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Title: Multi-scale approach to the modeling of fission gas discharge during hypothetical loss-of-flow accident in gen-IV sodium fast reactor

Abstract

The required technological and safety standards for future Gen IV Reactors can only be achieved if advanced simulation capabilities become available, which combine high performance computing with the necessary level of modeling detail and high accuracy of predictions. The purpose of this paper is to present new results of multi-scale three-dimensional (3D) simulations of the inter-related phenomena, which occur as a result of fuel element heat-up and cladding failure, including the injection of a jet of gaseous fission products into a partially blocked Sodium Fast Reactor (SFR) coolant channel, and gas/molten sodium transport along the coolant channels. The computational approach to the analysis of the overall accident scenario is based on using two different inter-communicating computational multiphase fluid dynamics (CMFD) codes: a CFD code, PHASTA, and a RANS code, NPHASE-CMFD. Using the geometry and time history of cladding failure and the gas injection rate, direct numerical simulations (DNS), combined with the Level Set method, of two-phase turbulent flow have been performed by the PHASTA code. The model allows one to track the evolution of gas/liquid interfaces at a centimeter scale. The simulated phenomena include the formation and breakup of the jet of fission products injected into the liquid sodium coolant.more » The PHASTA outflow has been averaged over time to obtain mean phasic velocities and volumetric concentrations, as well as the liquid turbulent kinetic energy and turbulence dissipation rate, all of which have served as the input to the core-scale simulations using the NPHASE-CMFD code. A sliding window time averaging has been used to capture mean flow parameters for transient cases. The results presented in the paper include testing and validation of the proposed models, as well the predictions of fission-gas/liquid-sodium transport along a multi-rod fuel assembly of SFR during a partial loss-of-flow accident. (authors)« less

Authors:
;  [1];  [2];  [3]; ;  [1]
  1. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States)
  2. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
  3. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
22107823
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: ICAPP '12: 2012 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants, Chicago, IL (United States), 24-28 Jun 2012; Other Information: Country of input: France; 28 refs.; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2012 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants - ICAPP '12| 2799 p.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS; 42 ENGINEERING; CLADDING; COMPUTER GRAPHICS; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; COOLANTS; FAST REACTORS; FISSION PRODUCTS; FLUID MECHANICS; FUEL ASSEMBLIES; FUEL RODS; GAS INJECTION; HEAT; KINETIC ENERGY; LIQUID METALS; LOSS OF FLOW; MULTIPHASE FLOW; SODIUM COOLED REACTORS; THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS; TURBULENT FLOW

Citation Formats

Behafarid, F., Shaver, D. R., Bolotnov, I. A., Jansen, K. E., Antal, S. P., and Podowski, M. Z. Multi-scale approach to the modeling of fission gas discharge during hypothetical loss-of-flow accident in gen-IV sodium fast reactor. United States: N. p., 2012. Web.
Behafarid, F., Shaver, D. R., Bolotnov, I. A., Jansen, K. E., Antal, S. P., & Podowski, M. Z. Multi-scale approach to the modeling of fission gas discharge during hypothetical loss-of-flow accident in gen-IV sodium fast reactor. United States.
Behafarid, F., Shaver, D. R., Bolotnov, I. A., Jansen, K. E., Antal, S. P., and Podowski, M. Z. 2012. "Multi-scale approach to the modeling of fission gas discharge during hypothetical loss-of-flow accident in gen-IV sodium fast reactor". United States.
@article{osti_22107823,
title = {Multi-scale approach to the modeling of fission gas discharge during hypothetical loss-of-flow accident in gen-IV sodium fast reactor},
author = {Behafarid, F. and Shaver, D. R. and Bolotnov, I. A. and Jansen, K. E. and Antal, S. P. and Podowski, M. Z.},
abstractNote = {The required technological and safety standards for future Gen IV Reactors can only be achieved if advanced simulation capabilities become available, which combine high performance computing with the necessary level of modeling detail and high accuracy of predictions. The purpose of this paper is to present new results of multi-scale three-dimensional (3D) simulations of the inter-related phenomena, which occur as a result of fuel element heat-up and cladding failure, including the injection of a jet of gaseous fission products into a partially blocked Sodium Fast Reactor (SFR) coolant channel, and gas/molten sodium transport along the coolant channels. The computational approach to the analysis of the overall accident scenario is based on using two different inter-communicating computational multiphase fluid dynamics (CMFD) codes: a CFD code, PHASTA, and a RANS code, NPHASE-CMFD. Using the geometry and time history of cladding failure and the gas injection rate, direct numerical simulations (DNS), combined with the Level Set method, of two-phase turbulent flow have been performed by the PHASTA code. The model allows one to track the evolution of gas/liquid interfaces at a centimeter scale. The simulated phenomena include the formation and breakup of the jet of fission products injected into the liquid sodium coolant. The PHASTA outflow has been averaged over time to obtain mean phasic velocities and volumetric concentrations, as well as the liquid turbulent kinetic energy and turbulence dissipation rate, all of which have served as the input to the core-scale simulations using the NPHASE-CMFD code. A sliding window time averaging has been used to capture mean flow parameters for transient cases. The results presented in the paper include testing and validation of the proposed models, as well the predictions of fission-gas/liquid-sodium transport along a multi-rod fuel assembly of SFR during a partial loss-of-flow accident. (authors)},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22107823}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012},
month = {Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012}
}

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