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Title: Comparison of the PHISICS/RELAP5-3D ring and block model results for phase I of the OECD/NEA MHTGR-350 benchmark

Abstract

The PHISICS code system has been under development at INL since 2010. It consists of several modules providing improved coupled core simulation capability: INSTANT (3D nodal transport core calculations), MRTAU (depletion and decay heat generation) and modules performing criticality searches, fuel shuffling and generalized perturbation. Coupling of the PHISICS code suite to the thermal hydraulics system code RELAP5-3D was finalized in 2013, and as part of the verification and validation effort the first phase of the OECD/NEA MHTGR-350 Benchmark has now been completed. The theoretical basis and latest development status of the coupled PHISICS/RELAP5-3D tool are described in more detail in a concurrent paper. This paper provides an overview of the OECD/NEA MHTGR-350 Benchmark and presents the results of Exercises 2 and 3 defined for Phase I. Exercise 2 required the modelling of a stand-alone thermal fluids solution at End of Equilibrium Cycle for the Modular High Temperature Reactor (MHTGR). The RELAP5-3D results of four sub-cases are discussed, consisting of various combinations of coolant bypass flows and material thermophysical properties. Exercise 3 required a coupled neutronics and thermal fluids solution, and the PHISICS/RELAP5-3D code suite was used to calculate the results of two sub-cases. The main focus of the papermore » is a comparison of results obtained with the traditional RELAP5-3D “ring” model approach against a much more detailed model that include kinetics feedback on individual block level and thermal feedbacks on a triangular sub-mesh. The higher fidelity that can be obtained by this “block” model is illustrated with comparison results on the temperature, power density and flux distributions. Furthermore, it is shown that the ring model leads to significantly lower fuel temperatures (up to 10%) when compared with the higher fidelity block model, and that the additional model development and run-time efforts are worth the gains obtained in the improved spatial temperature and flux distributions.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
  2. Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1248189
Report Number(s):
INL/JOU-14-33637
Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5450
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC07-05ID14517
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nuclear Technology
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 193; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5450
Publisher:
American Nuclear Society (ANS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; RELAP5-3D; MHTGR-350; OECD; PHISICS

Citation Formats

Strydom, G., Epiney, A. S., Alfonsi, Andrea, and Rabiti, Cristian. Comparison of the PHISICS/RELAP5-3D ring and block model results for phase I of the OECD/NEA MHTGR-350 benchmark. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.13182/NT14-146.
Strydom, G., Epiney, A. S., Alfonsi, Andrea, & Rabiti, Cristian. Comparison of the PHISICS/RELAP5-3D ring and block model results for phase I of the OECD/NEA MHTGR-350 benchmark. United States. https://doi.org/10.13182/NT14-146
Strydom, G., Epiney, A. S., Alfonsi, Andrea, and Rabiti, Cristian. 2015. "Comparison of the PHISICS/RELAP5-3D ring and block model results for phase I of the OECD/NEA MHTGR-350 benchmark". United States. https://doi.org/10.13182/NT14-146. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1248189.
@article{osti_1248189,
title = {Comparison of the PHISICS/RELAP5-3D ring and block model results for phase I of the OECD/NEA MHTGR-350 benchmark},
author = {Strydom, G. and Epiney, A. S. and Alfonsi, Andrea and Rabiti, Cristian},
abstractNote = {The PHISICS code system has been under development at INL since 2010. It consists of several modules providing improved coupled core simulation capability: INSTANT (3D nodal transport core calculations), MRTAU (depletion and decay heat generation) and modules performing criticality searches, fuel shuffling and generalized perturbation. Coupling of the PHISICS code suite to the thermal hydraulics system code RELAP5-3D was finalized in 2013, and as part of the verification and validation effort the first phase of the OECD/NEA MHTGR-350 Benchmark has now been completed. The theoretical basis and latest development status of the coupled PHISICS/RELAP5-3D tool are described in more detail in a concurrent paper. This paper provides an overview of the OECD/NEA MHTGR-350 Benchmark and presents the results of Exercises 2 and 3 defined for Phase I. Exercise 2 required the modelling of a stand-alone thermal fluids solution at End of Equilibrium Cycle for the Modular High Temperature Reactor (MHTGR). The RELAP5-3D results of four sub-cases are discussed, consisting of various combinations of coolant bypass flows and material thermophysical properties. Exercise 3 required a coupled neutronics and thermal fluids solution, and the PHISICS/RELAP5-3D code suite was used to calculate the results of two sub-cases. The main focus of the paper is a comparison of results obtained with the traditional RELAP5-3D “ring” model approach against a much more detailed model that include kinetics feedback on individual block level and thermal feedbacks on a triangular sub-mesh. The higher fidelity that can be obtained by this “block” model is illustrated with comparison results on the temperature, power density and flux distributions. Furthermore, it is shown that the ring model leads to significantly lower fuel temperatures (up to 10%) when compared with the higher fidelity block model, and that the additional model development and run-time efforts are worth the gains obtained in the improved spatial temperature and flux distributions.},
doi = {10.13182/NT14-146},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1248189}, journal = {Nuclear Technology},
issn = {0029-5450},
number = 1,
volume = 193,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Dec 02 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Wed Dec 02 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}

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