ 3
Sc
Pr
(10)
Nu free 0.13Grx Pr
1/ 3
(11)
Nu force 0.023 Re d
4/5
Pr 1 / 3
(12)
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1/ 3
(13)
(14)
Churchills correlation utilized the Colburns correlation for forced convection and the McAdams
correlation for natural convection.
4.4.3. Water Film Model
Water film on the outside surface of the containment shell is very import to the long-term PCCS
performance. The film thickness will be dominant for the heat remove capacity during the transient
under the postulated accident.
Reynolds number Re is used to characterize the different types of film flow regimes. The Chun and
Seban correlation [19] for wavy laminar film (Re<5800Pr-1.06) is used to compute the mean film
thickness with the given fluid properties and flow rates.
5. Conclusions
The passive containment cooling system is one main passive safety component of the advanced
pressurized water reactor to remove heat released from reactor system to the environment in the
postulated DBA event. It is significant to simulate the transient of the PCCS by the verified and
validated code to enhance the reliance of performance. Some existing codes which most closely met
the requirements of PIRT were selected and modified to fit the PCCS analysis.
The research on the current advanced pressurized water reactor and the future larger advanced
pressurized water reactor as one of Chinese national science & technology major project is in progress.
It is absolutely necessary to design and develop a code with self-owned intellectual property rights
used for the modeling and the analysis of the PCCS. The basic elements on the code design are
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introduced, including the framework design of the modeling, the important models identified by the
PIRT analysis on the PCCS, and the applicability of the models and the method on the qualification
validation of the code.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported in part by a grant from National Science and Technology Major Project
(No. ZX06908).
References
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Chinese Journal of Nuclear Science and Engineering, vol. 30, no. 6, pp.181-192, 2010.
[4] Guangwei Yan, Ruihua Wang, Miao Li, Virtual Inspection System of Nuclear Power Plants with
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[5] Dr.R.K.SelvaKumar, Mrs.Durga Karthik, Analysing Parameter for Nuclear Explosion Using
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