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Title: Columbia University flow instability experimental program: Volume 6. Single annulus tests, transient test program

Abstract

The coolant in the Savannah River Site (SRS) production nuclear reactor assemblies is circulated as a subcooled liquid under normal operating conditions. This coolant is evenly distributed throughout multiple annular flow channels with a uniform pressure profile across each coolant flow channel. During the postulated Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA), which is initiated by a hypothetical guillotine pipe break, the coolant flow through the reactor assemblies is significantly reduced. The flow reduction and accompanying power reduction (after shutdown is initiated) occur in the first 1 to 2 seconds of the LOCA. This portion of the LOCA is referred to as the Flow Instability phase. This report presents the experimental results for the transient portion of the single annulus test program. The test program was designed to investigate the onset of flow instability in an annular geometry similar to the MARK 22 reactor. The test program involved testing of both a ribless heater and a ribbed heater under steady state as well as transient conditions. The ribbed heater testing is currently underway and will be reported separately. The steady state portion of this test program with ribless heater was completed and reported in report No. CU-HTRF-T3A. The present report presents transientmore » test results obtained from a ribless, uniform annulus test section. A total of thirty five transients were conducted with six cases in which flow excursion occurred. No unstable conditions resulted for tests in which the steady state Q{sub ratio} OFI limit was not exceeded.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Aiken, SC (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
10168364
Report Number(s):
WSRC-TR-93-687
ON: DE94015499; IN: CU-HTRF-T3B; TRN: 94:014703
DOE Contract Number:
AC09-89SR18035
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Sep 1992
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS; SPECIAL PRODUCTION REACTORS; FUEL CHANNELS; HYDRODYNAMICS; UNSTEADY FLOW; SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT; FUEL ASSEMBLIES; FLUID FLOW; LOSS OF COOLANT; TRANSIENTS; TEST FACILITIES; MEASURING INSTRUMENTS; DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEMS; ERRORS; ACCURACY; PRESSURE MEASUREMENT; TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT; FLOWMETERS; EXPERIMENTAL DATA; 220900; 220600; REACTOR SAFETY; RESEARCH, TEST, TRAINING, PRODUCTION, IRRADIATION, MATERIALS TESTING REACTORS

Citation Formats

Dougherty, T., Maciuca, C., McAssey, E.V. Jr., Reddy, D.G., and Yang, B.W.. Columbia University flow instability experimental program: Volume 6. Single annulus tests, transient test program. United States: N. p., 1992. Web. doi:10.2172/10168364.
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Dougherty, T., Maciuca, C., McAssey, E.V. Jr., Reddy, D.G., & Yang, B.W.. Columbia University flow instability experimental program: Volume 6. Single annulus tests, transient test program. United States. doi:10.2172/10168364.
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Dougherty, T., Maciuca, C., McAssey, E.V. Jr., Reddy, D.G., and Yang, B.W.. Tue . "Columbia University flow instability experimental program: Volume 6. Single annulus tests, transient test program". United States. doi:10.2172/10168364. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/10168364.
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@article{osti_10168364,
title = {Columbia University flow instability experimental program: Volume 6. Single annulus tests, transient test program},
author = {Dougherty, T. and Maciuca, C. and McAssey, E.V. Jr. and Reddy, D.G. and Yang, B.W.},
abstractNote = {The coolant in the Savannah River Site (SRS) production nuclear reactor assemblies is circulated as a subcooled liquid under normal operating conditions. This coolant is evenly distributed throughout multiple annular flow channels with a uniform pressure profile across each coolant flow channel. During the postulated Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA), which is initiated by a hypothetical guillotine pipe break, the coolant flow through the reactor assemblies is significantly reduced. The flow reduction and accompanying power reduction (after shutdown is initiated) occur in the first 1 to 2 seconds of the LOCA. This portion of the LOCA is referred to as the Flow Instability phase. This report presents the experimental results for the transient portion of the single annulus test program. The test program was designed to investigate the onset of flow instability in an annular geometry similar to the MARK 22 reactor. The test program involved testing of both a ribless heater and a ribbed heater under steady state as well as transient conditions. The ribbed heater testing is currently underway and will be reported separately. The steady state portion of this test program with ribless heater was completed and reported in report No. CU-HTRF-T3A. The present report presents transient test results obtained from a ribless, uniform annulus test section. A total of thirty five transients were conducted with six cases in which flow excursion occurred. No unstable conditions resulted for tests in which the steady state Q{sub ratio} OFI limit was not exceeded.},
doi = {10.2172/10168364},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992},
month = {Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992}
}
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Technical Report:
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DOI:  10.2172/10168364
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  • The single annulus test program was designed to investigate the onset of flow instability in an annular geometry similar to the fuel assemblies used in the Savannah River Site production reactors. Data files were transmitted from Columbia University to Savannah River Site in a DOS compatible format. This report provides a hardcopy version of the electronic media data files.

