Hybrid Reactor Simulation of Boiling Water Reactor Power Oscillations

Journal Article · Fri Aug 15 04:00:00 EDT 2003 · Nuclear Technology

OSTI ID:20837771

Zhengyu, Huang; Edwards, Robert M ^[1]

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1. Pennsylvania State University (United States)

Hybrid reactor simulation (HRS) of boiling water reactor (BWR) instabilities, including in-phase and out-of-phase (OOP) oscillations, has been implemented on The Pennsylvania State University TRIGA reactor. The TRIGA reactor's power response is used to simulate reactor neutron dynamics for in-phase oscillation or the fundamental mode of the reactor modal kinetics for OOP oscillations. The reactor power signal drives a real-time boiling channel simulation, and the calculated reactivity feedback is in turn fed into the TRIGA reactor via an experimental changeable reactivity device. The thermal-hydraulic dynamics, together with first harmonic mode power dynamics, is digitally simulated in the real-time environment. The real-time digital simulation of boiling channel thermal hydraulics is performed by solving constitutive equations for different regions in the channel and is realized by a high-performance personal computer. The nonlinearity of the thermal-hydraulic model ensures the capability to simulate the oscillation phenomena, limit cycle and OOP oscillation, in BWR nuclear power plants. By adjusting reactivity feedback gains for both modes, various oscillation combinations can be realized in the experiment. The dynamics of axially lumped power distribution over the core is displayed in three-dimensional graphs. The HRS reactor power response mimics the BWR core-wide power stability phenomena. In the OOP oscillation HRS, the combination of reactor response and the simulated first harmonic power using shaping functions mimics BWR regional power oscillations. With this HRS testbed, a monitoring and/or control system designed for BWR power oscillations can be experimentally tested and verified.

• OSTI ID: 20837771
• Journal Information: Nuclear Technology, Journal Name: Nuclear Technology Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 143; ISSN 0029-5450; ISSN NUTYBB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
BOILING
BWR TYPE REACTORS
CONTROL SYSTEMS
HYBRID REACTORS
INSTABILITY
LIMIT CYCLE
NEUTRONS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PERSONAL COMPUTERS
PHASE OSCILLATIONS
POWER DISTRIBUTION
REACTIVITY COEFFICIENTS
SIMULATION
THERMAL HYDRAULICS
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS