Analytical Models for Terry Turbine Nozzle
- Idaho National Laboratory, 2525 N Freemont Ave., Idaho Falls, ID 83415-3870 (United States)
As part of the efforts to understand the unexpected 'self-regulating' mode of the RCIC (Reactor Core Isolation Cooling) systems in Fukushima accidents and extend BWR RCIC and PWR AFW (Auxiliary Feed Water) operational range and flexibility, mechanistic models for the Terry turbine should be developed and implemented in reactor system analysis or severe accident codes. The Terry turbine has been used for all the BWR RCIC systems and for PWR AFW (Auxiliary Feed Water) systems. The Terry turbine is essentially a solid cylindrical wheel with multiple machined semi-circular 'buckets' that are shaped into the body of the wheel. Fixed nozzles and reversing chambers surround the wheel inside the turbine casing. High pressure steam is accelerated to supersonic flow inside the turbine nozzle. The kinetic energy is then converted to shaft work by the impulse force on the turbine buckets. A Fully implicit and strongly coupled RCIC system model has been developed in the RELAP-7 code and used for simplified BWR SBO (Station Black-Out) simulations in the past. In this model, a generic turbine model was used to conserve mass and energy while turbine operation characteristic curves were used to obtain non-dimensional mass flow rate and thermal efficiency. This model could be used for simulating RCIC off-design behavior if off-design operation characteristic curves were available. However, No such curves currently exist for the Terry turbine system due to its unique pure impulse design. A set of mechanistic Terry turbine models suitable for system code implementation has recently been developed by Sandia National Labs. In the Sandia model, the turbine bucket inlet velocity is provided according to a reduced-order model which was obtained from a large number of CFD simulations. In this paper, we propose an alternative method, using an under-expanded jet model to obtain the velocity and thermodynamic conditions for the turbine bucket inlet. These sets of analytical models are simple and generic, and suitable for use in system analysis codes. (authors)
- OSTI ID:
- 23042955
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Vol. 115; Conference: 2016 ANS Winter Meeting and Nuclear Technology Expo, Las Vegas, NV (United States), 6-10 Nov 2016; Other Information: Country of input: France; 12 refs.; available from American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (US); ISSN 0003-018X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
42 ENGINEERING
BWR TYPE REACTORS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CYLINDRICAL CONFIGURATION
FLOW RATE
JET MODEL
KINETIC ENERGY
KINETICS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
RCIC SYSTEMS
REACTOR CORES
REACTOR DESIGN
REACTOR OPERATION
SEVERE ACCIDENTS
STATION BLACKOUT
SUPERSONIC FLOW
SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
THERMAL EFFICIENCY
THERMODYNAMICS
TURBINES
WATER