  • This report is one of a series of reports which document the flow instability testing conducted by Columbia University during 1989 through 1992. This testing was completed as part of AX1811457. This report volume provides a hardcopy version of the thirty-four electronic media files: SA0914(A-H).DAT, SAT0609(A-N).DAT, SAT0612(A-O).DAT.

  • ; ; ; ...
    This report presents results for the steady state portion of the finless single annulus test program. The objective of the experimental study was to investigate the onset of flow instability in an annular geometry similar to the MARK 22 reactor. The test program involved testing of both a finless or ribless heater and a ribbed heater. The latter program is currently underway and will be reported separately. For finless heater, testing was conducted in both a steady state and transient mode. The present report presents steady state results for a series of experiments with uniform and asymmetric heating. The demandmore » curves obtained under uniform heating yielded OFI flow-rates which were slightly below those obtained for a circular tube geometry with the same L/D ratio; however, the single annulus had a hydraulic diameter which was approximately fifty percent larger than the circular tube. The asymmetric heating cases were selected to provide the same average power input as the uniform cases. The results for these tests indicated that the flow-rate at OFI increased with the degree of asymmetry.« less

  • ; ; ; ...
    This report deals with critical heat flux (CHF) measurements in vertical down flow of water at low pressures in a round Inconel tube, 96 inches long and 0.62 inch inside diameter. A total of 28 CHF points were obtained. These data were found to correlate linearly with the single variable q, defined as the heat flux required to raise the enthalpy from the inlet value to the saturation value. These results were compared to the published results of Swedish investigators for vertical upflow of water at low pressures in round tubes of similar diameters and various lengths. The parameter qmore » depends on the inlet enthalpy and is a nonlocal variable, thus this correlation is nonlocal unless the coefficients depend upon tube length in a particular prescribed manner. For the low pressure Swedish data, the coefficients are practically independent of length and hence the correlation is nonlocal. In the present investigation only one length was employed, so it is not possible to determine whether the correlation for these data is local or nonlocal, although there is reason to believe that it is local. The same correlation was applied to a large data base (thousands of CHF points) compiled from the published data of a number of groups and found to apply, with reasonable accuracy over a wide range of conditions, yielding sometimes local and sometimes nonlocal correlations. The basic philosophy of data analysis here was not to generate a single correlation which would reproduce all data, but to search for correlations which apply adequately over some range and which might have some mechanistic significance. The tentative conclusion is that at least two mechanisms appear operative, leading to two types of correlations, one local, the other nonlocal.« less

  • ; ; ; ...
    The coolant in the Savannah River Site (SRS) production nuclear reactor assemblies is circulated as a subcooled liquid under normal operating conditions. This coolant is evenly distributed throughout multiple annular flow channels with a uniform pressure profile across each coolant flow channel. During the postulated Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA), which is initiated by a hypothetical guillotine pipe break, the coolant flow through the reactor assemblies is significantly reduced. The flow reduction and accompanying power reduction (after shutdown is initiated) occur in the first 1--2 seconds of the LOCA. This portion of the LOCA is referred to as the Flowmore » Instability phase. A series of down flow experiments have been conducted on three different size single tubes. The objective of these experiments was to determine the effect of a parallel flow path on the occurrence of flow instability. In all cases, it has been shown that the point of flow instability (OFI) determined under controlled flow operation does not change when operating in a controlled pressure drop mode (parallel path operation).« less